Wednesday 26 June 2019

Psalm: Psalm 119:1-16

Background

Here we are, on the Day of Pentecost, bystanders at the moment Jesus had promised the disciples would come (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit had invaded the room where they were waiting and now they had spilled out into the city among the crowds.

Jerusalem was bulging at the seams because it was festival time, and the air was filled with all the languages of the Jewish people. Suddenly the crowd realised that a bunch of uneducated Galilean fishermen were making themselves heard – everyone understood!

Luke (the writer of Acts) tells us that the onlookers were "bewildered" (v. 6), and "amazed and astonished" (v. 7) at this phenomenon. How could it be?

For those with quick enough wits, their minds would go back into the Jewish Scriptures and a story of the people trying to build the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) to reach into the heavens where God dwells.

God said: "Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech" (Genesis 11:7). By an act of God, the people were divided from each other through language. Now in Jerusalem, by an act of God, the words that Jesus' followers were speaking made sense to all who would listen.

Luke stresses that these were the devout Jews, gathered in the city to worship. It is to them that Peter stands and declares that the day promised by the prophet Joel has dawned (verses 17-21, quoting Joel 2:28-32). The Holy Spirit is on the move, uniting young and old, female and male … "every nation under heaven" (v. 5).

To Ponder:

• What languages should you and the church use to share the Good News with your neighbours? How do we learn to communicate better with unreached people groups?
• How can local churches improve their interaction with people who don't speak 'church-ese'? And what can you do to help?