Through the weeks of Eastertide we have followed the growing understanding of what it meant for Jesus to remain with us after his resurrection. Starting from the confusion immediately following the empty tomb; to the recognition by the women who were closest to Jesus, and the rest of the disciples, that he was still present; to the realization that this gift had to be shared with everyone; finally to the Feast of Pentecost, sometimes called the birthday of the church.
The presence of the Spirit was apparent through a wide range of people right from the beginning – and not only the obvious people. As we heard previously (Acts 10:34-35), Peter was quickly brought to understand that the disciples had no monopoly on the teachings of Jesus and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We know most obviously of Paul, who certainly came out of left field, but also of Apollos (Acts 18:24-28) – he also was not part of the original team that surrounded Jesus. Paul notes how the three of them (Peter, Apollos, and himself) were working alongside each other when he tells the Corinthians not to get confused into thinking they were following one of the teachers, but to recognize they were all following Christ (1 Cor 1:12). There could be many messengers but there was only one Lord and one message.
The one message is the centerpiece of Luke’s account of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11). As the church grew from its initial person-to-person connections through the Jewish synagogue communities to a broader outreach to the wide range of people and languages throughout the Roman empire it was essential that the idea of a single message was retained, however much the language and method of transmission might change. But this uniformity could not be achieved by the exercise of human power and oversight, as it might be by the Emperor and Roman governors in maintaining the consistency of Roman law. It had to reflect the diversity of the people that God called into this new relationship and their individual experiences.
This is the brilliance of Paul’s metaphor of the human body – with its many parts (and their necessary differences) but clear singular identity (1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13). The church is called to maintain this balance between diversity of its parts and the unity of the whole. Sometimes the human desire for unity (or uniformity) has overshadowed the divine desire for inclusivity and diversity. The fear of collapse into confusion and chaos is natural, and was clearly present for the disciples. The antidote is recognizing that the body has a head, and that head is Jesus (not Peter or Paul or Apollos). Alternatively (as Paul, Luke and John all lay out, in their different styles) there is one Spirit that works in all these different circumstances.
So we finish our Easter season with the great prayer, Veni Sancte Spiritus – Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. The fire of Pentecost is not our love, it is the love of Jesus. That’s why it can change the world.