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| "Pentecost" by Pierre Raymond |
One
reason I love being in a liturgical church is that we celebrate Easter for an
entire season. Not just a day, not just a weekend, not even just a full Passion
week. But an entire season - fifty days. From Resurrection Day all the way to
the anniversary of receiving the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
As
a new believer, when I discovered that the church had tied Easter and Pentecost
together in this purposeful way, my Jewish brain was astounded. And excited. And
affirmed. Because it showed me that the early Christian church – at its core – had
established itself firmly in its Jewish roots. Even though most people today don’t
realize it.
You
see, Pentecost – or Shavuot, as it’s called in Hebrew – is inextricably tied to
Passover. It doesn’t actually have its own specific date.
It’s simply “fiftieth” (pentecost) or “weeks” (shavuot): i.e.,
the fiftieth day – or seven weeks – after Passover. So every year, on the day after
the Passover sabbath, everyone starts counting down. Ticking off every single day
after a prayer at sundown. Looking toward that fiftieth day, when God had instructed
people to offer their harvest tithe in Jerusalem. All the while, still eyeing
Passover in the rearview mirror: thirty-nine days since Passover, forty days
since Passover, forty-one days since Passover… Tethered together, Passover
and Shavuot create an entire season.
But
why the fiftieth day? What’s so special about that number?
Sure, the end of the grain harvest falls around then, which definitely fits the feast's harvest tithe purpose. But why fifty days? Why not forty-five or fifty-two? Why not six weeks? Why even tie the harvest tithe to Passover at all? None of the other feasts are scheduled this way. Why not give Shavuot a specific date on the calendar?
Why? Because the fiftieth day wasn’t just about
the grain harvest. And it wasn’t arbitrary. At all. The fiftieth day – as is often
taught – completes Passover.
You
see, way back in the desert wilderness, on the fiftieth day after the Exodus
rescue, God gave His people the Law at Mount Sinai. There was thunder and
lightning and covenant making. On the very first Passover, the people were freed from
something, and then on the fiftieth day they were freed to something – to
some One.
“Therefore,
say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the
yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will
redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will
take you as my own people, and I will be your God…” Exodus 6:6-7 NIV
The
fiftieth day completed God’s Passover promise. He didn’t just to release the
Israelites from bondage into the wilderness only to strike it out on their own.
He adopted them as His own treasured people. Not only ransomed and freed, but
also loved and covenanted.
It seems to me that Passover was the dramatic engagement, and then the fiftieth day was the wedding. By establishing Shavuot on that very same fiftieth day, the Groom reminds us that He gives us Himself, and everything that He is and that He does: Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. And we, the Bride, bring the fruits of those gifts.
It
seems like a beautiful picture of marriage – our own personal covenant with God and also our
marriages on earth: it’s the melding together of giving and receiving and
bearing fruit as we abide in one another.
“Remain
in me, as I also remain in you.” John 15:4a NIV
Shavuot completes Passover. Gives it purpose and joy and fruitfulness. And never was this more so than during that fateful year in first-century Jerusalem. In fact, when I first realized that the Pentecost feast of Acts 2 was the same annual Shavuot feast of my Judaism, I was absolutely overwhelmed. Let me set the stage for you, so you’ll understand why.
The very first tick of the Shavuot/Pentecost countdown
happens the morning after the Passover sabbath. According to God’s
instructions, everyone presented the first sheaf of their harvest to a priest,
who then waved it toward heaven on their behalf. Then the people offered a lamb
without blemish. So, what this means – in the aftermath of the Cross – is that
when everyone was raising their firstfruits to heaven and offering their lambs
without blemish, The Lamb without blemish was being raised as the firstfruits
of the grave!
And
yet, none of them had any idea of the revolution taking place in the garden
tomb. Even as they obeyed the barley sheaf command, Jesus’ followers were bewildered
and grieving. And every single pilgrim in Jerusalem - regardless of their thoughts
about Jesus – was probably preoccupied with the violent spectacle of the rabbi’s crucifixion, right in their midst. And so, lost in their thoughts and
emotions and ritual offerings, everyone was oblivious to the glorious spectacle
unfolding quietly in the garden. The contrast is absolutely breathtaking.
But
there was more. And it’s one of the things I love most about the tethering
together of Passover and Shavuot, of Easter and Pentecost. Because, as the
people began numbering their days that morning, they were not only oblivious to
the trampling of death taking place down the road. They were also absolutely unaware
of the fullness they would experience on the day their countdown reached its completion. Instead,
on that first countdown day in Jerusalem – and for the next forty-nine – God’s people simply
thought they were numbering their days until the pilgrimage back to the Temple, their grain
tithes in hand. Just like they did every single year.
But
God knew they weren’t just counting down to what they people would give to
Him. He knew they were counting down to the extravagance they would receive from
Him. The Holy Spirit. Within them. And I have to imagine that all of
heaven was bursting with excitement as they listened to families counting down
every night, each sunset drawing them one day closer to Joel’s prophecy becoming
reality.
I
will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my
servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days... Joel 2:28-29
NIV
On
the actual anniversary of the day God shared the Law on tablets of stone, the Holy
Spirit came and placed the Law on people’s hearts. On the day God's people commemorated His thunder
and lightning on Mount Sinai, He enveloped them with wind and fire on Mount
Zion.
Faithful
Jews had been planning and anticipating that very day for seven weeks. Every
night they’d checked off the date and prayed. Every day they’d tended to their
fields and their tithe. Yet they were counting down to something so much greater
than the annual tithe. God had something in store that was beyond anything they
knew to even imagine or ask. And the reality is that what He ultimately has in store for us is beyond
anything we can even imagine or ask.
And
so, as I think about that incredibly unexpected Pentecost countdown, I’m in awe
of a God who is more intentional than I can possibly imagine. A God whose plans
are for my eternal flourishing – even when my tunnel vision seeks momentary flourishing within my own perspectives. A God who refuses to abandon me to that place, because He has an abundance in mind that I can't conceive. And I’m also convicted to hold my own personal countdowns
loosely, with an attitude of humility and wonder and worship.
This
year, that fiftieth day – Shavuot – begins this evening, June 4. And so, in the spirit of Jewish
Pentecost tradition, I leave you with the priestly blessing from Numbers 6:
May the Lord bless you and
keep you.
May He make His face shine
on you and be gracious to you;
May He turn His face toward
you and give you peace.
Amen & amen.
{for a Pentecost recipe from my grandma, check out the newsletter at getrevue.co}
