The third glorious mystery is the birthday of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit. As Catholics, we are accustomed to celebrating Pentecost every year, fifty days after Easter, like clockwork. It is, however, only in light of the Old Testament that the true meaning of Pentecost can be understood.
First, a refresher on what happened at Pentecost. After Jesus ascended, the Apostles remained on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem for ten days to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. On the festival of Pentecost, which commemorated the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, the Holy Spirit rushed on the Apostles. Suddenly, they received the ability to talk to all of the Jewish pilgrims in Jerusalem for the festival, even though they spoke many languages. The audience, furthermore, received tongues of fire (imagine a candle flame) above their heads. Seeing this, the Apostles came out and preached the Good News for the first time after Jesus’s ascension. In total, 3,000 people were baptized and saved that day.
Each of these elements has an Old Testament parallel that brings out a deeper meaning. 1,300 years earlier, God gave the Old Covenant on Mt. Sinai at Pentecost. Now, God gives the New Covenant on a new mountain, Mt. Zion. In the Old Testament, pillars of fire represent God’s presence. Whereas before God only dwelled on the mountain, now He fulfills His promise to make each believer a temple of the Holy Spirit. In the original Pentecost, God engulfed the mountaintop in a pillar of fire, representing his presence there. In the new Pentecost, God puts pillars of fire over each believer, just like with Mt. Sinai, the tent of meeting, and the Temple. This represents that God has fulfilled his promise to make each believer a temple of the Holy Spirit, rather than dwell in an inaccessible place.
It is difficult to overstate the magnitude of this shift. For millennia, Jews lived in a society where only the High Priest could enter into the presence of God, and then only once a year. For millennia, God continually promised that he would restore the type of priesthood present in the Garden of Eden, where both Man and Woman could continually be in his presence. God fulfilled that promise at Pentecost. This is the reason Temple worship ended at the coming of Christianity. Believers no longer have to make a pilgrimage to a Temple they cannot enter. Now, each believer can talk intimately and personally with God inside their heart. We are the Temple (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19).
The parallels with the Old Testament continue. Where God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone, he wrote the New Covenant on the human heart as he promised Jeremiah (Jer 31:33). Where 3,000 Israelites died in disobedience at the coming of the Old Covenant, 3,000 Jews are saved in obedience at the coming of the New Covenant. Where languages were originally scattered because mankind tried to make a name for themselves, now language barriers are torn down as the name of Jesus is exalted.
These Old Testament parallels are a major interpretive key for understanding the rest of Acts. When Paul travels to other cities and there are already other believers there, it is because the Jews who witnessed Pentecost went back home and planted the Church there. If you follow the order in which the Church spreads, it first covers the exact territory where Abraham walked, since that is the land God promised to him. Second, Acts describes Paul traveling to each nation listed in the “table of nations” that was created when God stopped the Tower of Babel. The Old Testament connections demonstrate that Pentecost is merely the first step in God’s plan for the Church to unwind a history of human brokenness.
Even specific events are unlocked by this key. For instance, when Ananias and Sapphira lie about donating their possessions to the early Church and are struck dead, the reader is invited to draw a parallel between the instant death of Nadab and Abihu for profaning the tent of meeting where the Lord dwelled. The parallel reveals that while God’s presence in individual believers is a great blessing, it also carries the severity of being in God’s presence in the Old Testament. Truly, to those who have been given, much more will be expected.
Therefore, this Pentecost, take a moment to contemplate the gifts that God has given and rejoice in His plan for history.
Featured image courtesy of Ted via Flickr
Nick Letts is a former “radical atheist” who converted to Protestantism as a senior in High School, and then converted to Catholicism as a Junior in college. He studies philosophy in the Morrissey College, and loves nothing more than to curl up with a good book. He is engaged to his lovely fiancée Katherine Brown.
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