Today is Pentecost when the church remembers the giving of
the Holy Spirit as rushing wind and fire on those gathered in the Upper Room in
Jerusalem 50 days after Jesus’ Resurrection. In the Jewish religious calendar,
50 days after Passover there is the Feast of Shavout which commemorates God
giving the tablets of the Law to Moses during the Exodus. Latin speaking Jews
started calling this Feast “Pentecost” because it was 50 days after Passover.
Because it was an important festival, Jerusalem was full of pilgrims.
In Acts we hear that after the Ascension, “they returned to Jerusalem from the mount
called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the
city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John,
and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of
Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to
prayer, together with certain women,
including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.” (Acts
1:12-14)
It is often overlooked in the events that follow in Acts 2,
that there were women present in the Upper Room with the disciples. Peter gets
the big press because of his witness in Acts 2:14-36. The other disciples and
the women are in the background.
We can postulate that along with Mary, the mother of Jesus,
who is named; Mary & Martha of Bethany, Mary Magdalene, and even Salome and JoAnna might have been present, as the ‘certain women’. You’ll
recall we met these women during Lent. Today, let’s listen to the 3
Marys as they discuss the amazing events. Our cast includes:
Mary of Nazareth (MN)
Mary of Bethany (MB)
Mary of Magdala (MM)
(Mary of Magdala): What an amazing day!
(Mary of Bethany): I have never felt so close to God.
(Mary of Nazareth): Only once before have I felt such loving
power. It was over 30 years ago. I was praying alone as I did my chores. Then
suddenly, a terrifying yet comforting figure of light appeared telling me that
I would bear a son. Today I felt something similar to the burning, cleansing,
healing, and empowering of that moment.
(MM): First I felt a strange wind. I thought that
the shutter must have blown open, but when I looked it was closed.
(MB): It was a warm wind, like you feel in the
summertime or during early harvest. I thought it felt like a caress.
(MN): Then it became
stronger and we all started looking around.
(MB): It was then that I saw those strange dancing
flames.
(MM): Those were so lovely. I almost wanted to
capture one in my hands, but they moved as one with the wind.
(MN): It was the fire
of God. The fire Moses saw on Sinai, like the figure of light who came to me.
(MM): Yes, it was from God. The fire didn’t burn
even when it touched us all.
(MB): There was a type of burning…
(MN): Yes, a flame that spread through my whole
body, like drinking warm wine on a winter day-only better.
(MM): I felt as if my heart was blown open and I
could feel as one with all creation.
(MB): I wonder if the
men felt the same thing? I know they felt the wind and saw the fire. Then they,
we all, started speaking in many languages.
(MM): That was astonishing. Some of the languages I
recognized from when I had my shop in Magdala and traders came from everywhere.
Others, I have never heard.
(MN): I remember the story of the Tower of Babel when
God confused the languages. Now God had opened us to hearing and understanding
them all again.
(MM): God is doing a
great thing. Just see how Peter has gone to the street to preach.
(MB): Who wuld have
thought that Peter, fisherman that he is, would be the one to go and tell the
crowd what happened?
(MN): It is the work
of God!
(MB): It is our work
as well. Remember Jesus said, ‘You will be my witnesses to the ends of the
earth’.
(MN): We must work for
the kingdom of God in the world, to restore the people to unity with God. That
is the work of my Son which must continue.
(MM): I think that
amazing things will happen to us. We will see things that we could never have
dreamed and visit places we never anticipated.
Tradition tells us the Mary of Magdala was correct in her
words. Supposedly the sisters Mary & Martha, traveled with Lazarus to Gaul
(France). Legend says that Mary of Magdala traveled to the court of Caesar and
testified there. Mary of Nazareth, it is said, returned to her home and was
later a source for many of Luke’s stories in the Gospel. Just as much as the Old Testament matriarchs we met throughout the Easter season, these women share their faith DNA with us. Like them, we work for the Kingdom of God in the world. We work to restore the 'dignity of every human being' (Baptismal Covenant, Episcopal Book of Common Prayer). We do the work of God on earth.
During the summer, we will explore the Lord’s Prayer phrase
by phrase. There is a lot of inspiration in each of the phrases we say, too
often, by rote at least weekly if not more often!
(Image: by Canadian artist Gisele Bauche)
(c) Cynthia Davis 2017
