Pentecost, or ‘the Feast of Weeks’, was the festival that encouraged the Jews to think back to the period between God rescuing them from Egypt and the giving of the Law to Moses, around seven weeks. The festival was intended to symbolise the anticipation and desire for God giving his Word to his people. The disciples had definitely been waiting in anticipation (1:4,8) but couldn’t have expected anything like what actually happened (vs 2–4). When was the last time God did something in your life that was unexpected?

Because of the festival, Jerusalem was filled with Jewish pilgrims from all over the world (v 5). And yet, enabled by the Spirit, the disciples were speaking every language under the sun and could be understood (vs 6–8).

What did it mean (v 12)? God was doing a new thing and it was breaking out into the world. He desires that all people everywhere hear the gospel and glorify him – your sister, neighbour, colleague, fellow student and people from places that you haven’t heard of and perhaps can’t even pronounce (Cappadocia anyone?). Every different language brought together by the one and only Saviour.

God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things.’¹

In the UK we often hear about the ‘North-South divide’ and such divisions are found in many countries. Certainly, this was the case in Israel. Judeans in the south often looked down on Galileans in the north. The southerners had the Temple and the capital, Jerusalem. Galileans who lacked such cultural and spiritual assets were viewed as unsophisticated, even stupid.²

Such attitudes may be reflected in our passage, for the disciples were Galileans. The crowd’s astonishment at the languages they spoke may not have been just because they’d seen a miracle. The words, ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?’ (v 7) may reflect their disbelief that uneducated northerners could speak such languages.³ We are also told that some mocked the disciples, calling them drunk. They probably found this easier to believe than accepting that God had poured out his Spirit on ordinary people. After all, until then the Spirit had only been given to special individuals for specific tasks. The Pharisees clearly believed that no prophet could come from Galilee.⁴

Pentecost shows that the gospel is for people of all countries, because all nationalities heard God’s word in their own language. It also shows that Christianity is for all within each nation – the educated and the uneducated, the rich and the poor. Yet churches in wealthier areas often have more money and resources, more paid staff and better facilities than churches in poorer areas. It is often noted that churches seem to prosper in middle-class, wealthier places but struggle elsewhere. The reasons are complex, but at Pentecost we remember that God’s Spirit used a small group of unschooled Galileans to change the world. Let us ask for the Spirit to show us how our churches can help to heal separation in our nation rather than simply reflect those divisions.

In what ways does the church need to change to demonstrate that God’s message really is for all in our society?

¹ 1 Cor 1:28  ² G Vermes, Jesus in the Jewish Context, SCM Press, 2003, p4,5  ³ DL Bock, Acts, Baker Academic, 2007, p101  ⁴ John 7:52