"When the day of Pentecost came...All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability...And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power” (Acts 2:1-11).
_______________________
Today is Pentecost Sunday, a day that celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Jesus' disciples (12+), and the beginning of the Church. This happened on the 50th day after Jesus' Resurrection. One of the important things we observe in the text above is that the disciples were "speaking about God's deeds of power." This is the highlight of Pentecost day.
Today, many Christians and churches are needlessly divided along the question of what entails speaking in tongues? Is it taught or given freely? Is a measure of one's spirituality? Is it a mystical utterance or intelligible language? Besides all these, we also argue about which (mother) tongue to speak in public worship. The above passage is self-explanatory and answers clearly the dilemma of every confused Christian.
Pentecost, as clearly witnessed in the text, was never intended to create divisive theology and church practice. It was an occasion for the disciples to reveal the power and will of God. That's the reason the crowd that heard the "tongues" were not only amazed to hear rustic disciples (Galileans) speaking foreign languages - as if they had the privilege to learn them. But they were also amazed because they heard the crux of their utterance; which was the proclamation of the message of God's greatness inna language they understood. That continues to be a crucial task of the Church and Christians too.
On Pentecost, let us be reminded that God approves our linguistic plurality. In fact, he's author of our tongues. Every language/tongue that is used to honor God is pleasing to him. It includes the mystical "gibberish" so long as it spoken with the mind to glorify God and him alone.
Blessed day.
Eying
Baptist Theological College
Pfutsero, Nagaland
No comments:
Post a Comment