Pentecost
Psa 104:34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
The exigencies of pairing 150 Psalms with a pericope involving 180 odd sets of lessons makes for some interesting couplings. Like the schoolboy who looks for the unexpurgated version of a racy novel to see the naughty bits dropped from a school text I take delight in looking to see just what has been dropped in forming our lessons. Today is no exception. And just what that great leviathan which the Lord made for the sport of it has to do with Pentecost I'm not certain.
The Epistle for the day often has little to do with the other lessons. Today a talk on the gifts of the spirit accompanies lessons addressing the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. (Odd terms those.)
The first lesson finds the Disciples hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews who had just recently seen to the crucifixion of their beloved rabbi. Whatever happened there turned a group of shy, frightened, simple men into public orators who spoke in tongues and inspired thousands to repent and be baptized on the spot. Being the cynic I am I wonder how many of those instant converts remained faithful in the long term.
Today's Gospel backtracks to that same group of Disciples immediately following the crucifixion. They are in shock. Their world has been turned upside down. Their teacher whom many believed to be the Messiah, Great King David's Successor had been dispatched in the most ignominious way possible. One of their own had betrayed him and then committed suicide. [It's quite another matter that great King David in his day could not possibly have lived up to his own storied reputation.] Their emotions ran the gamut of mourning, denial, grief and loss. They'd lost their purpose in life. In their instinct for survival they had abandoned their Lord so they also suffered from acute embarrassment. They were probably mortified to even look each other in the eye.
To make matters worse Mary Magdalene, a most non-credible source, has just arrived with a wild tale about having seen Jesus alive. Into this bewildered cringing gathering Jesus suddenly appeared saying, "Peace be unto you."
Next comes John's version of the Great Commission:
Joh 20:21 Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Joh 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Joh 20:23 whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Somehow John's version seems much more realistic than Luke's which appears to have become augmented considerably in the telling.
Psa 104:34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
The exigencies of pairing 150 Psalms with a pericope involving 180 odd sets of lessons makes for some interesting couplings. Like the schoolboy who looks for the unexpurgated version of a racy novel to see the naughty bits dropped from a school text I take delight in looking to see just what has been dropped in forming our lessons. Today is no exception. And just what that great leviathan which the Lord made for the sport of it has to do with Pentecost I'm not certain.
The Epistle for the day often has little to do with the other lessons. Today a talk on the gifts of the spirit accompanies lessons addressing the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. (Odd terms those.)
The first lesson finds the Disciples hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews who had just recently seen to the crucifixion of their beloved rabbi. Whatever happened there turned a group of shy, frightened, simple men into public orators who spoke in tongues and inspired thousands to repent and be baptized on the spot. Being the cynic I am I wonder how many of those instant converts remained faithful in the long term.
Today's Gospel backtracks to that same group of Disciples immediately following the crucifixion. They are in shock. Their world has been turned upside down. Their teacher whom many believed to be the Messiah, Great King David's Successor had been dispatched in the most ignominious way possible. One of their own had betrayed him and then committed suicide. [It's quite another matter that great King David in his day could not possibly have lived up to his own storied reputation.] Their emotions ran the gamut of mourning, denial, grief and loss. They'd lost their purpose in life. In their instinct for survival they had abandoned their Lord so they also suffered from acute embarrassment. They were probably mortified to even look each other in the eye.
To make matters worse Mary Magdalene, a most non-credible source, has just arrived with a wild tale about having seen Jesus alive. Into this bewildered cringing gathering Jesus suddenly appeared saying, "Peace be unto you."
Next comes John's version of the Great Commission:
Joh 20:21 Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Joh 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Joh 20:23 whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Somehow John's version seems much more realistic than Luke's which appears to have become augmented considerably in the telling.
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