Meditation 296
John 15
The work of the Spirit is action, and the following story, found at the site “After Hours Inspirational Stories “, tells of such action. A man named Chris tells of an event that changed his life many years ago. Christ and his wife were driving home to College Station, Texas one day around 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, and they decided to stop at a local gas station to get coffee and something to snack on since it was a good hour and a half before they got home. As soon as they got their supplies they quickly got back in the car as it was a cold morning. It was then noticed a homeless man standing outside in front of the building. He was holding a coffee as much to keep warm as to have it to drink, and Chris assumed that he could not afford food as well. Before Chris and his wife drove away a dog walked up to the front of the building. Chris, a dog lover noticed that she had been feeding puppies, and that she was hungry. Chris and his wife also noticed that people walked by the hungry dog without noticing her in the same way they walked by the homeless man. Even though Chris was moved by the dog’s plight he still did nothing, but someone did. The homeless man, who it was thought could not buy himself anything to eat, went back into the store. And what he did brought tears to Chris and his wife. The homeless man went into the store and with what money he may have had, bought a can of dog food and fed that dog.
One way the Spirit is evident is our lives is by helping us to give without counting the cost. This is when we are able to be like God, it is the work of the Spirit in our lives. When Jesus lived on earth, he lived such love, he was an example of grace to the people he met, and when he went to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the spirit of truth who would both testify on Jesus’ behalf and enable the followers of Jesus to be like God.
In John’s gospel, Jesus promised the gift of the Spirit to be with us, in the account of the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts that spirit came rushing down in a dramatic way. According to John’s gospel account, Jesus had to leave for the advocate to be sent. This advocate or spirit is going to bridge 2 realms. The spirit will operate in both the community of the faithful and in the world
Jesus had promised in John 14: 26 that the spirit would teach all things and so the spirit helps us to see how to connect with those beyond the faith community. The spirit teaches us how to respond to the hurts of the world that didn’t even exist in the ancient world, and so the spirit helps us to address concerns that are not clearly addressed in Scripture. The exciting news in this is that the Spirit will proclaim Jesus’ own teachings in the new and changing circumstances that the community will face when Jesus is gone.
Up to that Pentecost day on which the spirit descended upon the crowd, Pentecost was an observation of the “in” group. Those who were the chosen celebrated the feast of weeks 7 weeks after the Passover.
It was a ritual belonging to the children of Israel, but on this Pentecost at day in Jerusalem that is described in the book of Acts, the spirit swept down and the manifestation of the spirit was evidenced to everyone. Pentecost was no longer the observation of a select group. Pentecost was now in the public domain as it were. That day of Pentecost was a way of showing that God was the God of everyone. Pentecost was not meant to become another set in stone observance or merely an historical happening
Pentecost is a celebration of the fact that the spirit is active today. (Ginger Barfield) This year as we observe Pentecost we may give thanks that God is the God of everyone.