Homily Solemnity of Pentecost Year A Lordship of Jesus and the Spirit
Homily
Solemnity of Pentecost Year A
Reading
1: Something has happened to the disciples prior to the coming of the Holy
Spirit. Their relationship with Jesus had changed. The initial encounter with
Jesus was no longer the most important or that which made the significant difference
in their lives. That initial encounter and the subsequent encounters were
foundational but not necessarily lasting. They knew Jesus on their terms. They
followed Jesus conditionally, as long as things went well and did not cost
them. But when Jesus tested the strength of their commitment, they failed the
test.
It
was the encounter with the Risen Christ that solidified their relationship and
enabled them to receive the outpouring of the Spirit. As a result, they were
changed. Not just interiorly but exteriorly as well. No longer afraid, they
were courageous. No longer afraid of the reactions of others, they yielded to
the lead of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost
for them was the fulfillment of the promises made by Jesus to baptize them in
the Holy Spirit with power. For ten days after Jesus’ ascension, they prayed,
recalled their life-experience as disciples under Jesus. They repented of their
sins. They waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had told them.
Now, on Pentecost, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began proclaiming
God’s mighty deeds in various tongues. From fearful men, they were transformed
into zealot witnesses for Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Gospel:
In hearing again, today, the Easter appearance of Jesus to the Apostles, the
Church is helping us to see the connection of Pentecost with Easter. On Easter Jesus encounters them, not as the
man from Nazareth, not as prophet, teacher or healer. That relationship with
Jesus is no longer sufficient. He is the Risen Savior and Lord, the Son of God,
True God and True Man. It is this new encounter which seals his relationship
with the disciples.
Extending
his peace was to validate his forgiveness of their unbelief and their human reaction
to his death on the cross. His commission is straightforward. “As the Father
has sent me, so I send you.” As the
Father had sent Jesus to proclaim and to witness, to evangelize and teach with
signs and wonders as his credentials, so Jesus was sending the disciples to do
the same. As Jesus, at his baptism,
received a fresh release of the power of the Holy Spirit, so he imparts to them
that same gift.
What
John is teaching us in his Gospel is that the Pascal Mystery, begun in the
Incarnation of the Son of God as Man, culminated in the Death and Resurrection
of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. To believe in the
Resurrection of Jesus entails openness to the presence, plan and power of the
Holy Spirit. To live fully in the resurrected life of Jesus in the present
moment is to be open and respond to the gift of the Holy Spirit and his lead in
our lives.
Reading
2: Jesus is Lord. The greater Jesus is the Lord of our lives in fact, the
greater openness we will have to the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in
our daily lives. The Lordship of Jesus is at the heart of our call to be holy
and to grow in holiness, which can only be done in the Holy Spirit.
The
Lordship of Jesus leads one to step out of the comfort zone of life into the
waters of trust in the words of Jesus, acting in his name. The Lordship of
Jesus brings us into community with one another. The bond of that unity is the
Holy Spirit. To be of one mind and one heart can only take place if Jesus is
our Lord and if we are living in the Sprit.
Being
open to the various gifts of the Spirit enables us to proclaim Jesus as Lord as
we follow the lead of the Spirit.
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