Reflection by Rev'd Dr Deborah Broome

Speaking the God-language

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. 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.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”                                                                                        

Acts 2:1-13

Pentecost was originally a harvest festival, one of the three main annual Jewish festivals, celebrated 50 days after Passover (another of the festivals). A large number of the Jewish diaspora had come to Jerusalem to take part in the festival – only they found themselves drawn to the sights and sounds of a bunch of Galileans somehow speaking in their own languages about what God had done in Jesus. (And Peter and co were so uninhibited some in the crowd thought they were drunk – I love that!)

The thing is, almost all these people would have had enough Greek or Aramaic to get by – to get a room for the night, buy food, enough to follow the religious rites and to understand what was happening around them. Much the same as many of us who travel acquire a basic vocab which gets us to where we need to be going. Peter and the other disciples could simply have stuck to Greek and Aramaic – most of the crowd would have understood. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that all who listened that day in Jerusalem heard about what God had done in their own language. God wants to give everyone the best possible chance to hear the good news and respond in faith. And God wants people today, no less than Peter and the others back then, to be able to communicate the story of love and grace that has Jesus at its centre. 

Nowadays, there’s probably not much call for Teach yourself Parthian or Elamite without tears – though Duolingo has 404K people learning Klingon. But there is a need for people who can learn to speak the language of faith, which has become a completely foreign tongue for many.  To be able to speak about God, to find the words to connect with those who perhaps have a sense of spirituality (often related to nature) but who don’t or can’t connect this with the presence of the living God. Pentecost is the Church’s celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit, that part of God that is within us – that part of God that can help us speak the God language to the people around us. Because God still wants to give everyone a chance to hear, understand, and respond to some very good news.

Image sourced from https://mattsbibleblog.wordpress.com/