Jesus teaches that it is better that he leaves the disciples, enabling the Holy Spirit to come (John 16: 4 – 15). He proclaims a time when worship will be true because it is in spirit and truth not in Jerusalem (John 4).
And this freedom came 50 days after Jesus’ death. His followers received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Jesus’ resurrection (John 20:19 – 23). Jesus had prepared them for the coming of the Holy Spirit in his teaching and, after a time of revelation and healing, on the day of his ascension, he spoke to his friends, ordering them to wait for an immersion and washing in the Holy Spirit they had received (Acts 1). I believe, just as the baptism of John prepared the disciples for the ministry of Jesus, his ministry had been preparing them for this outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The waiting ended on the morning of Pentecost.
Pentecost (Shavuot) is part of the Jewish Feast of Weeks (Deuteronomy 16:10). They count up to it from Passover and eagerly anticipate the day, staying up all night to pray and study the scripture on its eve. Shavuot is the day Jews celebrate becoming a nation, a nation revealed to Abraham that would bless the nations, All night the friends of Jesus would have been studying the Law, but on the day, as the ritual waiting ended, the morning was lifted to a new level of fulfilment and the Holy Spirit came in power (Acts 2). The significance and true meaning of Shavuot was revealed on that morning.
Is the message too simple? Christ is very near because of this momentous gift; God is present in each believer, no longer in one place at one time but wherever those who love and obey him are. Every person may die to self and rise in him, proclaiming the good news: in Christ we are saved, made right with God and are freed to become what he made each of us to be (John 1:9). By being together, Jesus is present and because of him we are enabled to live lives of virtue, drawing more people into this freedom.
The everflowing truth is that God is not over there, up above or down below, but so near, heaven touches the everyday of our lives; our hearts, lips and minds. In Christ, by the Holy Spirit, Heaven touches Earth through ordinary lives.
Together, we can move on, not locating God in movements, men and places but we may grasp the reality that through immersion in the Holy Spirit, God is as near to us as our breath and pours out of us like a gushing stream or a quietly bubbling spring, fresh and lively. This water, restores, revives and refreshes all who drink it and it never disappoints or ends.
God is near to us, not out there on a stage, an event, directed by the words of men and expectations of the crowd; not out there in the lives and successes of others but in our own brokenness and healing; our own stories of death to sin with him, rising again to new life and fulfilling the promise of lives made whole, which proclaim this good news.
The crowd at Pentecost received the same good news. The blessing came as each heard the news in their own languages. People then gathered frequently to hear the teaching of the apostles and shared their homes and their means to further the cause of their message.
From an abiding flow the growth comes in those who listen and obey, as promised by Jesus. From an outpouring of living water the thirst for good is quenched and each is nourished for the troubles of the day.
Don’t settle for Christ out there.Don’t shrink the Church to a weekly event. Don’t judge the Church by its events, buildings and institutions. Christ is amongst us as we gather in his name as twos or threes and Jesus is revealed by the love between us.