came to refer also to a person’s character (his or her “spirit”). The other word is ruach, which means “wind.” (The Greek equivalent from later Judaism, carried over into New Testament writings, is pneuma.) In the Genesis story, it is God’s ruach that moves upon the face of the water, creating all that is, and sustaining it continually. Psalm 104 describes beautifully the dependence of all living things (including us) upon God’s continual life-giving breath: O Lord, how manifold are your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures… you open your hand, and they are filled with good things. You hide your face, and they are terrified; you take away their breath, and they die and return to their dust. You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; and so you renew the face of the earth. (vv. 25, 29-31) But this same Spirit of God that keeps life living, also moves in particular ways to form and direct persons in their response to God. The prophets in particular were understood to be speaking God’s words, inspired and filled with the ruach of God. Isaiah speaks of a messianic king coming from “the stump of Jesse,” and “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Is. 11:1-3). And in one of the readings appointed for Pentecost Day (and quoted by Peter in Acts), the prophet Joel says for God: “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the servants, I will pour out my spirit” (Joel 2:28-29). Jesus takes over and embodies this prophetic movement of ruach when he stands in his hometown synagogue and reads from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19, from Is. 61)
The Rt. Rev. David Reed is bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas.
The Pentecost proclamation is that in and through the sending of God’s Holy Spirit, the person and mission of Jesus Christ continues to be on the move, not bound to a particular time and place, but unbound, unfettered . . . and bound for all times and places and all people. As St. Luke sees it, the Church is born for mission. We can no more separate one from the other than we can fire from burning. Just as Jesus’ mission is to all people, so too is the Church’s. The coming of the Son of God is the culmination of God’s divine and saving work in history, and the Holy Spirit is the continuing presence of Jesus in the world, not just some day, but this day; not just some place, but this place; not just ultimately, but intimately. The Spirit poured out on the day of Pentecost — the Spirit Jesus had promised to send his disciples — is the gift of the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord. It is his on-going gift of his Spirit, his own life — as near as our own breathing.
Episcopal Diocese of West Texas
www.reflections-dwtx.org
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