May 31, 2020 (Sunday)

Today is a special day for Jews and Christians. For Jews, it is Shavuot: the Festival of Harvest, or the Feast of Weeks. For Christians it is Pentecost, the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came in mighty power and 3000 people accepted Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah.

Our New Testament (Acts 2:1) pinpoints the date: “When the Day of Pentecost was fully come..” The writer is using terminology with which readers were familiar, years after the event. But on the original “Day of Pentecost,” there was no such day. It was the fiftieth day after Passover, a time to celebrate the harvest. “Pentecost” means “fiftieth day,” and Luke, the writer, is using the term in its generic sense. As time went by, the day took on a special meaning for Christians.

The Jews had their own calendar, and the rest of the world eventually developed their own calendar as well. The whole subject is complex, so just let me say that this year (2020) puts Pentecost on our calendar as today, May 31. The Jews figured the 50th day after Passover; Christians figure it as the 50th day after Jesus’ Resurrection. Today is a special day both for Jews and Christians. It became known as “Pentecost,” a Greek word, when the Greek language became virtually universal.

Baptists have never been big on liturgy, and have largely been spectators of the Christian calendar based on events of the Bible, so this entire discussion may sound strange to our Baptist ears. In recent years I think we have become more open to a Christian calendar of events, joining other denominations in observance of special seasons such as Advent and Easter, even giving a nod to Ash Wednesday and Lent. The Day of Pentecost is one of those special days.