When Luke mentions the feast of Pentecost in our first reading, we can easily gloss over the implication that Pentecost is a Jewish feast. One of four springtime feasts on the Jewish liturgical calendar, Pentecost celebrated both the ingathering of the harvest as well as the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai. Comparing and contrasting the first Pentecost with the new Pentecost we discover that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit does indeed bring about a harvest, one that is new and rich in meaning.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES
Kurz, William S. Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013.
Pimentel, Stephen. Witnesses of the Messiah: On Acts of the Apostles, 1-15. Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road, 2002.
"The Mystery of the Feast of Unleavened Bread" - Talk by Dr. Brant Pitre
Verbum Bible Software - www.verbum.com
REFERENCES
Exodus 19:16 - On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Exodux 24:8 - And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Exodus 32:26-28 - Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put every man his sword on his side, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Acts 2:37-38, 41 - Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
1 Corinthians 15:20 - Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
James 1:18 - Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 - A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
Mark 2:22 - And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins.”
John 2:9-10 - When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Joel 4:18 - On that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills flow with milk, All the streams of Judah will flow with water. A spring will rise from the house of the LORD, watering the Valley of Shittim.
Amos 9:13 - Yes, days are coming— oracle of the LORD— When the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps and the vintager, the sower of the seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall run with it.