Tuesday, June 3, 2025: ... unless a person is first deeply imbued with Holy Spirit

Queering Pentecost Day 2:

Acts 2 1-4: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 

According to our friend and scripture scholar Diarmuid O’Murchu,  Every element in Acts 2:1-4 is borrowed from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Pentecost is based on the Old Testament Feast of the New Grain (Harvest), associated with Moses receiving the law on Mt. Senai, 50 days after the exodus from Egypt. According to legend, God issued the law in all 70 languages of humankind. Philo claimed that when the Law was initially given, fire streamed from Heaven, and a voice from the flame became articulate speech. Additionally, some commentators suggest that the narrative of Pentecost may be understood as a reversal of the Tower of Babel story.

The fact that Luke has borrowed the main ingredients from the Old Testament and is using them here to his own advantage, need not alarm us. All the Gospel writers – and others of that time – did the same thing. However, it does compel us to ask: Is Luke describing something that happened, or actually creating the scenario himself? And even if Luke does invent the material himself, by the standards of time (and contrary to our time), he is well within the boundaries of professional journalism.

Once again, we need to remind ourselves: Luke is doing this to lay a solid foundation for his two big heroes, Peter and Paul. To that end he wishes to bring back all the (reconstituted) Twelve, and submit them to a profound, transformative experience, to raise them out of the dislocation and incredulity they suffered due to the tragic loss of Jesus, their leader. And from that new “kick-start” they can resume where they have left off, courageously proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior.  

 

For the queer theorist it all feels too neat to be true. The upper room smacks of ecclesiastical lockdown. And there is too much hankering after patriarchal power and dominance. Already in the opening chapters of Acts we see Peter performing miraculous deeds similar to those attributed to Jesus; this is a long way from the bipolar, reactionary Peter we see throughout the Gospels.

 At this stage the queer theorist is getting impatient, and wants to move on to the material the preacher tends to bypass, namely Acts 2:5-11. 

Acts 2 5-11: Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[a] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

This motley, diverse group are truly amazing. Somehow or other they can hear everything that is being said and, it seems, they can comprehend the meaning, as that of the mighty works of God (v.11). But according to Acts, none of them have been either baptized or evangelized. So, what is going on?

 Those of us who have some knowledge and experience of the Ignatian method of Spiritual Discernment can readily see the parallels. This group of people is endowed with deep listening, heart-centred discernment, and are in awe and admiration of God’s message of life. These are some of the central features of Ignatian discernment, which according to those who have long studied the Ignatian method, cannot be possessed unless a person is firstly deeply imbued with Holy Spirit of God.

Tomorrow – Where are the Women?