Pentecost; 5 June 2022; Day of Pentecost C (RCL); Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:14-17; John 14:8-17, 25-27.
Luke has loaded these verses in Acts with a wealth of intertextual references. There is the reference to the creation story (God’s breath blowing over the primal chaos), the pillar of fire in the wilderness, and of course the quasi-reversal of Babel (the story of Babel is one of the optional readings on this day).
In all of the readings (the Psalm included), the word being translated “spirit” (whether with the modifier “Holy” or with the article or not) could just as easily be translated “breath.” In Romans, when Paul speaks of the spirit crying “Abba, Father,” he could just as easily be speaking of drawing the breath to say the words. God’s breath is testifying with our breath as we cry “Abba, Father.” In the Psalm, we read “you take away their breath , and they die and return to the dust; You send forth your breath, and they are created” — a direct reference to the creation story in Genesis 2, when God breathes the breath of life into the human creature. Only the passage in John gives the Spirit a title other than breath — the Paraclete, or advocate.
The noun paraclete in Greek has a range of meanings, from one who offers comfort, to the person who pleads one’s case in court. I suspect John is using it here in reference to the persecution his community is facing. Jesus’ instruction to let not your hearts be troubled (or harassed) speaks to that context. In John’s thinking, Jesus abides in the community and its discourse, and so will face the same kind of opposition Jesus faced, but will have the help of the Advocate in declaring God’s greater works (now completed with the death and resurrection of Jesus).
In the passage in Acts, the disciples who are given utterance by the spirit declare the might deeds or works of God. The purpose of the Spirit, then, is for the proclamation of God’s activity. I find it intriguing that in the quasi-reversal of Babel, the Spirit does not undo the confusion of languages, but facilitates the declaration of God’s activity in all languages. God desires that multiplicity. Each of us will have a different story of God’s mighty deeds, and the Spirit will give us ability to share our story.