The solemnity of Pentecost concluding the season of Easter presents the Holy Spirit as the One who gifts us with faith, ministry, work and unity (1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13). The Risen Christ introduced the arrival of the time of fulfillment with the recreating gift of the Holy Spirit upon His followers (John 20:19-23).

The lordship of Jesus

Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians is clear that faith without which we are not saved is a gift of the Holy Spirit. We recognize and confess that Jesus is Lord because of the power of the Spirit in us. It is necessary to discern our specifically Christian experience of the power of the Spirit. Thus, to say that “Jesus is accursed” cannot be speaking in the Spirit of God (or to say “The mother of Jesus is accursed”). Such malediction is evidently from some evil spirit, for it is inconceivable that the Holy Spirit would move anyone to curse Jesus. It is by the Holy Spirit that anyone can say “Jesus is Lord.”

The official title of the Roman emperor was Lord (kyrios), with divine connotation. Proclaiming Jesus as Lord was an extremely daring claim; it inevitably risks a rivalry between the followers of Jesus and the ruling political authority. Furthermore, since the Roman government was involved with the death of Jesus, the claim was a challenge to them. Also, the Greek word kyrios is used in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament as a substitute for the personal name of God. Thus to claim it for the Man Jesus is to ascribe to Him God’s attributes, to place Him on the same level as the God of Israel. This cry of faith and bold testimony to the divinity of Jesus can only be made by the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Our unity in diversity

And it is only as manifestations of the one Holy Spirit that followers of Jesus can correctly appreciate God’s blessings to them. These are the gifts (charismata), notably speaking in tongues and prophesying during worship, ministries or forms of service (diakonia) within the community, including serving at table and collecting money, and works (energema) or feats of great energy and power. These operations are varied and many, but come from the same Spirit. Because of them, no one is to be considered superior over another; they are not for the self-aggrandizement of the receivers, but for the benefit of the entire community.

The unity amid the diversity within the Christian community is compared with the complex wholeness of the human body. The parts are many and diverse with each part having its own unique function, yet every single part works for the good of the whole. In the community of the faithful, the unity in diversity does not mean uniformity, but oneness in the Holy Spirit. In the same Spirit, there is no competition among the members, but fulfillment in whatever contribution one can make for the good of everyone in an interdependence of functions. No one activity is elevated above the others; menial service is no less valued than charismatic performance.

In the fullness of the spirit

In the evening of the first day of the week, on the day itself of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord conferred the Holy Spirit on his followers and entrusted them with the power of binding and loosing. Despite the locked door, Jesus appeared in the midst of His disciples who were in fear of the people involved with the death of Jesus and hostile to them connected with Him. Calling attention to His wounds, He identified Himself as the One crucified and now risen unimpeded by any material obstacle. The disciples rejoiced at the sight of Jesus. With the prayerful greeting of peace, Jesus proclaimed to His disciples the coming of the time of fulfillment. And he bestowed the Holy Spirit upon them by breathing, reminiscent of the creation of Adam (cf. Genesis 2:7) and of the restoration of Israel after the exile (cf. Ezekiel 37:9). The Risen Lord is portrayed here in breathing as the One who creates or re-creates humanity. The Hebrew word for breath (ruah) is translated, too, as “spirit”—The Spirit Jesus conferred on His followers is the breath of God. And in the power of this Spirit, Jesus sent forth His disciples on mission of salvation, to continue His mission to free man from sin.

Alálaong bagá, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ has given us His Spirit to fill the earth with God’s power. In the unity of the Spirit, we have been gathered, re-created and sent to live our lives for the common good. The world is now to be renewed in the peace of Christ in freedom from sin. But if the world is charged with the grandeur of God, why does it look the same—in bloody religious and ethnic rivalries, in dehumanizing discriminations against the poor and the little ones? Why is peace so scarce, solace and comfort so little, reconciliation and unity so illusionary? Has the face of the earth been truly renewed? Yes, each time we stand for peace, justice and truth, every time we open ourselves to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

For more of my reflections and works, visit my blogsite: http://alalaongbaga.multiply.com.