Pentecost 2026
FIRST READING: Acts 2.1-21
NEW TESTAMENT READING: 1 Corinthians 12.3b-13
GOSPEL: John 20.19-23
Pentecost greetings to you all.
The festival of the Pentecost is a celebration of great joy for the church because it marked a new beginning in the lives of the apostles and we could say that what happened on the day of Pentecost gave rise to a great movement of the Holy Spirit called as the Church. We therefore celebrate a new age. The birth of the church and as Moltman wrote the Church in the Power of the Spirit.
Pentecost was originally a Jewish festival of thanksgiving for the first fruits of the wheat harvest, but the rabbis associated it with remembrance of the Law given by God for the Hebrews to Moses on Mount Sinai. When the church started to celebrate Pentecost as a Christian festival, it was then related to the belief that the gift of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Jesus was the first fruits of a new dispensation that fulfilled and succeeded the old dispensation of the Law.
Pentecost comes from the word pentekoste, which means fiftieth, which, according to Leviticus 23:15-16, was to be celebrated on the “day after the seventh Sabbath” and hence on the fiftieth day after Passover.
Let us revisit the readings and the see what actually happened. The disciples of Jesus were with him throughout his ministry. After the arrest, torture and murder of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary, the disciples initially fled and later regrouped. The Risen Lord Jesus Christ had met them several times, but that did not give them a clear idea about their future course of action.
Our Lord Jesus Christ before his ascension asked the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait to be clothed with power from on high. This they did and to their amazement the room they were meeting was filled with a sound of a violent wind from heaven and they began to praise God in various languages. This drew people from different parts of the world who had come to Jerusalem to witness this wonder and they were amazed that the disciples were speaking in some of the languages.
The out pouring of the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the courage to stand before the people and speak about Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was indeed the power of God for redemption. The apostles were never afraid but began to preach in Jerusalem. They spoke about Jesus as the son of God and people were convinced about this eternal truth.
As we celebrate this festival of the Pentecost we remind ourselves that we have been clothed with the Holy Spirit of God to help us to be the disciples of Jesus Christ.
The beginning of the church teaches us many lessons. The Church as a body of Christ is a sacred mystery powered b the Holy Spirit. From the book of Acts, we also learn that the Holy Spirit gave the disciples extraordinary ability to do marvellous things. On the day of Pentecost tis was demonstrated by the Holy Spirit enabling the disciples to speak different languages. The Holy Spirit removed all fear from the disciples and they began to proclaim Jesus as the Saviour of the world. From the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit is guiding the church. We surrender to the authority, empowerment and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We also remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is with us and within us as a great comforter inspiring us to be the channels of God’s grace to all those in need.
St. Paul in his letter to the Romans says that the Holy Spirit within us knows our weakness and prays for us constantly.
Along with all these great gifts the Holy Spirit is the power of God who gives us various abilities to serve God and God’s church.