Acts 2.1-21 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in the same place. And there came suddenly from heaven a sound like the sweeping of a mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Then there appeared among them divided tongues, as of fire, and one rested on each of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues just as the Spirit gave them to speak.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem devout Jews from every nation under heaven. Now at this sound the crowd gathered and was confused because each heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astounded, they asked “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how do we hear, each in our own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and those who live in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjacent to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and questioning to one another saying, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Judeans and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you all, and attend to my speech. For these persons are not drunk as you suppose, it is only the third hour in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your daughters and sons shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your elders shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both women and men, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
John 4.7-26 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” Now his disciples had gone to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How are you, a Judean, asking a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”(Judeans do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is the one telling to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir you have no bucket, and the well is deep. From where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, the one who gave us the well and with his daughters and sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But the one who drinks of the water that I will give will never thirst. The water that I will give will become in them a fount of water springing up into eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may never thirst or keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back to this place.” The woman answered and said to him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said rightly, ‘I have no husband.’ For five husbands have you had, and now the one you have is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our mothers and fathers worshiped on this mountain, yet you say in Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Sovereign God. You all worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Judeans. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Sovereign God in spirit and truth, for these are the worshippers the Sovereign God seeks. God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Jesus, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am, the one who is speaking to you.”
Reflection Jesus instructs the Samaritan woman who is much concerned about worshipping rightly, “God is Spirit, and those who worship God must worship in Spirit and Truth.” Sixteen-hundred years later Ann Hutchison, a well-educated midwife and daughter of an Anglican priest apparently takes Jesus’ words to heart as she boldly claims an “...unmediated experience of God’s Presence.”* Hutchison dauntlessly declares that by grace her religious experience gives her wisdom, discernment and peace. In other words, Hutchison consents to receive and express the Spirit of Truth. Regardless of what other people say to or about her, Hutchison consents to the Spirit of Truth’s presence and action with her.
But it was the seventeenth century and, like the Samaritan woman Hutchison is supposed to be silently sequestered in shadows. There is no room in the Anglican Church’s story for her to think for herself, speak her mind, and certainly not claim direct access to the Spirit of Truth. Silenced by her mother church, Hutchison and her family join a Puritan community, cross the pond to the New World where immediately she teaches that faith, rather than rigid adherence to Puritan rules, is the ticket to heaven and that individuals can and should read and interpret the Bible for themselves.
Hutchison’s teaching does not stop there. Using her midwifery services as a pretext for gathering people around her, Hutchison encourages the people to “receive the Holy Spirit, claim the Spirit of Truth for yourself.” I can almost hear her saying, “It is right here in John’s gospel. Read it for yourself. Jesus promises, “When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth… he will take what is mine and declare it to you,” (John 16. 13,14) Friends, we do not need officials telling us what to believe. The Spirit of Truth is with us.”
Oh dear! Hutchison’s message violates all that the keepers of the status quo protect. Outraged, the Church and government officials in the new Massachusetts Bay Colony bring Hutchison to trial and when she publicly claims direct experience with God, whom she assures them is not pleased with their behavior, she is charged with contempt and sedition and banished from the colony.
Has no one in the Church heard and heeded God’s words spoken through the prophet Joel? and repeated by Peter? “… I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh… upon slaves, women and men I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy.”
The windy Spirit of Truth lands on each of us. Apostles, Galileans, Parthians, Jews, Arabs, Mesopotamians, Mexicans, South Americans, Sudanese, migrants, asylum seekers, single, married, old, young, gay, straight, people of every skin and stripe, all filled with the Spirit of Truth and meant to speak Truth out loud.
So, how does the Spirit of Truth get silenced on the way to Church?
Maybe it is this. We humans are stuck on the question “What is truth?” the question Pilate raises when Jesus asserts, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” (John 18.37,38) Rather than believe what Jesus testifies is true, we choose sides and fight for what we think is right?
Here is the good news. The key to answering the question, “What is truth?” is hiding in plain sight and has nothing to do with answering (or worshipping) rightly.
When possessed by pride or the compulsion to win our bodies are as leaves tossed on writhing seas and like wind whipped flames our minds leap to judge, deface and destroy. By contrast, when we are steered by the Spirit of Truth our bodies like oak trees on good ground take root and like a pond’s mirror surface on a windless day our minds are clear. The trademark of pride and compulsion to win is insolence and dissension. The signature of the Spirit of Truth is humility and peace. The way to discern Truth in any situation is by asking ourselves and each other, “Does this thought, position, decision or action lead to greater peace within and among us? Or does it lead to agitation, fear and dissension?” The key to discerning, “What is Truth?” is peace.
Remember Jesus’ words just one chapter before John’s text? “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you… You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.” (John 14:27-28) Although the person of Jesus goes away, the Spirit of Truth comes to us. This is what the Feast of Pentecost is about, remembering and celebrating the Spirit of Truth that fills all people.
We know the presence of the Spirit of Truth by the peace it imparts within and among us. We know when the Spirit of Truth is upon us because it replaces fear, judgment, anger and troubled hearts with peace, peace that is nailed to the cross of every moment regardless of the circumstance.
Even though we call the season after Pentecost Ordinary Time I believe it is rather extraordinary because this is our collective opportunity to consent to the Spirit of Truth and give birth to peace.
While trapped in arguments over “what is truth?” our world is imploding. On the way to church we fight over abortion, gun rights, health care, education and the climate and who to blame. As long as we are bent on winning we are guaranteed to miss the mark, because on the way to church we lose the key that Jesus leaves us. Peace.
So let your car key or house key or church key be a reminder to consent to the Spirit of Truth and ask yourself, “Does this thought, position, decision or action lead to greater peace within and around me? Or does it lead to agitation, fear and dissension?” And then, choose peace.
*The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Houghton Mifflin Haracout Publishing Co., 1991.
If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.
