Many of us are aware that Pentecost ranks among our greatest feasts in the liturgical calendar. Still, few Christians, including clergy, comprehend the in-depth meaning of the events of Acts 2: 1-13. The disciples, gathered together, experience a powerful wind; then tongues as of fire that settle on each of them. Finally, they begin speaking and being understood in different languages. What could be the meaning of these apparently disparate marvels?

We can interpret Luke’s intent in three ways.

1. The fundamentalist. If we were present, we would have heard and felt the wind shaking the very house and rousing fears for our own safety. Then, tongues of fire descend upon us, which singe our scalps, and raise our fear level even more. Finally, we can speak in different languages, and be understood by peoples of different lands.

The fundamentalist accepts in varying degree this narrative literally. They who were present experienced, however, none of these, for these three carry no reciprocal relationship, and surely mean nothing relative to the kerygma. Your house, scalp, and and need for study of foreign languages remain happily intact.

2. The biblicist. The author of Genesis opens his masterpiece with this exclamation: “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss while a mighty wind swept over the waters.” This signals the creation, the ordering of the disorderly primordium. Ruah is the Hebrew word for wind, but it also means spirit, and so the biblical student views creation as the work of God’s Spirit.

Luke employs fire as in Exodus, chapter 3. Therein, Moses encounters a burning bush atop Mount Horeb. This fire does not, however, consume the bush because its flames are spiritual not physical. Similarly, when Jesus exclaimed, “I have come to set the earth on fire. Luke 12: 49, he was not speaking of setting the earth afire, but of casting the Spirit of God throughout the land.

Back to Genesis wherein the author describes in the eleventh chapter, the famous myth of the tower of Babel modelled on the ancient ziggurrats. These were tall city buildings the top floors of which were dedicated as temples to strange gods, and thus were considered evil by the author of Genesis. Thus, he depicts God descending to obstruct the construction of the tower by confusing the builders’ languages. The Bible student, therefore, asserts, “Surely, this tale of common understanding of multiple languages represents a reversal of the evil intent of the narcissistic builders of Genesis 11.

3. The prophetic visionary. Many church men and women look upon Pentecost as the birthday of the church, but there was no church, bishops, or priests at that first Pentecost.

How describe, then, these powerful events? Let’s consult the author who writes in Acts 2: 4, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Pentecost celebrates the indwelling of the Spirit of God which is not an objective, occasional, magical impulse from God. The Holy Spirit represents our own effective decision, driven by the risen Christ within, seeking to come alive in each of us.

Earlier, we noted the powerful wind (the Spirit) bringing order from chaos at creation. The wind of Pentecost also does not blow lightly. Rather, it explodes in a new creation, a new set of human relationships, a new people born of the divine beyond, and driving humanity to a divine destiny. The Spirit of new goals (love, trust , and courage) motivates this new people, all of us. They live, in their current circumstance, the life of Christ, their innate founder and model.

This pentecostal fire surely refers to the passion of resolve needed for the new life to which Christ calls us. DeChardin describes that one supreme motivational force which can accomplish such transformation: “Love is the most universal, the most tremendous, and the most mystical of cosmic forces. It is like the blood of spiritual evolution.” This: the reason we define our God as love.

So, Pentecost calls us to love purely and fully, and become missionaries of love.

Could this be the true goal of all human life, and why the poet writes, “I live to love which is why I love to live.”

Now, we can understand why we can speak in different tongues and be understood, for everyone understands the language of love. And our love embraces all peoples. Our acceptance of pentecostal love destroys all discrimination and hurtful tribalism of every sort. It even summons us to forgive those who have wounded us. Pentecost calls us to reach out to all whom we touch, not in competition, economic or political gain but in genuine embrace. This is the true Christian mission: not to draw people to a church but to give myself in service to my beloved.

A magnificent expanding of this pentecostal love to all the created (human, terrestrial, and cosmic) leads us to live the admonition of Gary Zukav: “Eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.”