Ember Wednesday after Pentecost
Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles records that on the day of Pentecost St. Peter addressed the men of Judea and all those who dwelt in Jerusalem. He said that they were not drunk, for it was but the third hour of the day. Rather it was the fulfilment of the hope of the prophet Joel for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on all flesh. The sons and daughters would prophesy, the young men see visions and the old men dreams. “And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapour of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the day of the Lord shall be saved.”
The Holy Spirit had come upon the apostles enabling them to speak in tongues. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and those who had travelled to the city were amazed that they were able to understand them in their own languages. Others suspected that they were drunk with wine. St. Peter responded that they could hardly be drunk at such an early hour of the day. It was rather the fulfilment of the hope of the prophet Joel that in the future messianic age the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh. In the old dispensation such inspiration had been reserved for prophets, but in the new order all, men and women, young and old, would be enabled to prophesy. The people were now called to repent and be baptised for the remission of their sins and they too would be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The second reading is also from the Acts of the Apostles. In those days many signs and wonders were wrought by the apostles in the eyes of the people. The multitude who believed was increased. They brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that, when Peter came, he might overshadow them so that they would be healed of their infirmities. A multitude came from the neighbouring cities, bringing sick persons and those troubled with unclean spirits and they were healed.
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost gave them the strength to preach the good news of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Their proclamation, like that of the Saviour, was not only in word but in deed. St. Peter was enabled to work miracles in the name of Christ, which helped convince the multitudes in Jerusalem and in the neighbouring places of the truth of the gospel. It was not the result of his own strength, but the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of St. John (which we heard today) states that Jesus said: “No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day.” It had been written in the prophets that they would all be taught by God. “Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father.” He that believes has everlasting life. The fathers ate manna in the desert and are dead. But was himself the living bread that came down from heaven, that a man would eat of and not die. The bread he gave was his flesh for the life of the world.
St. Augustine states: “Think not that thou art drawn against thy will: the soul is drawn not willingly only, but lovingly. Neither must we be afraid that men who are great weighers of words, and very far from understanding the things of God, should catch us up upon this Gospel doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, and should say to us: How can my faith be willing if I am drawn? I answer: Thou art not drawn as touching thy will but by pleasure… There is pleasure in the heart to which the bread that came down from heaven is sweet…. But pleasure, which so draweth, is not a necessity, not a bond but a delight; how much more strongly, may we say, that men are drawn to Christ, who delight in truth, who delight in blessedness, who delight in righteousness, who delight in life everlasting, since truth, blessedness and righteousness are to found in Christ? Or have the bodily senses pleasure, and the spiritual senses none?… Give me a lover, and he will catch my meaning; give me a longer, give me a hungerer, give me a wanderer in this desert, athirst and gasping for the fountains of the eternal fatherland; give me such a one and he will catch my meaning. If he talk to some cold creature, he will not… The Father draweth to the Son them who believe in the Son, because they are persuaded that he hath God to his Father. God the Father begetteth to himself a co-equal Son; and whosoever is persuaded, and realiseth unto himself by faith, and thinketh, that he in whom he believeth is equal to the Father, him the Father is drawing unto the Son.
Arius, who believed that the Son was made, was not one of them whom the Father draweth; since whosever believeth not that the Father is a Father by the begetting of a co-equal Son, such a one knoweth not the Father…. Then, O Arius the Father hath not drawn thee; thou hast not understood his dignity as a Father, to whom thou deniest his Son. Thou dost deny the existence of the Son of God, the Father draweth thee not, and thou art not drawn to the Son, since the Son of whom thou speakest is another son, (existing only in thine own imagination) and not the really existent Son… Show a sheep a green bough and thou drawest him. Let a boy see some nuts and he is drawn by them. As they run, they are drawn, drawn by taste, drawn without bodily hurt, drawn by a line bound to their heart. If then, among earthly things, such as be sweet and pleasant draw such as love them, as soon as they see them, so that it is truth to say, “His special pleasure draweth each”, doth not that Christ, whom the Father hath revealed, draw? What stronger object of love can a soul have than the truth?”
Let us pray that the love of God may be poured into our hearts so that we will always be drawn to the truth that alone sets us free.
by the Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD (Cantab), Old Roman Apostolate UK
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