Today Christians celebrate the resurrection
of Christ. Moreover, the day is the beginning
to the Feast of Pentecost (Feast of First-Fruits or Weeks).
The Feast of Pentecost has its roots in
the Hebrew Scriptures. Today marks the
beginning of the offering up of the omer
of first-fruits along with other offerings (Lev 23:9-14). Later there was the lifting up of the offering
of the bread of the first-fruits along with other offerings on the 50th
day (23:15-22). Thus, the feast is
associated with the harvest. In later
Jewish tradition the day corresponded with the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.
In the Christian tradition, the
Resurrection of Christ begins the countdown of fifty days until Pentecost and the
giving of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the
first-fruits of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:20).
He was raised like the first-fruits of the barley harvest (omer).
Yet, this was only the beginning for Pentecost, whose fulfillment came
fifty days later with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who is herself the
fulfillment of first-fruits (Rom 8:23).
In his apocalyptic vision, John sees a
Lamb standing as having been slain and having the seven spirits of God sent
into all the earth (Rev 5:6). In Christ,
the resurrection is intimately linked with the mystery of Pentecost. Christ becomes the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor
15:45).
No comments:
Post a Comment