Sunday, April 4, 2021

DAY 8 – Jesus Has Risen: the Offering of the Firstfruits and Pentecost

Early in the morning on the first day of the week, as the sun had risen, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome arrive at the tomb to anoint Jesus only to learn that he has been raised (ἐγείρω, egeiro) and was no longer there.  They were to tell his disciples that he is going ahead of them to Galilee, where they will see him (Mk 16:1-8). 

Jesus was raised the day after the Sabbath.  On this day the priest would offer up the sheaf (עֹ֫מֶר;ʿōmer) of the firstfruits (רֵאשִׁית; rēʾ šît) before the Lord (Lev 23:9-11).  Jesus is not only the Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7) but also the first fruits of those raised (ἐγείρω, egeiro) from the dead (15:20). 

In Second Temple Judaism, the fifty days between the Jewish Feast of Passover and the Feast of Shavuot (Weeks) came to be known as the Feast of Pentecost.  In Early Christianity, the time between Easter and Pentecost Sunday was also fifty days.  Pentecost was not an isolated feast day.  The fifty days from the resurrection of Christ, the firstfruits, to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the firstfruits (Rom 8:23) is Pentecost. 



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