Pentecost: Divine Disruptions of a Surprising Spirit

Author: Kaitlyn Lightfoot

Descent of the Holy Spirit (Ukrainian Orthodox Icon)

Kaitlyn Lightfoot holds a Bachelors degree in music, as well as a Masters degree in theology, both conferred by Acadia University. She has served in a variety of ministry capacities—music, families and youth, outreach, and more. She likes reading dense theology books, exploring God’s beautiful creation, and enjoying the colour yellow.

“A pentecostal utterance:

The Spirit of the Lord

fills the universe,

holds

all things together,

knows,

all forms of utterance.

It would seem that the church is called to this momentous task: to hold close in the Spirit, in honor and unity (and in face of cultural disintegration and incoherence), all that is worthy, all that is encompassed by the noble term human. Thus enabled by the Spirit, let believers respond to the deepest longings of others. In a culture of death, longing for a way out of death, longing for a word of life, for companions who favor and cherish life. For that multitude “clothed in white garments” who surrender life itself for sake of others (Revelation 6:11). Often we fail, we play the Pharisee, contemn the movements of the spirit in others. This is a required honesty and confession. Let us look to it.”

-       Daniel Berrigan, Wisdom: The Feminine Face of God, 17.

I think surprise and disruption were of common occurrence for Jesus’ disciples. Throughout the gospels, we see the disciples constantly disrupted and surprised by Jesus and the workings of the Holy Spirit. Two of my favourite examples of such are when Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman (John 4:27) and when children were brought to Jesus and he blessed them (Matthew 19:13). Perhaps most pointedly, the disciples were very surprised and disrupted by the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ—even though Jesus had given them plenty of warnings about what was to happen! I think both the disciples and the crowd experienced similar feelings of surprise that Pentecost day when the Holy Spirit descended. That Pentecost day, the liberating movement of the Holy Spirit disrupted and surprised all human expectations and assumptions, speaking through the most unlikely of people and in the most unlikely of ways. Indeed, Pentecost is a divine disruption of God’s surprising Spirit.

The story of Pentecost begins with expectation and waiting, but it quickly turns into surprise. The disciples—including the apostles, as well as “certain women” and Mary, the Blessed Mother—waited obediently for the promised Holy Spirit, a promise they would have barely understood. They prayed for a power they did not understand. Then, in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit descends “suddenly” from heaven (Acts 2:2). Even though the disciples knew what was coming and were waiting for it, I do not think they realized the magnitude of this occasion until it actually happened. What came with the Holy Spirit was a sudden, violent wind and divided tongues as of fire (Acts 2:2-3). Suddenly and surprisingly, the disciples were divinely disrupted. The Holy Spirit did not descend quietly or predictably, but with an overwhelming and uncontainable presence. The disciples were surprised by the movements of the Holy Spirit. This forceful wind caught them off guard. From the very beginning, the Holy Spirit defied human assumptions and expectations.

Because the Holy Spirit defies human expectations, he rarely arrives on the people we expect, or in the way we expect. Recall that the people of Jerusalem expected a military Messiah with political power to liberate them from Rome. Instead, they received a crucified carpenter. And prior to Pentecost, the disciples were praying for power and probably expecting God’s Spirit to descend upon their leaders and elders in an orderly fashion. Yet, the Holy Spirit comes with disarray and on ordinary people, now speaking unfamiliar languages. On the day of Pentecost, God did not play by safe, human rules. The disciples had prayed, asking for the power of the Holy Spirit to come, but they did not expect this. Yale Divinity professor and theologian Willie James Jennings writes: “This is real grace, untamed grace. It is the grace that replaces our fantasies of power over people with God’s fantasy for desire for people” (Jennings, Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, 45).

That Pentecost day, God did not bind himself to human ideals, assumptions, and traditions. He simply moved in explosive, liberating power. This is God’s real, untamed, unexpected, unmerited grace.

Then after the Holy Spirit descends, Peter addresses the confused people in Jerusalem and explains what is happening. He draws from the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy… Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17-18). “All flesh” is not merely a poetic word choice by the prophet Joel that Peter is quoting here. For Jewish society at the time, as Peter was speaking, this was a revolutionary cry. In a society where women, slaves, and Gentiles were regarded as second-class citizens, especially in religious practice, the idea that even they could receive God’s Spirit and speak for God would have been jarring. Much to the surprise of human expectations and assumptions, this Pentecostal Spirit was to be poured out on daughters, slaves, outsiders, indeed “all flesh.” God’s Spirit did not bind himself to human expectations and traditions that Pentecost day. He simply moved as he wanted to move, descending upon those least expected and even deemed “worthy” by human standards.

Another surprise the disciples experienced was the various sounds of Pentecost. Not only did the Spirit descend with a loud, violent wind, but he also gave the disciples the power to speak in other languages. The gift did not just involve a gift of speaking, but it also involved a gift of hearing: everyone heard this miracle in their own native language (Acts 2:8). One can only imagine how shocking this must have been for the people listening. Baptist theologian Clark Pinnock wrote that “Pentecost offered the Spirit a unique opportunity to work freely” (Pinnock, Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit, 111). This promised Spirit, freshly descended upon the disciples, was now moving freely and bringing a new continuation to the meaning of God Emmanuel, God with us. Just as Jesus had become incarnate into our human reality, God’s Spirit had now come upon the disciples. And now they were bringing the  liberating power of that Spirit to all people, regardless of human language barriers. God’s Spirit became God’s presence with us, with all of us, and in all of us.

This is an easy point to miss, but I think it is essential: the Pentecost event is a continuation of the event and purpose of the incarnation. In the incarnation, Jesus had become present in human flesh to liberate all human flesh; at Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit was now becoming present in all human flesh, so that humanity may partner with God in continuing his divine mission of liberation. The Holy Spirit gave the disciples divine, charismatic gifts in order that they may partner with God in this liberating mission. The renowned German theologian Jurgen Moltmann defined charismatic gifts as “whatever can be put at the service of Christ’s liberating lordship” (Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, 182). Thus, if charismatic gifts are meant to serve Christ’s liberating lordship, that means the church, empowered by charismatic gifts, must pursue holy liberation if she is to be the church fully. The holiness of God’s Holy Spirit is a holiness of divine liberation, and in filling us with himself, he invites us to partner with him in that holiness. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, it was charismatic gifts of liberation that led the disciples out to preach Christ’s liberating lordship. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, it was charismatic gifts of liberation that empowered the disciples to perform miracles. And empowered by the Holy Spirit, it was charismatic gifts of liberation that—despite societal expectations at the time—prompted the disciples of the early church to encourage and empower leaders like Lydia, Phoebe, Priscilla, Mary of Rome, Junia, Lydia, Tryphena and Tryphosa, Persis, and Euodia and Syntyche (Acts 16:14-15, Romans 16:1, Romans 16:3, Romans 16:6, Romans 16:7, Romans 16:12, and Philippians 4:2-3). Because God’s wisdom is greater than human wisdom, these women—despite patriarchal assumptions and expectations—were chosen, empowered, and filled by God’s Spirit himself. Pentecost reminds us that God’s divine workings through the Holy Spirit are often a surprise to us, a surprise that defies our narrow human expectations and societal assumptions.  Recall that the crowds were surprised to hear the disciples prophesying and speaking in tongues. They asked, “Are not all those who are speaking Galileans?” (Acts 2:7). It is easy to miss, but this question is dripping with cultural bias and prejudice. First-century Galileans were looked upon with suspicion and disdain by southern Jews because so many non-Jewish people lived there (“Galilee” in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, volume 1, 536). A prejudice had spread that Galileans could not be taken seriously (“Galilee: NT Times” in Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume 2, 686). Recall that in John 1:46, Nathanael asked “Can anything good come from Nazareth [of Galilee]?” Nathanael, even being a Galilean himself, had trouble comprehending something good coming from that region. That Pentecost day, in Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish life and worship, those human prejudices were not hidden. Still, God’s Spirit did not bind himself to their human assumptions and prejudices. He simply descended on those whom he had chosen, regardless of human expectations. Do we listen to these divine disruptions that defy our human prejudices and expectations, or are we like the crowds, wanting to dismiss the Spirit’s surprising movements?

Indeed, Pentecost also reminds us that the surprising movements of the Holy Spirit are often met with disbelief and mockery, particularly when he moves through unlikely or unexpected vessels. That Pentecost day, some people in the crowds even laughed at the disciples and accused them of being drunk, trying to dismiss their actions as silly and ridiculous (Acts 2:13). I fear that this same reaction is all too familiar in our churches today. Whenever someone begins to speak boldly and challenge our expectations, they are often quickly dismissed, ridiculed, or worse. I can recall one time in my former church community where someone speaking boldly was rejected simply because they were from a different country. Instead of listening to what they had to say and how the Holy Spirit was speaking through them, we shut down this divine weight because it was challenging and unfamiliar to us. This Pentecost day, I wish to remind us all of this truth: the Holy Spirit often moves in surprising, unexpected ways. Let us not be so quick to dismiss this surprising Spirit because he challenges our assumptions and expectations. Indeed, it is through challenging our human assumptions and expectations that salvation in Christ Jesus came. Let us not be like the Pharisees of that story, or those in the sneering crowd in the Pentecost story we celebrate today.

Because if we really listened to the speech and movements of the Holy Spirit in the people we often look over, reject, and neglect, I cannot help but wonder what might happen. What if we stopped trying to gatekeep God’s calling, and rather looked with expectation on the people we least often expect?

I think we might find that, like those early disciples, the Spirit is already moving, already filling unexpected voices with fire and words with power. We might discover that the very people we have often overlooked carry the voice of God’s Spirit for this moment, here and now.

Pentecost shows us that when the Spirit comes, the marginalized are moved to the centre. Boundaries blur. Power shifts. And the Church becomes, once again, a living, breathing witness to the wild, inclusive, unpredictable, liberating love of God. Indeed, Pentecost is a call to pay attention. It is an invitation to listen not only for the rushing wind, but also for the voices that we are not used to hearing. To notice the ways God keeps choosing those we least expect, to speak his message of liberating truth, hope, love, and transformation.

The Holy Spirit does not conform to human rules. He turns them beautifully upside down.

The Holy Spirit does not obey human wisdom. He wonderfully calls those deemed “unlikely” or “unworthy.” 

The Holy Spirit does not meet human expectations. She magnificently exceeds all of them and seeks to bring all things into her surprising power of liberation and hope, the same power of liberation and hope that destroyed death in raising Jesus Christ from the grave.

So let us, as church and as individuals, be open today to the liberating surprises that Pentecost brings. Let us welcome the fire, even when it falls on the “wrong” and unexpected people. Let us affirm the daughters who prophesy, the poor who are lifted up, and the marginalized who rise to lead—all by the divinely disruptive and surprising power of God’s Holy Spirit.

For in doing so, we do not merely remember Pentecost. We live it.

Today, let us live Pentecost. And in so doing, let us listen to the divine disruptions of our God’s surprisingly holy, Holy Spirit, the One who seeks to bring all things into Christ’s liberating lordship and empowers all people with gifts to help do so.

Berrigan, Daniel. Wisdom: The Feminine Face of God. Franklin, WI: Sheed and Ward, 2001.

Jennings, Willie James. Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017.

“Galilee” in Douglas, J. D., and N. Hillyer, eds. The Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Vol. 1 (Aaron-Golan). 3 vols. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1980, 537-538.

“Galilee: NT Times” in Tenney, Merrill C., and Moises Silva, eds. The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible. 2nd ed. Vol. 2 (D-G). 5 vols. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009, 686-687.

Moltmann, Jurgen. The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001.

Pinnock, Clark H. Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit. 2nd ed. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2022.