A NOISY crowd quickly gathered. Those who could not understand what was being said dismissed it all as drunken babble, but dozens of others assured them that those strange flames had turned unlettered Galilaean fishermen into wise and persuasive speakers of every language of the world.

Amid the hubbub, Peter rose to address them. With a smile, he countered that you can’t get that drunk by nine in the morning. No, what they were seeing was the fulfilment of a prophecy. For generations, Jews had longed for the day when God would act to save his people through his Anointed servant. That day, he said, had come.

Jerusalem’s crowds were witnessing the gift of God’s Spirit, promised in Scripture, a gift offered even to them - the same crowds that had so shamefully demanded Jesus’s crucifixion fifty days before - if they would only repent, and be baptised. Some three thousand stepped forward. The wise fishermen were drawing their net around the whole world.