Introduction
In Jesus’s day, the Roman Empire did not enforce Jewish law but the authorities in Jerusalem did. They required all Jews to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for certain major feasts, one of which was the Feast of Weeks, fifty days after Passover.
THE Jewish Feast of Weeks was kept fifty days after Passover, so in Greek the feast was called Pentecost, from the word for ‘fiftieth’.* It celebrated both the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai and the first-fruits of Spring, and Jewish law required everyone to go to Jerusalem for it.
Jesus’s apostles, together with his mother Mary and other women from his entourage, had remained in Jerusalem since his death and resurrection. Now, on the Feast of Weeks, they were gathered, as had become their habit, in an upper-storey room for prayer.
Suddenly, a sound like a powerful wind filled the room, and forked tongues of fire flickered above the heads of Peter, John, and the other apostles (including Matthias, chosen in Judas’s place). And they began to speak: not in their accustomed Aramaic or Greek, but in the various languages and dialects of the milling crowd of pilgrims, visitors from all across the Roman world – an oddity which soon attracted attention.
In Hebrew, it is called ‘Shavuot’. It marks the occasion when on the peak of Mount Sinai God gave to Moses the Law by which Israel was to live when she entered the Promised Land; and also the gathering of ‘first fruits’, i.e. the first ripe products of the growing season, which are then offered to God. For Christians, it marks the gathering in of the Gentiles, the first-fruits (so to speak) of the Apostles’ evangelisation of the world; and the coming of the Spirit marks the fulfilment of the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:26, renewing the Law by making it more internal: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” See also Stone Tablets and a Golden Calf, and Passover to Pentecost.
Précis
The apostles used to gather in a room in Jerusalem, and on the Feast of Weeks, fifty days after Passover, they were met for prayer when the sound of a strong wind came, and flames appeared above their heads. Afterwards, they found they could speak dozens of languages, something which soon attracted attention to them. (55 / 60 words)
The apostles used to gather in a room in Jerusalem, and on the Feast of Weeks, fifty days after Passover, they were met for prayer when the sound of a strong wind came, and flames appeared above their heads. Afterwards, they found they could speak dozens of languages, something which soon attracted attention to them.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: if, may, must, or, otherwise, ought, unless, until.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why were there lots of people in Jerusalem at this time?
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives. The apostles returned to Jerusalem. They met regularly for prayer.