THEY BEGAN TO SPEAK IN DIFFERENT TONGUES

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE PENTECOST, YEAR C

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

The feast of Pentecost which we celebrate today is an age-long feast which has a Jewish background. Its importance for Christians stems from the fact that it is the birthday of the Evangelizing Church. Many scholars and theologians agree to this fact. So we wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the missionary and Evangelizing Holy Mother Church. Pentecost is a Greek term which simply means “the fiftieth” day. It is an Isrealite-Jewish festival; one of the three listed in Ex 23: 14-17 (Passover, Pentecost and Feast of Tabernacle). It was called in there the feast of Harvest (Ex 23: 16), where the celebration of the first fruits of the crops sown takes place. In Ex 34:22, it is also called the feast of weeks. It is so called because it fell on the fiftieth day, a week of weeks, after the Passover. In Lev. 23: 15-21, the feast is reckoned by counting 7 weeks from the beginning of the grain harvest (cf. Also Deut 16: 9-12, Num 28:26-31, Chron. 8:13). It was simply a very important feast. In Judaism, the feast received two major significances: a) An agricultural feast with no historical motif during which two loaves were offered in gratitude to God for the ingathered harvest. b) The giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai, having a historical motif. The Pentecost became then the anniversary of the giving of the Torah, even though this motif did not appear until the Christian era.

This feast was a holiday for all and the crowds on the streets would be greater than ever. This would explain why God would choose this day for the manifestation and outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ. And this is the fiftieth day since the Easter Sunday.

According to the Acts of the Apostles, the Pentecost Day was very remarkable for the early Christian community. The Holy Spirit proved His presence and power both audibly and visibly. The visible sign was the tongue of fire that rested on each one of them. The audible sign was the noise heard as a result of the powerful wind from heaven. Added to these signs was the gift of speaking in other tongues. The disciples had an experience of the power of the Spirit flooding their beings such that they never had before.  Perhaps, on this day, the most remarkable event was the Gift of being understood by varied nationalities as the disciples only spoke their one language.

The Scripture was clear: And they began to speak in other tongues (cf. Acts 2: 4). The gift of Tongues is no doubt one of the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12: 8- 11). It is technically regarded as glossolaly. But what happened in Acts 2, we must say is not glossolaly. What is it then? The root of the word had diverse meanings in the Greco-Roman society. What the English versions of the Bible calls tongue is the translation of the Greek γλώσσα. Γλώσσα in the Ancient Greek usage could have three different meanings.

l As an organ of speech

l As the language of a people

l As an unintelligible sound uttered in spiritual ecstasy

We see these meanings reflected in the New Testament writings. The use of this word by Luke in the Acts is not exactly the same usage by Paul in his Letters. Even its usage in Acts 2 has even a different context with that of Acts 10 and 19. 

On the day of Pentecost, glossais simply denotes language of a people. Hence, when it was said that the disciples spoke in other tongues, it simply meant that they spoke in other languages. However, it does not even mean that they were speaking other languages, but that by the power of the Holy Spirit, they were understood in all languages by every nation (Parthians, Asians, Capadocians, Romans, etc). The Holy Spirit became their translators. That was the work of the Spirit; the gift He gave to the disciples so as to reach out to all nations. The glossais of Pentecost is described more precisely as a divinely prompted speech understood by every foreigner. It was intelligible to all those present, for they were heard declaring the wonders of the Lord (cf. Acts 2:11).

But, for what purpose did the Holy Spirit unite the whole human race by way of language on the day of Pentecost? This event reminds us of the story of the tower of Babel (Gen 11) in which all mankind was divided due to language/tongue diversities. This lost unity was restored on the day of Pentecost and is preserved in the Church. Through the outpouring of the Spirit, the Church is empowered to address herself to all nations and to be understood by them. Hence, the outpouring of the Spirit renders the Church articulate in preaching the gospel. Peter’s speech was the first proclamation. The Church now has as her prerogative the preaching of the Gospel, showing her commitment to Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit. By this, the Church becomes the sign of unity for all human race, breaking down all walls of separation between peoples and bringing them together in one body in Christ.

Furthermore, the glossais experienced by Peter in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:46) and that experienced by Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:6) are prophetic in context. When these people spoke in tongues, the author added that they also prophesied. But, how is prophesy connected to speaking in tongues? To answer this question, we must go to the Old Testament antecedents of the gifts of tongues. In Numbers 11:25-29, the Spirit descended on the seventy elders selected by Moses and they prophesied, but it was for that moment. In 1 Sam 10:5-19, during the anointing of Saul as king by Samuel, he was shown the sign that the Spirit of the Lord rested on him through the character of prophesy; he became a changed person. Again, in 1 Sam 19:20, the Spirit of God came upon Saul’s men and they prophesied. These episodes might allude to the view of glossais as the uttering of unintelligible sounds which would develop into the technical term glossolaly as momentary experience prompted by God when one is in spiritual ecstasy. It is not manipulated and does not come all the time.

Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, this same ecstatic experience appeared in the early Church but in a higher form as Charisma; the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is most certain that this would be the charisma experienced by Peter and Paul in the Acts. However, in that era, there was an experience of aberrations regarding this gift, probably as a result of people’s thought about it as the best of gifts. No wonder, Barclay William observed: There was in the early Church a phenomenon which has never completely passed away. It was called speaking with tongues...what happened was that someone in an ecstasy began to pour out a flood of unintelligible sounds in no known language (Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles). From this, any fake uttering of unintelligible sound cannot be regarded in the strict sense as speaking in tongues. The best we can call it in Barclay’s words is: speaking with tongues (babbling).

To prophesy denotes to speak in the name of God; glossolalia then is an inspired utterance. The practice of babbling became so rampart that Paul had to warn that if one speaks in tongues and there is no interpreter, he should better speak to him/herself (1 Cor. 14:28). And indeed speaking in tongues (in the context of spiritual ecstasy) is meant to communicate a divine message. The person who has the gift of glossolalia as the gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:8-11) is simply an instrument. In this sense, glossolalia is prophetic. Due to this confusion that arose in the Corinthian Church, and still does arise in ours today because of the aberration connected with glossolalia, Paul had to write to correct them. Every prophesy has a message which is given in an intelligible language. Since then, speaking in tongues can have a connection with prophesy. And Paul means to say then that it has to be intelligible. That was why he did not greatly approve of glossolalia without intelligibility because he preferred, which is rightly so that a message should be given in a language that could be understood.

Hence, whereas Luke in the Acts (except Acts 2) favoured the character of glossolalia in the context of prophesy, Paul in his Letter to the Corinthians added that glossolalia has to be intelligible. It is then conceivable that Luke’s outlook had been influenced by Paul’s critic of the glossolalia in 1 Cor. 14:2-19, comparing their incomprehensible sounds unfavourably with the edifying words of prophesy. This points greatly to an effort to inaugurate a mission that would cross all language barriers, which is the emphasis of Pentecost event. Acts 2:11 brings it out better: they were declaring the wonders of the Lord. What is then prophesying if it fails to declare the Lord’s wonders? Hence, prophesy and speaking in tongues has an inseparable connection; intelligibility, prompted by God, and must accompany with it certain message.

Do we still experience today the aberrations of the gift of tongues that Paul witnessed in the Corinthian Church? Could it not be true that whenever one corrupts the gift of God, the implication is that he/she takes the place of God and arrogates to him/herself of being able to practice that which comes only from God? We must continue to allow the Spirit to dispense his gifts to us and not imposing ourselves on Him. Remember, Paul made the Corinthians to understand that love is the greatest virtue (cf. 1 Cor. 13). Love disposes us to keep the commandments of Jesus; for Jesus has said in today’s Gospel reading: if you love me, keep my commandments. It is His wish that we love Him and to allow the Paraclete to dwell in us (as the Second reading exhorts: Rom 8:8-17), to use us as He pleases, and to enkindle in us the fire of His love. We continue thus to pray him to make us cooperative with the Holy Spirit who comes to renew the face of the earth. ♫Send forth your spirit O lord, that the face of the earth be renewed♫ (Psalm 104:30). May He renew His gifts in us, renew our Church, and renew the beauty of our world which we desire to preserve and enhance. Amen. HAPPY FEAST DAY AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU.