“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability,” (Acts 2:1–4 NRSV).
As I sit here and reflect on this passage, the day of Pentecost has come and gone. This is the day when the Spirit of God came upon those gathered in Acts 2 and the life of the church began. This is when power from on high brought tongues of fire and empowered the apostles to proclaim the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. On this day—Pentecost Sunday—Christians all over the world celebrate the coming of the Spirit in starting the church.
Yet even during this celebration of Pentecost, I can’t help but feel a sense of despair and frustration. At this very moment, war continues to rage in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Sudan. Thousands have died, and thousands more continue to suffer. And it’s often the case that speaking out on these issues, whether in the church or wider community, is considered divisive and even hostile. I see Christians that I know and love show ambivalence to or even denigrate those who are hurting. And to those protesting on behalf of the suffering, they are seen as naïve or even hateful. It’s as though to be a “true Christian” in the eyes of so many, you have to reject the very people that Jesus came to save.
And in the end I have to ask the question: Where is Jesus in the face of such violence? Where is the Holy Spirit in the face of such violence? Where is the church in the face of such violence?
Though it’s not often preached on or talked about on Pentecost Sunday, I have found that the book of Ruth speaks to many of my worries, fears, and despairs. For Jews, the book of Ruth is traditionally read on Shavuot, or as it is called in English, the Feast of Weeks. For Christians it is known as Pentecost (the Greek translation meaning “fifty”), and it happens fifty days after Easter. Ruth is read during this occasion because, just like Pentecost or Shavuot, the events of the book happen during harvest time.
But unlike Acts 2, the story of Ruth is a story of the ordinary. It’s not a tale of miraculous signs and wonders. It’s a story where we see the love and compassion of God in welcoming and providing for the marginalized. Despite Ruth’s status as poor, a widow, and a foreigner (and a Moabite one at that!), God still provides for her. And through this provision, he provides for her widowed mother-in-law Naomi, as well. It’s amazing to me that not once in the story does God speak or seem to take direct action. Yet we see God’s work through Boaz, not only by providing food, but also by welcoming the marginalized Ruth into the family of God. The story at its core shows what it means to be the people of God for those who are rejected or despised.
It can probably be asked at this point what this has to do with Pentecost, let alone the wars we see all around us. After all, there’s no mention of the Spirit or of violence in the book of Ruth. In our world violence afflicts the powerless, in Ruth it was famine. In our day the Spirit has come, but in Ruth the Spirit had not come. Yet, in both, we see Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself,” (Matt 22:39 NRSV). In our day, we live after the resurrection of Jesus and after the coming of the Spirit, and so we are empowered to seek the same justice that we see in the book of Ruth. It is here that we see what it means to be part of the people of God in the first place. To embrace the stranger, to help provide the necessities of life, and to welcome the marginalized into the life of Christ is part of that mission.
So, what does it mean to be a follower of Christ in this moment? What does it mean to believe that the Spirit has come, and that the Spirit empowers the church to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ? I believe it means what we find in the book of Ruth. It means to be bold in standing up for the hurting and the outcast in our communities and across the world no matter what those around us may say. It means that the Spirit of God empowers us to be the light of Christ in the lives of those around us who are suffering, to speak truth to power, and to comfort those who are mourning. All of this we see in the book of Ruth, and all of this we are called to be as the people of God.
In the end, my prayer and hope are that we would all receive the Spirit of Pentecost to welcome in, to advocate for, and to love the poor, the weary, the marginalized, and the people that the world has rejected and tossed aside.
