Our Scripture readings for this Sunday – Pentecost Sunday – are Leviticus 23:15-22 and Acts 2:1-13.
What does the Feast of Weeks have to do with Pentecost (as we understand it in our New Testament framework)?
As you read through Acts 2, it turns out that Luke assumes a lot of us as readers that maybe we haven’t stopped to think about. Why were all these “God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” in Jerusalem? What were they celebrating?
It turns out they were there celebrating Pentecost … but not the same “Pentecost” that we will celebrate on Sunday. They were there to celebrate the Feast of Weeks – the feast that happened fifty days (the root word for Pentecost, “pente,” means fifty) after the Feast of Firstfruits -- or "Pentecost" as it is called in Greek. Generally, Pentecost was a harvest festival where God-fearing Jews brought the firstfruits of the wheat harvest before God, along with a bread offering. It was one of the festivals that Jews were required to attend in Jerusalem. Over time, however, it also became a feast where God’s people gave Him thanks for the gift of the law on Mount Sinai, delivered through Moses, that taught them how they should live as His people.
As we gather to worship on Sunday we will look at the connection between the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament and the event of Pentecost in Acts 2. As we do, we will see how the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost fulfills the Feast of Weeks from the Old Testament, but even more, how that fulfillment applies to our lives today.