I recently wrote that in order to truly understand the books and letters of the New Testament, we need to read them through a ‘Jewish lens.’ The reason for this is that all the books and letters of the New Testament were written by Jewish authors, with one exception. The person who wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles was more than likely non-Jewish (a Gentile), but they were also a proselyte, meaning they were a convert to Judaism. So even in the case of this person, they also would have been writing under the influence of the Jewish Scriptures. We need to be mindful of this as we read the New Testament.
Take for example, the reading for Pentecost Sunday from the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the Apostles receiving the Holy Spirit. Now as Christians, that’s what we associate with the Day of Pentecost, the Apostles receiving the Holy Spirit. But the Day of Pentecost originated from the Jewish religious tradition.
The word ‘pentecost’ is derived from the Greek word Πεντηκοστή, meaning “fiftieth” because the Jews celebrated the Feast of Weeks on the fiftieth day after Passover. The Feast of Weeks, also known as the the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, was one of three religious festivals that Jewish people were required to celebrate by worshipping in the Temple in Jerusalem. The people were expected to present an offering from the wheat harvest to God in the Temple. There would have been a large number of Jewish people visiting Jerusalem at this time, which is what we read in the Acts of the Apostles, “Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.” (Acts 2:5)
Jewish tradition also associated the Feast of Weeks with the renewal of God’s covenant with the people of Israel, because the date marked the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. The Apostles received the Holy Spirit on the fiftieth day after Jesus was raised from the dead on what we now know as Easter Day. So, just as Pentecost originally marked the renewal of God’s covenant with the people of Israel, the author of Acts is suggesting that it now marks the beginning of a new covenant between God and all people (Jew and Gentile) which is identified by the act of receiving the Holy Spirit.
And as I have written in a previous blog, the author of the Gospel of John suggests that people no longer need to go to Jerusalem to worship God in the Temple, which they were required to do for the three major Jewish religious festivals each year, because Jesus has effectively replaced the Temple as the means by which the people worship God. They worship God in Jesus, not in the Temple in Jerusalem.
