Thoughts on The Day of Pentecost

We have just observed the Feast of the Day of Pentecost.  Big day.  Great day.  But, as we examine the text critically, logistically and descriptively, we have a problem.  When you hear the Pentecost story and visualize it in your mind, what does it look like?   I ask this because the description is a bit confusing.  I think a lot of us see the first part of the story happening in the upper room.  But Acts does not say that these disciples were hiding.  Kinda hard to hide 120 people.  If we move backward a bit, Acts 1 has the account of the selection of Matthias as the replacement for Judas.  This takes place in an upper room, but there is no indication that they are hiding, or in fear.  There is also a break in the telling.  The election of the new member of the Twelve seems to have taken place pretty close to the time of Jesus’ Ascension.  That event is forty days after Easter. 

Our story today commences with the notation, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.”  Pentecost is fifty days after Passover, which coincides with Easter, so it is ten days more or less after the last event in Luke’s narrative.  In verse 2, the sound of the great rushing wind fills the entire house where they were sitting.”  Is it the same house?  Is it the same room in the same house?  We just don’t know.

Then, the noise of the wind and the disciples’ testimony draws a crowd.   And Peter addresses the people.  Have they come inside?  Or have Peter and the rest gone outdoors, perhaps even to a different location?  Is Peter speaking from the front porch?  We just don’t know – not from the biblical account.

When the people come together, they are identified as religious pilgrims who have come to Jerusalem to participate in the Feast of Weeks.  So, coming from all points between Jerusalem and Rome, the people represent a lot of languages.  And, everyone who came to wherever the apostles were heard the gospel in their native language.  But anyone who was in the city for the feast would have spoken Aramaic (the language of the Jews) or Greek (the common language of the Roman Empire).  Then again, when Peter speaks, he addresses “Men of Judea, and all who live in Jerusalem…”  So, he understands the audience to be not travelers, but residents.  So again, they would not require speaking in other languages in order to understand the apostolic proclamation. 

We are not going to resolve this conundrum today.  But we have to admit that there is cause for head-scratching here.  This is not to deny or refute any portion of the narrative.  It is probably the case that Luke was relying on multiple sources (he states plainly in his introductions that he himself is not an eyewitness) and has made little effort to reconcile those voices.  Also, it needs to be said that none of these things carry great weight in the story.  But, the more we know about text and context, the greater our opportunity for understanding.

I wonder what it looked like?