Hearing Spirit ‘speak’
For the Lesson titled “Spirit” from February 3 – 9, 2014
What if you were invited to a film debut, only to discover the dialogue was in Urdu, an Indian and Pakistani language? You might have trouble understanding! While human language has its limitations, this Bible Lesson, “Spirit,” illustrates how the language of Spirit, God, can be understood by anyone, anywhere.
The opening story in the Responsive Readings from Acts 1 and 2, now known as the “Pentecost,” shows how the language of Spirit communicates without restriction. Jews throughout the Roman world gathered annually in Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks. Held 50 days after Passover (thus “Pentecost,” from the Greek pentēkostē for the 50th day), the celebration served as an opportunity to give God thanks for the first fruits of the harvest.
When Jesus’ disciples gathered for this celebration, an event occurred that so inspired those following his teachings that it launched the apostolic activity of the early Church. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4 , Responsive Reading).
Although the Apostle Paul was not present at the Pentecost, he later wrote with the authority of experience to the Corinthian Christians about the nature of Spirit’s self-revealing power, saying that God revealed “the deep things of God” to us “by his Spirit” (I Corinthians 2:10 , citation 4). The New Living Translation renders it this way: “His Spirit … shows us God’s deep secrets.”
What is required to learn “God’s deep secrets” through the language of Spirit, then and now, is illustrated in the lives of two spiritual seekers. The first example is Nicodemus, a Pharisaical ruler who wondered about the divine power behind Jesus’ healing works. Jesus taught him of man’s origin in Spirit and the purification and renewal that follows this understanding (see John 3:1–8 , cit. 14).
Jesus had earlier identified this same Spirit as the anointing power of his ministry when he read Isaiah 61:1, 2 aloud in the synagogue. Explaining that the prophecy was fulfilled that day, Jesus went on to prove Spirit’s immediate healing power by casting out demons from a man thought to be possessed by them (see Luke 4, cit. 11).
The second example of a spiritual seeker is a eunuch from Ethiopia who sought help to understand an Isaiah scroll (the same book from which Jesus had earlier read). He eagerly received Philip, led by Spirit, to teach him about Jesus. The Ethiopian’s spiritually hungry heart must have felt Spirit communicating to him in order to ask what could prevent him from being baptized (see Acts 8:36 , cit. 17).
What drives someone to undergo the symbolic ceremony of baptism? Perhaps the eunuch’s question captures it. Nothing or no one could prevent him from hearing the language of Spirit and receiving its message.
Mary Baker Eddy, herself a spiritual seeker, explains the life-transforming rewards of such receptivity: “Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 505 , cit. 3). What a gift for hearing Spirit “speak”!
About the author
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