July 5, 2007

“When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.” Acts 2:6.
Large crowds of Jewish pilgrims from all over the ancient world had gathered in the Holy City, Jerusalem, to celebrate the Festival of Pentecost. God waited for just the right moment to release His Holy Spirit among the new group of followers of Jesus, just as He had earlier promised. When the assembled crowds heard the praises to their God in their own native tongues, they gathered around this small group to see what strange thing that had happened. In their bewilderment, that wondered what possibly this could be about.
Imagine what it must have been like for these pilgrims, who had traveled so far from their native lands. They must have been excited, anticipating wonderful things to happen during this festival in their most holy city, Jerusalem. Picture yourself as one of the crowd from far away. This might have been your first, and possibly only, time that you would make this journey. You paid very close attention to every activity that happened around you. You were mesmerized by the sights, smells, and sounds around you. Then this strange and amazing occurrence happens! You did not know what to think of it. It seemed so out of the ordinary, and you had never heard of such a thing happening ever before. It might have even worried you, as this appeared to be so out of the ordinary and very strange, yet something about it thrilled your heart. You heard many strange languages spoken and you heard your own native tongue giving praise and adoration to your God. It really must have been quite extraordinary and beautiful. And you stuck around to see what else would happen.
I have gone to very large gatherings of people – music festivals and the like – and have witnessed some pretty strange things, as I am sure that you most likely have too. Usually I am mildly interested and just move on to the next weird, wild, and/or “wonderful” happening. I wonder if I had been part of the crowd that day in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago, would I have stuck around to listen and see what was in store for the assembled crowd. In moving on, I would have missed hearing and experiencing what God had for that crowd. Are there times when I “move on” from what God may have in store for me because I perceive that it is out of my “normal” experience? Take some time today to reflect on the assembled crowd that day. What type of person would you have been in the crowd? How would you have responded – would your “bewilderment” lead you to leave or would you have stuck around to hear more? Sometimes, the act of taking a little more time can make the difference.