He said to them,
"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?"
They answered him, "We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
He said, "How were you baptized?"
They replied, "With the baptism of John."
Saint Luke's Acts of the Apostles describes the many challenges the Christian missionaries faced as they announced the gospel to the ends of the earth. Because they and their "Messiah" were Jews their first duty -- it seemed -- was to the Jewish people. But the Jewish reception of the Gospel was tepid at best, whereas the Gentile bystanders who heard snippets of the story, and understood less, were enthusiastic both to learn more and to join the movement.
Luke also recalls the work of John the Baptist and the controversy around him. The wild man in the Jordan Valley threatened the wrath of God upon the corrupt, and promised relief to the poor. Popular opinion regarded John as a true prophet like Isaiah and Jeremiah, and people flocked to the Jordan River to be baptized with a baptism of repentance. By declaring their sins and accepting baptism they confidently believed they had returned to God. Many, hearing rumors of Jesus, must have supposed that the Galilean's ministry and aims were no different.
The Evangelists, however, believed that the ministry of John the Baptist only prepared the Way for Jesus. If John was a light in darkness, Jesus was the rising sun! But that opinion was apparently not widely known or accepted. Who would suppose that baptism in the name of Jesus might institute an entirely different relationship with God -- a new religion with roots in Judaism but a very different creed?
So when Jesus' missionaries set out from Jerusalem after Pentecost they met people who thought they already knew about John the Baptist and Jesus. Yes, they had been baptized, that was very pleasant. But they were not on fire with the Holy Spirit. The Apostles would tell them, "No one knows the Son or the Father without the Holy Spirit." And then confirm them in the Holy Spirit.
And so we have the Sacrament of Confirmation, practiced by many Christian churches.
How one experiences the Holy Spirit has always been, is, and will always be controversial and contentious. Northern Europeans and their cultures, it seems, are naturally suspicious of enthusiasm until they get it. And then they get a little wild with it! Other nations are more comfortable with enthusiasm, channeling it into shouts, claps, stomps and so forth while others wonder, "Is that the Holy Spirit?"
Every denomination looks to the scriptures to find guidance. And they find what they expect to find, either less or more control, depending on their temperament.
What I find in the scripture -- and especially this passage -- is the apostolic tradition of the Catholic Church, which urges us not to wander too far from our community, leadership and traditions. The Ephesians needed Paul and Apollos to confirm their faith as the apostles brought them into the fold of the one Church. "Test every spirit!" Saint John warns us in his first letter. God's "cloud of witnesses" guides us individually and collectively, because a sheep in the wilderness is dead meat for a wolf.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.