On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39

The Feast of Pentecost is upon us again. However, there was another feast day preceding it which has lost its prominence in the modern church. Well, some churches observe it like my very first home church in Singapore but only because of its namesake. Curiously, the only country I have lived in where the feast day of Ascension was celebrated as a public religious holiday was Indonesia, a country with the largest Muslim population in the world. Muslims believe that Jesus ascended to the heavens, too. I am ignorant of the theological significance of this event for the Islamic faith but I do not suppose that it is for the same reason as for the early Christians. Jesus, in Islam, is considered a highly esteemed prophet. For Christians, the Ascension of our Lord has everything to do with the establishing of His Kingdom.

I was born and raised in Singapore, a multicultural and multireligous country. My family belonged to the Roman Catholic community which was the smallest minority at that time, less than 2 percent of the population. The predominant culture in our society was Chinese with a strong Confucian influence. In school, we were taught about the ancient history of China; the building of the Great Wall and all the empires which rose and fell within these walls. Most of these remained as a vague memory except for the concept of an Emperor which the ancient Chinese held. Maybe because it is relevant to my reading and interpreting of the Bible. They called him (it was mostly a “him”), “the Son of Heaven”. It was a lofty title. The ancient Chinese were ambitious people. They believed that their king was not just a king limited to their geographic location but his kingdom expanded wherever the heavens presided over the earth. Consequently, his actions and philosophy of life were applicable for all peoples. However, only those who were enlightened could appreciate and worship the “son of heaven”. Those who were blind to this fact were considered subhumans. We find this same attitude present in the ancient Babylonians, Greeks and Romans. Every empire craved universal dominance. They knew that true power and eternal influence rested on the one who could possess the heavens or at least claim ownership of them. It is the same old story of the Tower of Babel. Each time the results are the same, more division and strife among peoples. Unfortunately, it continues to our present time.

Jesus did not conquer heaven nor lay any special claims to it. It welcomed and enthroned Him. In other words, according to our faith, it is the rightful place for Him. He is not a King of one particular nation or people. He is not the property of any sect or religion. He is the crowned King of Kings in the Heavens. His kingdom is universal wherever the heavens preside over the earth. However, not everyone is able to see nor recognize His reign. There were still barriers and obstacles due to centuries of the hatred and strife which has dominated the hearts and minds of humanity. They cannot comprehend a Kingdom which does not work in these foundations of discord. It is so foreign to our human mindset and we need someone who understands the mind of God to reconcile us to this Truth.

It is common practice in many churches to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost by reading the gospel reading in many different languages. Depending on the number of speakers of different languages in the congregation, this could be either a beautiful or a tedious event. Nevertheless, we can agree that the general idea is lovely. It reveals how our faith can unite people of many different cultures under one roof to worship the King of Kings. However, the greatest division among people today is not based on language but on social and religious differences.

In many ways our social status influences our cultural formation as well as our worldview. Even our interpretation of the Bible or any religious text are deeply influenced by it. Sometimes we add the word “Christian” to these values to sanction them and even make them sound as if they are aligned with the values of God’s Kingdom. Jesus Himself warned us that many will say, “Lord, Lord” but they are not part of His flock. Therefore, before we can think about being instruments of the Reconciliation we have to allow the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives and remove our own prejudices and preferences which are not on par with the Kingdom of Heaven.

When the disciples started speaking in different languages on the day of Pentecost, they realized that the Hebrew language did not have precedence nor dominance of all things Holy. It must have been a very difficult thing for them to accept that God’s divine presence is manifested in all languages and cultures. This demanded a radical change in their attitudes and it was a necessary one in order for them to become truly messengers of abundant life to the world. In the same way, for today’s world, we need to acknowledge that the abundant life which the gospel promises is not restricted to our idea of a successful or holy life. We have to acknowledge that we have a very limited way of looking at things. The Kingdom of Heaven is larger and wealthier than our finite mind can comprehend. Therefore, we need someone who understands the wealth and breadth of this Kingdom to guide and orientate us. No one can fulfill this task except for the Holy Spirit. The problem is that Holy Spirit does not act on demand. We have to wait for the Spirit. Jesus said,

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

All we can do is to wait and have confidence that the Spirit of Jesus will come and act at the most pertinent time. Part of the waiting involves the willingness to leave our prejudices behind and allow the Spirit to show us God’s love present in ways which we never had imagined before.

We recently received an invitation to a birthday party. Taina’s baby is turning one. It is her third child and she had just turned 21. She is also a first generation homeless youth. Her children are with her and they are second generation homeless. Taina tried living as a squatter in an abandoned building. However, all she knows is life in the streets and spends most of the day and night in the streets with the children. Recently, she was forced out of the abandoned building and spent months living in a tent with all the children. Eventually she found a room to rent with her mother. Her mother is Patricia who I wrote about not too long ago. All these things about Taina are disturbing to our middle class sentiments. However, the Holy Spirit did not bring us here to be middle class missionaries. We are here because of the Kingdom of Heaven and Taina is a sheep of Jesus’ flock. It took a lot of waiting on our part to finally see the person in Taina and not just all the problematic issues surrounding her. The Holy Spirit is helping us to discern with wisdom that Taina is giving us a beautiful gift by asking us to celebrate her child’s life. The only thing she wanted was for us to take pictures of the baby. She wants to have pictures of her child before he grows up ever so quickly. She told us that the party was just a small affair among family members. She has included us in the mix. The divide is overcome. We have known Taina for a long time. We did not have this kind of friendship with her before. She is a very shy girl and perhaps she was afraid that we might judge her for her being a mother at such a young age. Now, she feels free to talk with us. She knows that we see her as an individual with all of life’s complexities and she returns the favor. Now, we can move forward together to discover the Kingdom of Heaven present in our midst.