The believers of the church are endowed because of God’s grace. We are just the stewards to be used for the well being of the whole church, the body of Christ. Therefore, the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given: -
· Are not for self-interest;
· To be used;
· For the service of the church.
The whole idea of Apostle Paul is the essential unity of the body of Christ, the church; where the every member performs his/her duties or function in the church for the good of the whole body. Besides the gifts, we have other important aspects of the Holy Spirit’s manifestation in one’s life that is the fruits of the Spirit (Gal.5: 22-23). Apostle Paul puts love on top of the list of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians: Love; Joy; Peace; Patience: Kindness; Goodness; Faithfulness; Gentleness and Self-control. The man gifted with the Holy Spirit is a converted person but the true indication that a person has received the Spirit is not in the emotional externals but in a character molded into Christ-likeness. These fruits are nothing but the qualities of virtues (morals) shown in the life of the believers.
Pentecost comes from the Greek word penthkosth, (Pentecoste), literally meaning the fiftieth, given to the Jewish feast of weeks (Deut 16:10) which began fifty days after the Sabbath of the Passover festival. The day of Pentecost is the 50th day after the Sabbath of Passover week, thus the first day of the week. Pentecost is also called the Feast of the Weeks (Deut.16:10), the Feast of Harvest (Ex.23¹6) and the day of the first fruits (Num.28:26). This was a feast where the first fruits of the corn harvest were presented. Later on, the giving of the Law by Moses was also commemorated on this day. Fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit that was prophesied by the prophet Joel was given to all the believers. Joel prophesied almost eight hundred years before the birth of Christ, about how God will gift his spirit: ‘It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit’ (Joel 2:28).
The Gospel according to John, chapter 20 and verse 19 tell us that the disciples were afraid of the Jews so they had locked themselves in a room and often stayed together. Here in Luke 24:36 also when they were still telling each other about their experiences of seeing Jesus, Risen Christ enters the locked room and wishes them “Peace be with you”- which was probably a common practice to greet each other among the Jews but Jesus wanted to give them His Spiritual peace that he had promised his disciples earlier before his death. Jesus knew that all his disciples had run away at the time of His crucifixion and did not believe that He has risen from the dead but at this hour they really needed the blessings of their Guru. Jesus gives them joy because they were depressed on the death of their Guru; they got peace because they were mourning and were restless; they got the power of the Holy Spirit as they thought themselves to be weak in their faiths after the death of Jesus who gave them the new life because they all repented and received Jesus as their Messiah who delivered them from the burden of sin.
Verse 20 tell us that by Jesus entering the closed room, the disciples thought that the spirit or a ghost of Jesus is standing in front of them; but Jesus shows them as the forth proof of His resurrection; His physical body of flesh and bones, his feet and hands with nail prints; the marks of the wounds were still on His resurrected body. Disciples needed to be convinced that they were seeing the real person, Jesus. Jesus proved that He is the Risen Christ rather than a ghost that was standing amongst them; forgiving them for what they had done earlier with their Guru by running away at the time of His crucifixion. Jesus showed them His wounds to make them believe on every word He had spoken. The word “MUST” in the Luke 24:44 tells us that it is no mere accident that the Scripture is fulfilled. There is divine necessity about it. (The Law of Moses°; The Prophets¹ and The Psalms²) Jesus was saying that these threefold division of the Hebrew Bible; every part of the Scripture bears witness to Him.
Verses 21-22 tell us that as He was anointed by his Heavenly Father to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the whole world, in the same way Jesus anoints His chosen ones by gifting them with his Spirit for a mission to spread the gospel and prepare each and every individual to repent and accept Jesus as a Saviour. This doesn’t refer to empowerment for the ministry that took place at the Pentecost, but to formal ordination of the disciples to the office of the apostles. Jesus Christ’s mission is one of the dominant themes of this gospel and is given as a pattern for his followers in the world. We May long for heaven but it is on earth that our work is done.
Verse 23 tells us that about the authority given by Jesus Christ to his disciples. In Mt.28:18 Jesus Christ says, “All authority in Heaven and earth has been given to me.” The disciples needed Almighty God’s help {Holy Spirit} to carry out the commission they had just been given.
Ø Are we ready to follow Jesus?
Ø Do we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour?
Ø Are we ready to commit our life in the service of the Lord?
The fruits of the Holy Spirit emphasize that unlike the gifts of the Spirit given in an unusual way; these are given to help and guide the believer to lead a true Christian life in his/her normal day-to-day life. The Spirit soothes like nothing else. The Spirit slakes our thirst like nothing else. Why settle for, or accept as inevitable, “a culture of deceit and half truth” when God’s promised His Spirit of truth to work with us for Him in His world? The most glorious day we look forward to as Christians is the last day, to which God’s Spirit inexorably draws us, when there will be an end of sin, deceit and half truth, and a glorious consummation of God’s perfect, kingdom reign.
