It is the season of festivals, therefore we are going to look at festivals in the bible – this week it’s the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.
This feast is the second of the three harvest feasts. It occurs exactly seven weeks after the Feast of First Fruits, so it’s also called Pentecost which means “50 days.” Traditionally, people were expected to bring the first harvest of grain to the Lord including two leavened loaves of bread.
One of the Jewish traditions is to read the book of Ruth – it ties the theme of harvest to the theme of community. It is one of the classic stories of the bible, you coulds read it now – here!
Pentecost
After the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit came to the disciples in tongues of flames and they began speaking other languages, they were preaching the gospel of Jesus to the Jews who had come to Jerusalem from every nation to observe Shavuot at the Temple. The disciples were filled with power and 3,00 believers were added that day. It is celebrated as the start of the Christian Church.