Week 28—Wednesday Acts 1:12-14
Week 28—WEDNESDAY
AND THE GROUND WAS LEVEL FOR THE WOMEN TOO
We noted yesterday that the Holy Spirit was to be poured out upon all flesh, with the emphasis on the “flesh”—the total embodied person. Then the prophecy goes further and says, “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” If “flesh” wipes out the distinction between the material and the spiritual, this portion wipes out the distinction of standing between the sexes—the women and the men should proclaim the Good News.
The Holy Spirit came not only upon the Twelve but upon the hundred and twenty. The addition of the cipher to the Twelve was one of the most important things in history. Man as man, and not man as priest or prophet, received the Holy Spirit. The highest gift of God was open to a person as a person. This equal standing before God makes an equal standing before man.
But this gift of the Holy Spirit was not only open to men as men, but was open to women as women—“with the women.” In Islam, which proclaims its democracy and equality, women are not even allowed in the mosque for public prayers. Among the Buddhists, women cannot attain Nirvana as women; they must be reborn as men before this can happen. But here were women taken into the very center of privilege and opportunity. Women received the highest gift of God, the Holy Spirit. That opened everything down the line. At Pentecost women not only received the Holy Spirit on the same basis as men, but they proclaimed that gospel on the same basis as men—“your sons and daughters shall prophesy.” There were equality of standing before God and equality of opportunity before persons—there was equality! And that equality of opportunity extended to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The last thing we see of Mary is that she was praying for the Holy Spirit on the same basis as the rest. She was a supplicant and not a co-Redeemer with Jesus, as we have noted that the Roman Church is about to make her. She was in her place along with the rest.
O Lord and Savior, we thank you that the highest gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is open to the lowest. Here we all stand equal—persons for whom Christ died. This makes our hearts tingle and our souls exult with expectancy. We thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Under the impact of your Spirit, all my walls of special privilege and separation are crumbling.