Pentecost did not begin as a Christian holiday. The followers of Jesus gather together to await the visitation of the Spirit that Jesus promised, but hundreds and perhaps thousands of other Jewish people from across the world have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish holiday Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, which was called Pentecost in Greek. The Greek name is based on the word for fifty because this holiday comes fifty days after Passover.

Too often when Christians read Acts 2 we focus on the fact that the disciples speak in languages that are not native to them and that they have never studied. As remarkable as that experience must be, it is incomplete, however, unless there is someone to hear and to understand the words of the languages they speak. Perhaps the greater miracle of Pentecost is that people from many countries who speak many languages hear the good news of God’s love for them in a language each can understand. Perhaps listening and comprehending belongs at the heart of our celebration of Pentecost.

In our day and time we don’t listen to each other very carefully. Often we listen in a distracted fashion or only partially as we prepare our response. Perhaps the best way we can celebrate Pentecost as Christians is to open our ears, to focus our minds, and to listen deeply to those around us. We might hear some comments that disturb us as well as some words that encourage us. We might hear some things that make us sad as well as some that give us joy. But if the heart of Pentecost lies in listening, may listening become the spiritual practice at the heart of who we are as the followers of Jesus, just as it did on that Shavuot long ago.