The Holy Spirit comes

After Jesus had gone up to heaven, his followers went back to Jerusalem. Then they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. The disciples came together regularly to pray. The women joined them, as well as Jesus’ mother Mary and his brothers. After a while there were about 120 people who regularly came to the room to pray. Peter said, “Let us choose a disciple to take the place of Judas, who betrayed Jesus.” They asked God to show them how to choose, and then they chose a man called Matthias to be the new twelfth disciple. He had followed Jesus right from the beginning and had always been with them. Jesus had been crucified on the first day of the feast of Passover. Fifty days later was the feast of Pentecost. On that day the Jews offered the first grain of the new season to the Lord. Jews from every country came to the feast, and there were many people in Jerusalem. On the day of the feast of Pentecost Jesus’ followers were in the room where they usually met, praying together and waiting for the Holy Spirit. Suddenly they heard a sound like a strong wind blowing. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw something that looked like fire in the shape of tongues. The flames separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages they had not known before. The Spirit gave them the ability to do this.

A crowd soon gathered outside the house where the believers were. They wondered what was happening there. Suddenly they heard the men who were gathered in the house speaking to them in their own languages. They were amazed. They asked, “Aren’t all these people from Galilee? And yet we understand every word they say. How can they speak in our languages? What is going on?” But some of the people in the crowd started laughing. “They drank too much wine!” they said. Then Peter stood up and spoke to the crowd. He explained that God had sent his Spirit to them. That was why they were not afraid anymore. They knew that the Holy Spirit was with them, helping them and showing them what to do and what to say. It was a wonderful day! Acts 2