It’s Memorial Day Weekend. And, to follow contemporary American traditions, I am about 7 hours from being filled with burgers and hotdogs and chips and pickles and macaroni salad; and I’ll do the same thing tomorrow. Do you have any idea what I mean by filled? Yes? We all know what it’s like to be filled with food. If you have a wife or husband, you know what it’s like to be filled with love. Those of us who have lost loved ones know what it’s like to be filled with grief. These fillings are ones that we relate to in our flesh.
But we are celebrating the Day of Pentecost, when man received a different kind of filling. (Acts 2:1–4). “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.” What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
We’ll start of with the easy refutations. Being filled with the Holy Spirit does not mean that you have to leave the windows open during a nor’easter so that violent wind fills your whole house. It does not mean that you have to see a tongue of fire come to rest on yourself, or hold a candle up to simulate it. At the risk of offending some diehard Pentecostals, it doesn’t even mean that you have to speak in tongues. All of these were manifestations that the disciples were filled with the Spirit, but none of them serves as a litmus test.
So what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Let’s do a sword drill.
(Ex. 31:2–5). “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.” Bezalel was filled with the Spirit of God, and crafted the tabernacle. He didn’t make them from his own whim but as God commanded, “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain” (Ex. 25:40). So Bezalel, filled with the Spirit, conveyed the divine pattern shown to Moses.
(Mic. 3:8). “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.” Micah, filled with the Spirit, told Israel the judgment of God.
The Gospel of Luke opens with the Holy Spirit filling people left and right.
(Lk. 1:14–17). The angel said to Zechariah about John the Baptist, “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” John was filled with the Spirit to call God’s people back to Him. So he, filled with the Spirit, conveyed the message that God was drawing near.
(Lk. 1:35,38). The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God…’ ‘I am the Lord’s servant…May it be done to me as you have said.’” Mary was filled with Spirit to become Theotokos, the Mother of God. So she, filled with the Spirit, bore the Redeemer of the world.
(Lk. 1:41,42). “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit, and proclaimed the true blessedness of Mary for bearing the Lord, and of the Lord Himself.
(Lk. 1:67,68). “[John’s] father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.’” Zechariah was filled with the Spirit, and sang and prophesied about the coming Messiah, long promised, who would free God’s people to worship him rightly; and also that John would go before the Lord like the breaking of dawn. So he, filled with the Spirit, proclaimed the mighty work that God was preparing to do.
Acts, also written by St. Luke, like the gospel opens with a lot of Holy Spirit filling.
(Acts 1:8). Jesus told the apostles, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” So the apostles, when filled with the Spirit, will be Jesus’ witnesses to the ends of the earth.
(Acts 2:4,11). “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues…declaring the wonders of God.” The disciples, were filled with the Spirit, spoke in other tongues and proclaimed the mighty deeds God had done. So they, filled with the Spirit, were witnesses, first in Jerusalem.
(Acts 4:8–10). “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.’” Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and told how a crippled man was healed in the Name of Jesus, and witnessed God’s power to the Sanhedrin.
(Acts 9:17,19–20). Ananias said to Saul, “‘Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit…’ Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.” Saul was filled by the Spirit, and preached that Jesus is the Son of God.
(Acts 13:9,10). “Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, ‘You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” Saul, filled with the Spirit, shined light on a darkened man.
See the theme? Being filled with the Spirit leads to open proclamation of God, of His message, of His justice, in short, the Gospel. Bezalel proclaimed God through his craftsmanship; Micah proclaimed through rebuke. Mary proclaimed through her unreserved submission to God’s call and in service to her Son and His followers. Peter proclaimed God through speaking in tongues and proclaiming the Good News on Pentecost. In all instances, the indwelling of the Spirit led to an outpouring of the soul.
(Jn. 15:26–27). Jesus said, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” Like Bezalel, Mary, and Peter, we have been filled with the Holy Spirit through Baptism, and further at Confirmation, and so we too must be witnesses. What’s the qualification for this? You have been with Jesus from the beginning. Our witness is derived from enduring fellowship and relationship with Jesus. Those who are unfamiliar with Jesus have no testimony to give, only impressions and hearsay evidence. Personal experience is mandatory.
Look at the person next to you. What do you see? “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16).
“There came a man from God; his name was John, He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all men might believe” (Jn. 1:6,7). There now comes from God a woman named N., and a man named N.. You come as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through you all men and women in Salisbury and Wicomico County might believe.
