Where Do We Go From Here

21 WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? • The usual lengthy and arduous task of learning another language evaporates as people speak foreign languages effortlessly (vv 4-11). • Norms of sensible social behaviour are cast aside, so that to many onlookers these Jewish disciples appear drunk by breakfast (vv13-15)! • The religious traditions of that time, privileging one group over another are radically overturned: Young people get to participate with old people (v 17) Women get to participate with men (vv 17-18) Slaves get to participate with free citizens (v 18) The spread of God’s new life beyond the Jewish people is foreshadowed in the geographical spread of the people groups listed. (This becomes a reality in the chapters ahead.) • The inescapability of death is disrupted by the resurrection of Jesus (vv 24, 31-32). Yet this story is not only characterised by upheaval. The fact that Peter interprets what is happening through the lens of Israel’s story, in accord with both the ancient prophecy of Joel and with the very recent promise of Jesus (see Acts 1), shows that what is happening was expected at one level. But how it happened, and the full implications thereof, and all that flows from this Pentecost event, was beyond what anyone had imagined.