On All People (Joel 2:28)

 


Monday, September 30, 2024


Psalm 72

Joel 2:25-3:8

Colossians 1:1-8


Observance: Jerome, priest and biblical scholar (d. 420)


On All People (Joel 2:28)


If you’ve ever paid attention in church on Pentecost, then I’m sure you recognise this passage from Joel. St Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, preached a sermon to the people of Jerusalem and quoted this passage as proof that Jesus was the Messiah. I wonder, however, if you’ve ever heard a Pentecost sermon that spoke about locusts? Because, having read it now in context, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit onto the church is what happens after the locusts have been removed. Look at the timeline: the locusts fill the earth and consume everything; then God will drive them away “into a parched and barren land”; then the grass will again grow green and the trees return to bearing fruit; then God “will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten… You will have plenty to eat, until you are full”; and then, after all this, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people”.


All that woe and calamity of the first part of Joel has already happened. It is behind us. If we are to follow the witness of scripture and trust that St Peter knew what he was talking about, then we are living in that time which God speaks of as “afterwards”.


God promised Joel that the Israelites who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery would be brought back home. St Paul is thanking God that “all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing”. Jesus described himself as the Good Shepherd, who goes out to seek after the lost sheep in order to bring them back into the fold.


If our work of the sword and the trowel is to follow God’s plan, then we ought to try and work out where in history we stand. Surely our message for today is that the place in which we stand is the beginning of the triumphant end? The locusts are driven away; the earth is being healed; we have been rescued from slavery and brought home by our Good Shepherd; and now the gospel is going out into all the world and growing every day.


God, speaking through Joel, tells us that the Spirit is being poured out on all people – believers everywhere, regardless of any particular characteristic. This includes you. Where is the fruit of God the Holy Spirit in your life? Where is the evidence of this pouring out in the people around you?


Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life: dwell with me forever, and lead me to all the people onto whom you have also been poured out.

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