Today we live in exciting times in which we can learn a lot. Most people have some public platform open to opinion.
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Some visitors who have come to celebrate the festivity of Pentecost are amazed by the fact that a group of people speak different languages in a house nearby.
The Galileans were considered poor, uneducated, and poorly prepared theologically. It was obvious the surprise of the pilgrims when they saw and heard those who spoke such touching words and not in one but multiple languages.
Most of us experience this when we go to another country (either for vacation or business). This is because the country we go to has another language that is not ours.
I only speak two languages, Spanish and English, Spanish being my first language. And to be able, in a way, to handle another language besides Spanish took me years, and I am still learning.
I can imagine the scene when the disciples celebrated the harvest/Pentecost.
Ḥag Shavuot/Pentecost (“Festival of the Weeks”) was originally an agricultural festival, marking the beginning of the wheat harvest. So, many Jews from different parts of the world were there celebrating.
Paul talks a lot about sin in this passage. We don’t like to talk about sin because it smacks of judgment, and we don’t like to be judged. But all this talk about sin has been leading up to this very point.
This passage made me think of two book titles. You’re Not the Boss of Me: Brat-proofing Your Four- to Twelve-Year-Old Child and Just Tell Me What to Say. Both are by the childhood development and behavior expert, Betsy Brown Braun. I haven’t read either book, but their titles intrigue me. Especially after reading this verse from the Letter to the Romans.