Alight

I come with brother of me. He is good speaker. Not me.

First time here.

Is busy.

Is many peoples.

Is noise.

Five night on road. Me and brother and donkey and wheat.

Is many peoples.

Is noise.

Is evening.

Is morning.

Day of feast.

Is noise of great wind. Great, great wind. Great noise of wind.

Donkey is shouting. Peoples is shouting.

What is this mean?

Man talk to us. His eyes alive. His face like fire.

And then, all of a sudden, I understand him. He speaks to us like our father speaks, but with passion and joy and truth. He tells us amazing news; is he an angel? His accent is local, but his words are our words. And he looks uneducated, like us. A labourer of some kind, not a scholar or rabbi. 

Crowds stop pushing and arguing over the price of lambs. We are all listening now. Understanding is kindling in me, taking hold like a fire through a thornbush. This must be a sign from Heaven. How is this happening?

It is all about a teacher called Jesus. God’s kingdom. Justice and peace and love. The words beat time with my heart, and when he tells me of the death penalty I am already weeping. No! How could this happen?

But it is not over. He is alive. He is more than alive. And today, at the Feast of the Firstfruits, we are here from every region: the first fruits of his kingdom, ready for harvest. Awed by a new message in old tongues.

And we learn about new tongues. Tongues of fire, and how God breathed his own Self into each of them. I feel alight like a new fire inside; I want that too – to have all that is wrong burnt away. To be refined. To be a beacon of hope.

We all came to bring our gifts to God at the Temple and to honour him. To burn wheat and to feast together. And he has met us, and honoured us, and given us gifts and set our hearts on fire. I cannot wait to go back home and tell my family and village all about the things we have seen and heard. To tell in my own words.

I wonder if I can make them understand it all?

Lucy Marfleet loves reading, laughing, her husband’s cooking, walking her dog and marvelling at how tall the kids are getting. She teaches Biblical Studies for Spurgeon’s College on their Equipped to Minister course and has a Masters in Theology from the International Baptist Theological Seminary. See her blog at www.lucymarfleet.com

Flame picture from Pixabay.