Source: Waiting for the Word on Flickr
“In the last days, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,” came the prompting. You all know what I’m talking about – you are minding your business and suddenly a thought comes to you out of the blue, apropos of nothing, and stops everything. You think to yourself, “whaaaat??!!”
I knew this was a line from scripture and I knew I had heard it somewhere, but I had no context for it and no reason for it to be impressed upon me. I went to my scriptures and turned to the Topical Guide, ‘cause we all know that the LDS scriptures are cross-referenced to the Nth degree! “Daughter” had nothing; “Prophecy” yielded “Joel 2:28 (Acts 2:17) sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” I turned to Acts and found, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:” (emphasis added). Scripture. New Testament and Old Testament “…your daughters shall prophesy…” that phrase pierced my heart and made a place for itself. I did not know what to do with it but I did know that prophecy was a priesthood function of the highest order.
Many years later, I was attending a United Church of Christ and they said, “wear red next Sunday for Pentecost.” I had heard of “Pentecost” and had heard of “Pentecostal” congregations and denominations. I did not know what significance this would have for a fairly relaxed denomination. So I asked and they explained that Pentecost was traditionally celebrated 50 days after Easter and came from a passage in Acts. Someone opened her Bible and pointed out the passage. “In the last days, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. . .” lept out at me and had a context.
Pentecost occurred after the dark days of despair after Jesus was crucified as an enemy of the Roman state and his followers were heartbroken and confused. It was after the risen Jesus had appeared to the disciples several times when we come to the day of Pentecost. Jesus’ followers had been promised that as they had been baptized by water by John the Baptist, they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days. Jesus then ascended into heaven. Pentecost was a Jewish feast day called Shavu’ot or The Festival of Weeks, which according to Judaism 101:
…is the second of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two are Passover and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple and is known as Hag ha-Bikkurim (the Festival of the First Fruits). Historically, it celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and is also known as Hag Matan Torateinu (the Festival of the Giving of Our Torah).
The period from Passover to Shavu’ot is a time of great anticipation. We count each of the days from the second day of Passover to the day before Shavu’ot, 49 days or 7 full weeks, hence the name of the festival. See The Counting of the Omer. The counting reminds us of the important connection between Passover and Shavu’ot: Passover freed us physically from bondage, but the giving of the Torah on Shavu’ot redeemed us spiritually from our bondage to idolatry and immorality. Shavu’ot is also known as Pentecost because it falls on the 50th day; however, Shavu’ot has no particular similarity to the Christian holiday of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after their Spring holiday.
It is noteworthy that the holiday is called the time of the giving of the Torah, rather than the time of the receiving of the Torah. The sages point out that we are constantly in the process of receiving the Torah, that we receive it every day, but it was first given at this time. Thus it is the giving, not the receiving, that makes this holiday significant.
It was on that day that the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples who were gathered for the festival of Shavu’ot, or the giving of the Torah. They began to testify of God’s deeds of power. Devout Jews from all over the known world were gathered and each heard the words in the language that their mothers had first spoken words of love into their newborn ears. They were astonished and wondered at how these plain people of Galilee were speaking in languages they each understood as their native tongue. Some people assumed that they were drunk, but Peter addressed them and explained that they were witnessing the fulfillment of the prophecy given to Joel.
Just as the Jewish people, both ancient and modern, celebrate the continual receiving of the Torah and redemption from idolatry, we as Christians celebrate, at Pentecost, the continual coming of the Holy Spirit and the redemption from idolatry experienced by the followers of Jesus, both ancient and modern.
Today at Pentecost, I call upon the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to open themselves to the continual coming of the Holy Spirit. A central tenet of the LDS Church is that it is the Restoration of the fullness of the Gospel as given to Jesus’ earliest followers. It is past time to complete the restoration of the priesthood to all so that the fullness of the gospel really can roll forth, so that we can finally be redeemed from the idolatry of patriarchy, and so that the daughters of Zion can take their rightful place as prophets, priests, and Queens in the Kingdom, side by equal side with their fathers, brothers, and sons.