Paul concludes his second letter to Corinth with a beautiful and concise blessing for the community, “And the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This blessing shouts out for attention on this first Sunday after Easter- Trinity Sunday.
Paul begins with the “Charis of the Lord Jesus Christ”. Charis means gift- and has come to be translated as “grace” today. Charis is the heart of Paul’s thought. He teaches that Jesus, the Lord (the Kyrie or king) and the Christ (Greek for messiah or anointed one), has offered a gift of obedient love to the Father for our salvation, and now offers the inheritance he has won to us.
“The love of God” here uses the Greek word AGAPE for love. Agape means a long-term decision to conform ourselves to something as our goal and end. It does not imply the emotional sense of the word love, but rather the permanent conforming of someone to another; something we find in relationships like marriage. Paul is asking God to bless them with this deep and long-term commitment in their lives to be at one with the Father, something modeled by Jesus the Son on the cross.
Lastly, “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”. The term for fellowship here is koinonia- a key New Testament term for community. Koinonia is something gifted to us by God, not something we make ourselves. It is a gift- a new unity given by a divine source. The Church itself is a divinely created community (i.e., it is not man-made). The Church is a true koinonia of people, who now share in a new family due to having a common Father- Christ’s Father via baptism into the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost was originally a huge harvest festival of the Jews, sometimes called the Feast of Weeks. It was the anniversary of God’s gift of the Law to Moses on Sinai- when God shared his path to covenant fidelity- the way to avoid sin and alienation from God and to remain in his care. The Law was originally meant to be something that the People of God could share with the nations, to bring all people into relationship with God. Unfortunately, they failed spectacularly in this task.
Instead, the Law became something to separate the people from the unclean Gentiles, the “uncircumcised”. Accordingly, Pentecost, with its blessing of the two special harvest loaves, had become something exclusive, and its special offerings of the two barley loaves were only eaten by the high priests and the regular priesthood. Though practiced by people from all over the world who pilgrimage to Jerusalem, it had lost the original reason the Law had been given.
The arrival of Jesus and his plan changed things dramatically. He prophesied about the Holy Spirit's arrival to the apostles, “But the Counselor [Gr. Paracletus], the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things.” (John 14:26)
The Holy Spirit did arrive, on the next Pentecost, not only “teaching” but bursting the bonds of exclusivity practiced by the Jews. Acts 2 tells us about the Holy Spirit’s arrival and effects; the scattering and babel resulting from man’s sinful pride (covered in the reading from Genesis) started to melt away, and a Gospel meant for all, a Law of Love meant to be shared with everyone, entered the world through the nascent Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Tongues is just the first manifestation of this new universality.
Now read the 2nd reading from Paul to Corinth- who invites them and us today into a view of God’s plan that includes everyone, regardless of anything.