Jesus said, You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit (John 15:16 NLT, emphasis added). Jesus says that the fruit lasts because He chose us and appointed us to bear spiritual fruit that lasts.
The apostle Paul knew what it was to have his life and movement restricted and to be literally locked up in chains. Yet, Paul declared that “what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12, NIV).
Pentecost also refers to the Jewish festival celebrated on the fiftieth day after First Fruits, also known as the "Feast of Weeks". This is what Jesus, the First Fruit, had done.
What an incredible, overwhelming moment of realization for Mary! The dead Jesus for whom she had come to complete His burial rites, was now standing before her, risen from the dead, alive as promised.
Seasons come and seasons go, during this "darkest period" (the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic), our Advent Candles of Faith, Hope, Love, and Peace glow the brightest as we realise the faithfulness of our Loving Creator God.
Holy Communion (Eucharist, The Lord’s Supper or The Lord’s Table among other names) centres on remembering Jesus' last, humbling moments on earth, drawing us into a powerful time of reflection on the inconceivable price our Lord had to pay on the Cross to set us all free from sin and the confines of self-centred living.