1 Corinthians 12:3-13
3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Meditation
Pentecost—when the church celebrates the arrival of the anticipated Advocate—the Holy Spirit. Before his death, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come to teach and remind the disciples his commands (John 14:26). After his resurrection, Jesus told them the Holy Spirit would give them power as “witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). According to John, Jesus gently breathes the Holy Spirit onto the disciples the day of his resurrection. But at Pentecost (10 weeks after Passover), the Holy Spirit arrives much more dramatically (see Acts 2:1-4). You see, according to Luke, the Holy Spirit is as scary as a “violent wind” (Acts 2:2), as fierce as fire (Acts 2:3), and as unpredictable as both. Both gentle and fierce the Holy Spirit is not to be mess with.
In the text today, Paul explains a bit about how the Holy Spirit works in a practical sort of way. He is answering a question the Corinthians had about spiritual gifts. We really don’t know what the question was, however, we surmise from the answer that it was about which gift was the most important. Paul’s point is that the Holy Spirit chooses who gets what gift and how much—there is no better or more perfect gifts. All gifts are important for the common good of the community (vs. 7). Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is the glue that holds Christ’s church together as one body (vs. 13a). It is in baptism where the Holy Spirit binds us (and our gifts) together and in communion (see vs. 13b “made to drink”) where we are reminded that the Holy Spirit is the power behind our faith and our gifts. And, even in Paul’s practical description of the role of the Holy Spirit, there is that fierce, unpredictable essence that the Holy Spirit does “just as the Spirit chooses” (vs. 11). Amen.