The Luke/Acts sequence of events following Jesus' resurrection has been adopted by the church both theologically and liturgically. Although John's gospel declares that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into his disciples Easter evening (John 20:22), Luke separates the gift of the Spirit from the day of Jesus' resurrection and the time of his ascension. Not until 50 days after Easter do both the Luke/Acts tradition and the church calendar celebrate Pentecost.

Although the event Acts describes is clearly a one-of-a-kind experience, this does not mean it is described in wholly unfamiliar terms. The images the Lucan author uses would all have been quite recognizable to anyone with knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures. The "rush of a violent wind" evokes the image of God's Spirit moving over the wat…