“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) With these words, Jesus delegated His disciples to become His witnesses.  

A witness to Jesus Christ should have experienced Him personally and have the power to testify to this first-hand experience. Hence, Jesus emphasizes that in order to become a true witness to God, o­ne needs to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. It is such an experience of the living presence and Divine power of the Holy Spirit in all the spheres of life and activity that enables us to become true disciples.

Jesus Christ – filled with the Holy Spirit
It is in the fullness of the Holy Spirit that Jesus did great things. In the Old Testament, the presence of the Holy Spirit was felt as the motivating force of all human actions. But Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit to us as a person, addressing Him with the personal pronouns of ‘He’ and ‘Him.’ Whenever Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit He revealed Him as a true person. As we analyze the activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus, o­ne fact emerges crystal clear. Without being filled the Holy Spirit, none of our ventures can achieve success and progress.  

In the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, it is made that the Messiah will gain strength from the Spirit of the Lord. In fact, it is o­ne such prophecy from Isaiah 61: 1 and 2 that Jesus reads out in the synagogue at Nazareth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.” (Isaiah 61:1-2) After having read it within hearing of the people, Jesus told them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)

The ministry of Jesus was in the fullness of the Holy Spirit as St. John the Baptist testifies: “I baptized you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

The Holy Spirit was always the fountainhead of power for all the salvific activities of Jesus Christ. When He was baptized in the River Jordan, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. It is to be noted that until this power came upon Him, Jesus had not begun to teach or perform any miracle. In the book of Acts, St. Peter is reported to have spoken to the people gathered in the house of Cornelius: “You know… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)

The saving activity of the Triune God is made explicit here. God, the Father, anoints the Son, Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit. Thereupon, Jesus went about preaching the Gospel and doing good to everyone by dint of His miraculous power. The source and secret of all this activity was nothing but the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  

Hence, St. Luke tells us in the beginning of the book of Acts, “O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom HE had chosen.” (Acts 1:1-2) St. Luke is revealing here that it was the Holy Spirit who was active in Jesus during the forty days after His Passion and Death to His Ascension. The guidance given to the Apostles was also through the Spirit of God. It is made clear that whatever Jesus did was in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit – the promise of Jesus

Not o­nly was Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit but He also promised to send the Holy Spirit to us. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; you know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned.” (John 14:15-18)  

In our ministry to the Lord, we are not left alone. The Spirit of God strengthens us at every moment. That is our confidence in our work of evangelization. It is not we who work, but in us and through us, the Holy Spirit works. If we are to do the works that Jesus did, we must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because of the Holy Spirit, all our efforts at witnessing gain a Divine dimension.
 
 
The Holy Spirit in the Church  

As we follow the work of the Holy Spirit in history, the Spirit of God will be seen moving through three different epochs: from the creation of the world to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, from Bethlehem to Pentecost and, now, from Pentecost to the present day in the ministries of the Church. It is through the Church that the mission of Jesus being continued. The Church has come alive and active in Christ-mission from the Pentecost experience. God’s plan of salvation is to be carried out through the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit. “As the Father has sent me even so I send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed o­n them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22)

The Gospel of St. Luke gives us the promise of the Holy Spirit and the caution that without this power, no o­ne should venture into the work of Evangelization. “Behold I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from o­n high.” (Luke 24:49)

 In fact, the Church became competent enough to take up the mission of Christ after having received that Holy Spirit, the promise of Jesus. The early Church, being filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed Jesus as the o­nly Saviour in the midst of signs and wonders.

Anointing of the Word – through the Holy Spirit

Though the disciples were in the know of the prophetic promises of the Saviour, and they heard directly the words of Jesus, they had not understood the salvific meaning of the Word of God. They could not accept these words as a divine revelation in their hearts. Hence, the promise of Jesus: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26)   The Word of God became an anointing and an experience for them o­n the day of Pentecost. St. Peter, the leader of the disciples, is himself a clear example of this. His first sermon in Jerusalem is reported to us in the book of Acts chapter 2. In that proclamation, he quotes elaborately from the Psalms and from the prophecies of Isaiah and Joel to prove convincingly that Jesus is the Saviour promised of old.  

One thing is to be noted here. St. Peter knew all these words. Inspite of that, he doubted Jesus, denied Him and went into temporary seclusion after the death of Jesus. Why this? Though he had known the Word of God, St. Peter was enlightened enough about its salvific. The saving significance of the Word of God was hidden from him. It was o­nly after the anointing of Holy Spirit that he was enlightened. Then, he was able to proclaim the Word with power and authority and convert three thousand people.

There is a point to ponder over here. o­nly when we whole-heartedly surrender our lives to the Holy Spirit will we be able to experience the Word of God as living and active. o­ne may be able to read through all the Gospels in a few hours. But that reading would be a mere going through the words and thoughts. However, it becomes an anointing of the Word when read in the power of the Holy Spirit. In this latter case, certain words or phrases or insights will pierce the heart and marrow as a new depth of meaning that becomes a salvific experience.

This is exactly what St. Peter and the other disciples experienced. If I could not gain anything really special from the reading of the Bible, that is a clear indication that I had not had recourse to the Holy Spirit before my reading. It is o­nly by the work of the Holy Spirit that the depth of the salvific meaning and power of the Word is revealed.