Ramadan, Pentecost and Shavuot: The intimate connection

Recently, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, each of whom claim Abraham as their father and thereby are intimately related, observed the festivals of Ramadan, Pentecost and Shavuot respectively.

Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, celebrates the giving of the Torah on Sinai on the 50th day following the delivery of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage by Moses, with its mandate that the stranger among you shall be as home born.

For Christians, Pentecost — the Greek word for 50 — heralds that special moment on the 50th day after Easter Sunday when those who had embraced Jesus, most of them still identified as Jews, were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Ramadan, for Muslims, is the special monthly fast as stated in the Quran. There the verse reads, “O ye who believe, there is prescribed for you the fast as it was prescribed for those before you that you may ward off evil.” The phrase “those before you” alludes to Jews who fast on the Day of Atonement and devotees of Eastern Christianity who also engaged in ritual fasting.

It was also the week when that intimacy was shattered in Israel and in Gaza when Abraham’s children again sought to destroy one another in retaliation for hatreds and grievances both justified and ill-conceived by all concerned. When the fighting ends, as it inevitably will, that intimate connection will be renewed once more albeit by the pain and anguish brought about by the death of loved ones young and old, and frustrations that nothing else had been resolved; and that is the greatest tragedy of all.

Would Isaiah’s plea at Isaiah 1:18, be heard before more innocent blood will be shed. For it speaks to Israelis and Palestinians, to Jews and Christians and Muslims alike. “Come let us reason together, be your sins like crimson they can turn snow white, be they red as dyed wool, they can become like fleece. But if you refuse and disobey, you will be devoured by the sword.”

Bob Dylan put it more simply: “How many times must the cannonballs fly before they are forever banned ... and how many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free. Yes and how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he doesn’t see ... the answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind, the answer is blowin’ in the wind.”

— Tucson faith leaders, we would like to include your original sermon or scriptures of encouragement. Sermons must be written by the person submitting them, not borrowed from another source or writer. If you are a faith leader from any religion or denomination, please contact Sara Brown at sbbrown@tucson.com.