Leviticus 23.9-11

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”

Leviticus 23.15, 16

“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD.”

Pentecost (“fifty days”) was the celebration of the great harvest each year. It was preceded by offering a single sheaf (from each family) at the harvest of the firstfruits. Just as Jesus was the first to rise from the dead, so, at Pentecost – fifty days later – the resurrection and harvest of all the saints of God was guaranteed by the pouring out of God’s Spirit.

Note that the sheaf signifying the offering of the harvest was waved on the day after the Sabbath – the first day of the week. Is it too much to see in this a portent of a new “Sabbath” which honors the season of new and more abundant harvest?

We really should make more of Pentecost than we do.

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