Murals (2008) by PHANTAST - Graffiti - Cultural Music & Art Association inc. - 98 Milne St. Benleigh
The Tower of Babel versus Pentecost (50 days after Resurection)
The story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) is used by the sacred writer to illustrate man's wickedness in an effort to create an urban culture apart from God.
Secondly, it is an imaginative origin of the diversity of the languages among the various people inhabiting the earth : "It was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the speech of all the world".
At Pentecost (50 days after Resurection), the sound of a great rush of wind - the Holy Spirit, The Advocate (John 15:26) - would herald a new action of God in the history of salvation : "Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? How does each of us hear them in his own native language?"(Acts 2:8)
The new language is the language of love.
The speaking in different tongues symbolized the worldwide mission of the church.
Apostle Paul makes an inventory of the spiritual gifts in the church : speaking in human and angelic tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, self-sacrifice (1Corinthians 13). He relativized all the charisms by contrasting them with the more basic, pervasive, and enduring value that gives them their purpose and their effectivenass : love.
"Love never fails" : the permanence of love in contrast to the charisms.