Sunday, June 5, 2022

Pentecost
Genesis 11:1-9
Psalm 143
Acts 2:1-21
John 14:23-31

It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

I have become a very impatient driver. I’m not to the point of road rage, but I can’t help thinking to myself that the other drivers on the road don’t know what they are doing. I often comment sarcastically about the lack of a turn signal, or the last-minute decision cut off other drivers to cross three lanes of traffic to get off an exit. Those comments are often in my head, especially when there are others in the car with me, but I have yelled at drivers and called them names out loud. They can’t hear me and I don’t make it obvious with hand motions, of course, but it doesn’t matter. Whether in my head or yelling out loud, someone does hear: God.

I have probably been an impatient driver for a while, but I have begun to notice it lately. I say “I’m sorry” every time it happens. I am not apologizing to the driver who did not use their signal or the one who cut me off, after all they have no idea I was just yelling at them. I was repenting to my God who knows everything. Here’s the thing, though, the more I notice my reaction to their infractions, the more I realize that I do the same thing. I forget to use my turn signal and I do accidentally cut off other drivers when I realize last minute I need to be in another lane. My reaction to the other assumes the worst, but my reaction to my own infractions knows it wasn’t hostile or indifferent. I have begun to repent of those now, too. This is God’s way of helping us transform into the people that He has created us to be. Hopefully I am becoming more aware of both my reaction to other drivers and to the ways I cause a similar reaction with them.

Sometimes we see our sinfulness through others, as if we are looking in a mirror. As a matter of fact, I think if we are honest with ourselves, our worst judgments of our neighbors are often the very things we are guilty of doing or of having done. This became clear to me during the days of my daughter’s youth. She is very much like me in many ways, including her actions. I used to call my mother to apologize. My mom would say, “What did your daughter do today?” It was true, I often realized the things that drove me crazy were the very things that drove my mom crazy.

It is very easy for us to look at others and see all their faults. We curse at other drivers for cutting us off on the highway but forget we do it ourselves. We grumble about the suffering in the world expecting others to take care of it, but we do nothing to make a difference. We list the sins of our neighbor without really considering our own. My daughter has been quite a blessing because we rarely have a chance to see ourselves as we really are, as if looking in that mirror. Isn’t it strange how the things we notice most clearly in the lives of others are the very things that dominate our lives? I have heard it said that we should be careful about pointing the finger at someone, because when we do there are others pointing back at us.

Many of the Psalms are filled with pleas to God to save them from their enemies. These imprecations speak of enemies who pursue and persecute them; the psalmist asks God to silence and destroy their foes. The singers claim a special place in God’s heart. I, too, long for God’s protection on my life, but I don’t find much comfort in this type of Psalm. I can’t help but wonder if I am doing the very things that have made my neighbor my enemy. In this particular Psalm, however, David realizes his own sin and begs for God’s mercy before he seeks God’s help. It is penitential in character; David knows that he is not righteous before God. He turns to the only one who can provide for his needs, “I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land.” Only after admitting his own fault does David seek an answer to his prayer, and in doing so asks for God to transform his life as much as he asks to subdue his enemy.

God has been working on me, as He works on all of us. He shows us our sins and helps us to overcome them. He transforms us daily, helping us to walk a better way today than we did yesterday. When we see something we don’t like in another, we tend to be quick to pass judgment and to rebuke or correct their faults, but it would do us well to take a moment to consider our own sins when we see faults in our neighbors.

There is a place for judgment in this world, to help others to become the person God has created them to be. We should not let sin continue in the lives of those we know and love. Yet, when we see something negative in the life of another, let us stop for a moment and consider what it is we are really seeing. Is God holding before us a mirror so that we can see ourselves and that which He is trying to transform in our own lives? We certainly can seek God’s protection on our lives, because there are enemies trying to destroy us, but we should pray for His help with humility, knowing that we are not any better or more righteous than those who pursue and persecute us. It is only by God’s grace and unfailing love that we have been saved and are being transformed.

God had a plan from the beginning of time to work this salvation and transformation in our lives. He promised throughout the Old Testament that He would send a Savior, and that Savior promised that He would send a Helper. Jesus was the Savior, and for the past seven weeks we have heard Jesus preparing the disciples to continue His work in the world. Those stories are meant for us to. We have lifted up the apostles as special witnesses for God, and we think they are faultless. Yet, we know from the stories in the scriptures that they were not perfect; they were just like us. They sinned against their neighbor; they learned day by day how to be better. They needed a Savior as much as we do.

This Sunday we celebrate the beginning of the next step. We could not believe or be transformed without the power of God’s Holy Spirit which the Church received at Pentecost.

Dennis Bratcher at CRI/Voice, Institute once said, “In many churches, the season leading up to Pentecost Sunday is one of the most neglected of the church calendar.” This is true. While most churches will do something special for the Sunday of Pentecost, we rarely count down the days as we do for Advent and Lent. We set aside a period of time when we look forward to those celebrations to come. With Pentecost, however, we don’t count down the days. We don’t prepare.

We might do differently if we understand the Jewish roots of the festival which is the historical foundation of our Christian celebration of Pentecost. It was a time of counting and preparation. The word “Pentecost” means “fifty” because it was the fiftieth day following the Passover. The counting begins on the second day of the Passover feast when an omer of barley was presented at the temple as the first fruits grain offering. Forty-nine days later an omer of wheat was presented. The counting of the omer concluded with Shavuot. This period represents the time between the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Law. The celebration is described Leviticus 23:15-16. At Passover they celebrate their freedom from slavery and then at Shavuot they remember their acceptance of the Torah, the Law of God. They remember their commitment as a nation to serve their God.

The barley, also called the wave offering, was representative of the food meant for the animals. It is unearned, given freely, just as the Exodus was a gift given freely by the grace of God. After forty-nine days, the next grain offering was of wheat grain, made into bread. It was an offering that was given with the cooperation of human effort. Therefore, the forty-nine days were spent not only caring for the wheat and preparing the bread, but it was spent developing one’s spiritual potential. We can see that in the way that Jesus spent those days with His disciples. He was preparing the disciples for the work they were to do when they were finally sent out into the world. When He ascended to heaven, they spent the next ten days in prayer. The Spirit came on the fiftieth day.

In some Jewish traditions, the preparation for Pentecost was a time to work on one’s inner growth, to develop good characteristics through reflection. Using the “sephirot” or attributes of God from the Kabbalah, the believer reflects on each of seven aspects one day of each week for seven weeks. The weeks also represent the seven aspects, so each day focuses on a different combination. The seven aspects are mercy/grace/love of God; judgment/strength/determination; symmetry/balance/compassion; contemplation/initiative/persistence; surrender/sincerity/steadfastness; foundation/wholly remembering/coherent knowledge; kingdom/physical presence/vision and illusion. On the first day of the first week, the believer reflected on the mercy that is in mercy. On the second day of the first week they reflected on the judgment that is in mercy. On the first day of the second week they focused on the mercy that is in judgment. They do this each day until they reach the seventh day of the seventh week when they reflect on the kingdom that is in the kingdom.

Pentecost is one of the most important festivals in the Christian year. We don’t necessarily need to follow Kabbalah tradition, but perhaps next year we’ll put more care into the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost, preparing our hearts for the reality of what Christ has done. We focus on the Incarnation to the Resurrection, but His story continues through the Ascension and Pentecost. It is then that we truly join the story: He gives us the Spirit and by faith and His power we commit to serving Him in the world. Without the human cooperation, Pentecost is just a windy day that leaves those who are witnessing the power of God confused and cynical.

It was an amazing day. The disciples had been praying in the Upper Room, waiting for the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise when “Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.”

The ten days must have been difficult, dealing with disappointment, discouragement, uncertainty and doubt. Despite the promises, the disciples did not yet have the indwelling Spirit of God, so for a moment they were left alone. How would they do what Jesus told them they would do? They weren’t just going to teach people about God, they were being sent to do more. Far more. Earlier in John 14, Jesus said “Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.” How in the world would they ever do greater things than Jesus?

This promise was fulfilled at Pentecost. The truth is that we would never do greater things than Jesus on our own, but with His Spirit we can do anything. The greater things are not necessarily healing the sick or raising the dead, however. We will probably never feed thousands of people with just a few fish and loaves of bread. He gives us authority to change lives, but will the world actually listen? Jesus did things that only the Messiah could. They would follow Him and do what they could do, but they could never do greater things than Jesus. After all, He was not an ordinary man; He was the Son of God. Yet, that promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.

The greater things are not what we might expect. Jesus did miracles, but even greater than the miracles is the message of the Gospel. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead, but even greater than these is the healing and life that comes from the Word of God. We are amazed to think that someone might have been dead and then was alive, but the greater miracle is found in the salvation of God. Every Christian, saved by the Gospel and transformed by the Holy Spirit, is a greater miracle than all the miracles that Jesus did. Jesus did not expect the disciples to be like Him, wandering the countryside doing miracles. That is certainly one way to share the Gospel, but Jesus intended something greater for His people. They were called to share God’s grace with the world through the Good News, making disciples of all nations and teaching them to do all that Jesus commanded them to do.

Jesus made the promise that they would do greater things and that He would give them the Holy Spirit to help. The disciples spent ten days between the promise and the fulfillment of the promise. It was a time of waiting, but not passive waiting. Jesus’ followers, including the women, Mary and Jesus’ brothers, and others, were gathered in the upper room together. Matthias was appointed to replace Judas among the apostles. Can you imagine the emotions? They missed Jesus who had been the center of their lives for three years. They may have felt abandoned by God. They enjoyed being with Jesus and His departure left them empty. Yet, they had faith. They obeyed Jesus. They waited. They prayed. They watched.

The story of what happened on Pentecost began in our Old Testament passage from the book of Genesis. Mankind had settled and founded a city. Together they decided to build a tower that would reach to heaven. Human nature has strived to become gods from the beginning. The Lord God Almighty saw that they could accomplish great feats together and so He confused their language and sent the people to the four corners of the world. Archeologists have identified what they believe could have been the original tower and it is interesting to note that it is dwarfed by the amazing skyscrapers of today.

The problem was not that they were able to build a tower that would reach into heaven. That is an impossible feat because heaven is not a place we pinpoint on a map. We have sent rockets into outer space and have cameras that have filmed the far edges of our universe, but they will never reach heaven. The problem in Babel was that the people were repeating the foolishness of Adam and Eve; they thought they could become like God. The languages were confused, but human beings have never stopped accomplishing great things together. The people in the ancient world found ways to communicate with people of other languages. The people in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day, including Jesus and the disciples, were possibly capable of communicating in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin, if in limited ways.

Jerusalem was filled with people who spoke many other languages during the days of Pentecost. There were people with Hebraic heritage all over the known world. A large community lived in Ethiopia. There were communities of Jews in Asia. Luke tells us that the crowd in Jerusalem was filled with Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene. There were visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. There were ways to get what you need when you are in a foreign place, but who would have thought that a hodgepodge group of Galileans could speak in a way that so many could hear and understand?

Pentecost is about something more. Though the disciples did speak the languages of the nations on that first Pentecost and the people heard the Gospel in their own tongue, Pentecost introduced a new language to the world: the Gospel. The words might be different from nation to nation, but the Gospel is the same everywhere. Jesus Christ died for the sake of the world so that all who believe will be saved. It seems too simple, doesn’t it? It was so exciting to be with Jesus, a surprise every minute, and miraculous experiences around every corner. Which would you prefer? Would you want to carry a simple message to the world or change lives in grand and miraculous ways?

The gift given at Pentecost was certainly an incredible thing. Can you imagine what it was like to miraculously be able to speak words in an unknown language that was understood by others? Anybody who has learned a second or third language knows how much effort and time it takes. It is hard. But in one miraculous moment, God reversed the confusion from Babel so that the world would know His promises.

We can focus on a number of different themes for Pentecost. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, when God gave to the disciples the final piece to the puzzle: the Spirit, who will remind them of everything Jesus taught, teach them what they do not yet know, and give them the power to continue the work Jesus did in this world. We can focus on the idea of languages: that the power of God’s Spirit came at Pentecost to make it possible for disciples of all places to share the Gospel message with the world. We can focus on the wind or breath of God, learning more about the Holy Spirit, and the gifts He gives to God’s people. We can talk about the unity of the body of Christ that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Peter quoted the prophet Joel, “It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood, and fire, and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The promise of Pentecost is not that we will be able to understand one another even if we speak different languages. It is about becoming one people again: His people. The power of God’s Spirit came at Pentecost to make it possible for disciples of all ages to share the Gospel message with the world. We are unified—made children of God and heirs to His eternal kingdom—not because we have done anything right or have earned the honor. God comes to His people and by His Spirit grants them faith and gifts to make His name known throughout the world. We are called to be Christ’s body, to share the Gospel and to bring others into the unity of the Church.

Though the miracle of Pentecost is the miraculous tongues that brought so many to faith on that day so long ago, the Holy Spirit’s gift is not always about miracles. We may never raise the dead or heal a leper. We may not cast out demons or make a paralytic walk. We do not have to strive to do those things. If that is the work God is calling us to do, He’ll give us the power and the opportunity to do so. Our task, first and foremost, is to share the simple message of the Gospel, so that those who hear and believe will be restored to God and become His children. These are the greater things.

The psalmist reminds us that no man is righteous. We are all sinners in need of a Savior, by the grace of Jesus Christ we have received forgiveness and we are being transformed into the people God created us to be. We can seek His grace to cry out to Him, even though we are not worthy. The Gospel is a message of forgiveness, not given because we earn it but because God has promised. We don’t have to build a tower to heaven because God came to earth to dwell among us. This is the promise of the Resurrection, and which was fulfilled at Pentecost.

We are sinners in need of a Savior. It is so much easier to see the faults of others. We can cry out to God in our troubles. We can even ask God to deal with our enemies, but we but we are reminded by the psalmist that no man is righteous. By the grace of Jesus Christ, we have received forgiveness. The story of Jesus from Incarnation to Resurrection made that possible, and it is through Pentecost God restored His people and gave us one language: the language of faith. The story of Jesus continues with us, the people He saved.

God has been working on me, just as He continues to work on all of us. He shows us our sins and helps us to overcome them. He helps us to walk a better way today than we did yesterday. He is transforming us into the people He created us to be. By His power we have the authority to continue the work Jesus began, including miraculous acts. Pentecost was an incredible day with miraculous tongues that brought so many to faith, but it was just the next step in the story of Jesus. He sent the Holy Spirit, a gift that is not just about miracles. We may never do the incredible things Jesus did. The gift gives us everything we need to continue His work in the world. Our task, first and foremost, is to share the simple message of the Gospel, so that those who hear will call on the name of the Lord and be saved. This is the greater thing.