Acts 2:1-21 Pentecost
Rejoice in the knowledge of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Here we are fifty days after the Resurrection, Pentecost. Pentecost should be a big celebration in the church year however its importance seems to escape the church of our age. As we read Luke's account in Acts recorded the language that could be taken as symbolic, even though we know him to be careful in recording factual details.
The first Pentecost was on the second most important festival for the Jews, the Feast of Weeks, and the most important festival being the Passover.
The Feast of Weeks was also known as the Feast of the Harvest and the Day of the First Fruits and it was a time of thanksgiving for the harvest. We normally think of harvest time in the fall this harvest was the spring wheat harvest. A time of great rejoicing as the winter was over, but more importantly food was starting to become scarce by winters end. This was a time for weddings, feasting, and other celebrations.
The Feast of Weeks was a time when many Jews traveled to Jerusalem to give thanks at the temple. As God does so often in His plans there is a fullness of time surrounding the sending of the Holy Spirit. All of the pieces were in place to carry the good news out to other lands.
If we were to take a map and mark the places where the people listed in the reading came from we would find that these places were in a circle surrounding Jerusalem. People from all directions would be witness to the coming of the Holy Spirit and carry that good news back to their lands. The Holy Spirit came to the disciples in Jerusalem and then flowed outward in all directions. The out flowing of the Spirit was the next step of the love story God had started in Genesis with Abraham and fulfillment of the wish Moses had that the Spirit would come to everyone.
Luke uses interesting words describing "tongues of fire" separating and coming to rest on each disciple. The word tongues could very well symbolize communication of the good news in all languages. That the good news is for all to hear, without regard to a person's origin, or for that matter any characteristic or behavior a person may exhibit. We are all God's creation and all need to hear of His mercy and grace.
What about the word fire. It could be that fire is a reminder to us of our Baptism. If we look back to Luke 3:16, the crowd gathered around John the Baptist, wondering if he were the Christ. John answered them, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The disciples on the road to Emmaus described a burning within them as Jesus spoke to them. And in the Old Testament, fire is mention many times as a means of purification.
We also have a flame of purification in us and a means of communication. At our Baptism we were cleansed not just with some water but with the Holy Spirit in and with the water. The Spirit came to us to claim us as God's children. We too feel the flame in our sense of confidence in the power of Jesus Christ.
One of the great mysteries of Christianity for me is in this account.
God who is all powerful, who sent His only Son to die to atone for our sins, and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in each of us, is somehow selective. The people and time they are awakened to the Spirit are somehow planned and staged for the appropriate time and place. The plan is not for us to know except that we need to introduce people to the good news.
Luke tells us that among those hearing the good news preached to them in their own language are scoffers. Despite the miracles of Jesus, the violent wind that drew their attention to the disciples, and a group of simple Galilean fisherman suddenly preaching in many languages there are those who dismissed the disciples as drunk.
Surely God could instantly make everyone a believer but he doesn't. Instead He works through everyday people and everyday language to spread the good news. God has worked through people through the entire Biblical record. He wants us to understand on our terms, but we don't have the power to understand or share that understanding on our own.
Not to worry, the Holy Spirit is here to provide us the power to understand and the words to share.
For me I see that my mission is not to sit and debate about the reality of Jesus and His precious gift of salvation with unbelievers. I know it's real the Spirit dwells in me and gives me the power to understand what a poor corrupt human cannot understand by my own reasoning. Debate will not convince anyone. We cannot convert anyone by ourselves only the Spirit can spark that flame. My mission is to live what I believe, to emulate Jesus' love, to share in words when moved by the Spirit.
On a grander scale the mission of every congregation must be one of emulating Jesus' love in the community. Many congregations die because they forget about the community outside of the building. They have become the dry bones in the valley that God showed to Ezekiel. They forget that their real purpose is to use their resources in a way that invites the community to be introduced to the Spirit. To reach people we need to be out there. The mission field starts at the threshold of our doors.
We can all think of many evils in this world and may even have a scale to rate them. Whether its war, corruption, famine, or one of many other plagues of this world we probably have one that is at the top of our list of the most heinous.
I think a greater evil is having resources to spread the Word and not being good stewards of those resources. We all have resources in time, talents, and treasures.
Should we live what we believe? Absolutely! Jesus was a man of action, emulating Him means taking action as He did.
We all need to pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us in the use of our time, talents, and treasures so that the good news can be shared with the dying world we live in. The out flowing of the Spirit must continue through our actions and the actions of millions of others in the Kingdom.
As we think about ourselves we can ask are we the dry bones that Ezekiel saw in the valley or the bones covered with flesh with a new breath of life?
In the name our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
