A Public Display of Affection
Last week we heard Jesus give his final instruction to the disciples before he ascended into heavenly glory. And that instruction was to wait. Wait until the Father had clothed the people in glory. And that waiting must have been a time of confusion for the disciples. They had no idea how long the wait would be, or what being clothed in glory would look like. Sometimes God tells people to wait for something wonderful, like a promised land flowing with milk and honey, and the wait ends up being 40 years wandering a wilderness. More than enough time for some people to get disgruntled, question the faith, and lose heart.
The wait from the Ascension to the Pentecost, however... about a week and a half. Still a confusing time, I'd imagine those nine or ten days to be. But when the Day of Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit arrives to bless and gift the disciples and to clothe them in glory, to them, there is no doubt what is happening. The Spirit's presence and manifestation is so abundant and unmissable that the people are overwhelmed.
And the disciples, they knew Christ. They had seen blessings before, witnessed miracles, they were well-acquainted with strange phenomena. But there's something new at work here too – something that we haven’t seen before in the New Testament.
In the time after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and after his ascension into heaven, God’s Holy Spirit comes down and blesses the faithful. A huge crowd of people has gathered, Greeks, Jews, Arabs, Egyptians, Romans – this crowd has people from all over, who speak different languages, and they are blessed in the Holy Spirit to speak and understand each other.
The Holy Spirit is poured out on the people. And they speak and they prophesy.
So what’s new here?
Well… up until now… when the Holy Spirit has bestowed gifts, when God has spoken to people, when the divine light of heaven has reached into the world and touched people… it’s been to a very small group of people.
We might think of Jesus being transfigured on the mountaintop, with only Peter, James, and John with him.
We might think of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. With the whole nation of Israel waiting at the foot of the mountain. Yet he is up on the mountain alone.
The prophets of the Hebrew scriptures – Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea… each of them received the Word of God and gave it to the people. But they received the Word alone. In dreams and visions.
Even in the miracles of Jesus Christ, some of which were done before crowds of people… they come through Christ and Christ alone.
Up until now, God’s pattern has been to speak, to bless, to work through individuals or very small groups of people. God’s method has been to choose small cadres of the faithful – the most inside of the insiders, and work through them.
But on this day. On the day of Pentecost – God’s work is opened up to everyone who would receive it. That God’s many gifts and blessings are not just for the few, but for the many. That God who once worked in one or two or three people at a time, now works in the public view, with whole crowds of people. Not just Jews or Christ-following Jews, but with people from all over the Greek world, the Roman world, and the Arab world.
This Day of Pentecost is God reuniting with the people in one very public display of affection.
And in doing this – in going public with God’s gifts, a new community of faithful is born. Not just people who believe in God. Not just people who want to hear about God or learn about God. But people who have experienced God directly and tangibly, in ways that leave no room for doubt or hesitations.
The Episcopal theologian, Marcus Borg, makes the observation that this forging of a new community in many tongues understanding each other, undoes the separation of peoples that God wrought in Genesis at the Tower of Babel. As the people at Babel were made unable to understand each other, and scattered into different nations, at Pentecost, people of different nations and different tongue are brought back together, and knit into one.
Can we imagine such a thing?
In our world today, it’s almost a given that, no matter where we go, at least somebody will speak some English. And if they don’t, we have Google translate, which,ok, the words can come out clunky sometimes and sound not at all like something an actually human would say, but it can usually at least get the point across. So we have ways of communicating.
But trying to speak in a second language, or make somebody else speak in theirs… or relying on “close enough” computer translations to communicate… those are each a far cry from what God does on Pentecost. When everybody speaks in their own language, with all their quirks and idioms and colloquialisms, and they are immediately and perfectly understood by everyone else.
What would that community of people – from all different nations and languages and cultures – being suddenly brought together by this one amazing and transformative experience – what would that community look like?
I have trouble imagining because it sounds like a Utopian dream. We often pray that God might take any the mistrust and lack of understanding that exists between nations. Those very words are written in our liturgy – in the communion prayer. In Pentecost, that ideal that we pray for - God actually does it.
On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured out on all the faithful. Men and women. Children and the elderly. Jew, Greek, Arab, Egyptian, and so many others. And the Spirit is poured out in a new way for a new community – not just for all who are there, but for all who look on. This is the Holy Spirit for the world to see.
I believe that God wants our faith to be seen. Not to be showy about it, or in your face about it. But that we shouldn’t hide who we are or what we believe. But more than that, God wants our faith to be something that brings us together. We don’t necessarily have to belong to all one church or have the same faith practices. But that we should embrace the love for Christ that God gives us, and that God gives to people the world over.
We do have differences. Between denominations. Between churches. Between members of the same church. Some are petty. Some are pretty significant. And we don’t have to be uniform and cookie-cutter in what we do or what we think. But we do have to acknowledge that the same Holy Spirit that works in me and works in you is also at work in millions and millions of other people, whose ways might seems strange at first glance, and whose theologies, church practices, worship styles… whose different ways of loving Christ… might leave us scratching our heads.
God can deal with our disagreements. God doesn’t need a million different churches all doing the exact same thing. Even the big-ticket issues that threaten to divide us today might seem small and insignificant in the future. God can handle all sorts of things like that.
What God has done… and what God asks of us… is simple. God has poured his Holy Spirit into people all over the world. And what Pentecost shows us, is that God likes it when we get along. When we can love, when we can worship, when we can break down the barriers that divide us… and recognize the spark of Christ in each other.
To God be all glory, praise, and honor. Amen.
Let us pray,
Holy Lord, we praise you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. For the many ways in which you make yourself known to us. For the abundance you bless us with, for the kindnesses you bestow on us, for the compassion you continually to show all your children. Lord, help us to be the church as it was on that first day of Pentecost, when differences and divisions were cast aside and all people were able to give glory to you in one voice. Help us to be a witness to the world of your loving grace and endless mercies. We pray this in gratitude for your work in our lives, through the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Last week we heard Jesus give his final instruction to the disciples before he ascended into heavenly glory. And that instruction was to wait. Wait until the Father had clothed the people in glory. And that waiting must have been a time of confusion for the disciples. They had no idea how long the wait would be, or what being clothed in glory would look like. Sometimes God tells people to wait for something wonderful, like a promised land flowing with milk and honey, and the wait ends up being 40 years wandering a wilderness. More than enough time for some people to get disgruntled, question the faith, and lose heart.
The wait from the Ascension to the Pentecost, however... about a week and a half. Still a confusing time, I'd imagine those nine or ten days to be. But when the Day of Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit arrives to bless and gift the disciples and to clothe them in glory, to them, there is no doubt what is happening. The Spirit's presence and manifestation is so abundant and unmissable that the people are overwhelmed.
And the disciples, they knew Christ. They had seen blessings before, witnessed miracles, they were well-acquainted with strange phenomena. But there's something new at work here too – something that we haven’t seen before in the New Testament.
In the time after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and after his ascension into heaven, God’s Holy Spirit comes down and blesses the faithful. A huge crowd of people has gathered, Greeks, Jews, Arabs, Egyptians, Romans – this crowd has people from all over, who speak different languages, and they are blessed in the Holy Spirit to speak and understand each other.
The Holy Spirit is poured out on the people. And they speak and they prophesy.
So what’s new here?
Well… up until now… when the Holy Spirit has bestowed gifts, when God has spoken to people, when the divine light of heaven has reached into the world and touched people… it’s been to a very small group of people.
We might think of Jesus being transfigured on the mountaintop, with only Peter, James, and John with him.
We might think of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. With the whole nation of Israel waiting at the foot of the mountain. Yet he is up on the mountain alone.
The prophets of the Hebrew scriptures – Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea… each of them received the Word of God and gave it to the people. But they received the Word alone. In dreams and visions.
Even in the miracles of Jesus Christ, some of which were done before crowds of people… they come through Christ and Christ alone.
Up until now, God’s pattern has been to speak, to bless, to work through individuals or very small groups of people. God’s method has been to choose small cadres of the faithful – the most inside of the insiders, and work through them.
But on this day. On the day of Pentecost – God’s work is opened up to everyone who would receive it. That God’s many gifts and blessings are not just for the few, but for the many. That God who once worked in one or two or three people at a time, now works in the public view, with whole crowds of people. Not just Jews or Christ-following Jews, but with people from all over the Greek world, the Roman world, and the Arab world.
This Day of Pentecost is God reuniting with the people in one very public display of affection.
And in doing this – in going public with God’s gifts, a new community of faithful is born. Not just people who believe in God. Not just people who want to hear about God or learn about God. But people who have experienced God directly and tangibly, in ways that leave no room for doubt or hesitations.
The Episcopal theologian, Marcus Borg, makes the observation that this forging of a new community in many tongues understanding each other, undoes the separation of peoples that God wrought in Genesis at the Tower of Babel. As the people at Babel were made unable to understand each other, and scattered into different nations, at Pentecost, people of different nations and different tongue are brought back together, and knit into one.
Can we imagine such a thing?
In our world today, it’s almost a given that, no matter where we go, at least somebody will speak some English. And if they don’t, we have Google translate, which,ok, the words can come out clunky sometimes and sound not at all like something an actually human would say, but it can usually at least get the point across. So we have ways of communicating.
But trying to speak in a second language, or make somebody else speak in theirs… or relying on “close enough” computer translations to communicate… those are each a far cry from what God does on Pentecost. When everybody speaks in their own language, with all their quirks and idioms and colloquialisms, and they are immediately and perfectly understood by everyone else.
What would that community of people – from all different nations and languages and cultures – being suddenly brought together by this one amazing and transformative experience – what would that community look like?
I have trouble imagining because it sounds like a Utopian dream. We often pray that God might take any the mistrust and lack of understanding that exists between nations. Those very words are written in our liturgy – in the communion prayer. In Pentecost, that ideal that we pray for - God actually does it.
On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured out on all the faithful. Men and women. Children and the elderly. Jew, Greek, Arab, Egyptian, and so many others. And the Spirit is poured out in a new way for a new community – not just for all who are there, but for all who look on. This is the Holy Spirit for the world to see.
I believe that God wants our faith to be seen. Not to be showy about it, or in your face about it. But that we shouldn’t hide who we are or what we believe. But more than that, God wants our faith to be something that brings us together. We don’t necessarily have to belong to all one church or have the same faith practices. But that we should embrace the love for Christ that God gives us, and that God gives to people the world over.
We do have differences. Between denominations. Between churches. Between members of the same church. Some are petty. Some are pretty significant. And we don’t have to be uniform and cookie-cutter in what we do or what we think. But we do have to acknowledge that the same Holy Spirit that works in me and works in you is also at work in millions and millions of other people, whose ways might seems strange at first glance, and whose theologies, church practices, worship styles… whose different ways of loving Christ… might leave us scratching our heads.
God can deal with our disagreements. God doesn’t need a million different churches all doing the exact same thing. Even the big-ticket issues that threaten to divide us today might seem small and insignificant in the future. God can handle all sorts of things like that.
What God has done… and what God asks of us… is simple. God has poured his Holy Spirit into people all over the world. And what Pentecost shows us, is that God likes it when we get along. When we can love, when we can worship, when we can break down the barriers that divide us… and recognize the spark of Christ in each other.
To God be all glory, praise, and honor. Amen.
Let us pray,
Holy Lord, we praise you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. For the many ways in which you make yourself known to us. For the abundance you bless us with, for the kindnesses you bestow on us, for the compassion you continually to show all your children. Lord, help us to be the church as it was on that first day of Pentecost, when differences and divisions were cast aside and all people were able to give glory to you in one voice. Help us to be a witness to the world of your loving grace and endless mercies. We pray this in gratitude for your work in our lives, through the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
