Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost Sunday:
May 19, 2013
“When
the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” That’s how our passage begins – that’s how
the story of Pentecost begins: They were
all together in one place. And we know
who “they” were – the disciples, the earliest followers of Jesus. These were the folks who had been gathering
again and again since Jesus’ death.
These were the folks who knew him, loved him, and had been witnesses to
his presence many times since they found the tomb empty.
Jesus
made a number of post-resurrection appearances.
In Luke and Acts – both written by the same author – those appearances
are always when the disciples and early followers were gathered together. Now the author doesn’t say much about what he
looked like, and the conversations weren’t along the lines of, “What the heck????? I thought you were dead, man. This is so cool!” Instead, I think for the author, the
importance of that time between his death and Pentecost was that Jesus showed
up to help prepare his followers for what was next.
When
Jesus came to this small band of folks, he spoke of Peace, he called on them to
be witnesses, he interpreted the scriptures for them in light of all that had
happened, he impressed on them the importance of eating together and sharing
what they had. This was a time of
preparation, and, he told them, when he was gone the Holy Spirit would come and
give them everything they needed to do as he was asking.
And
so, on Pentecost they had gathered again…these same people. They gathered for a Jewish festival as old as
they could imagine. And we know what
happened to those disciples and followers gathered together that day – they were overtaken by the Holy Spirit.
We
often think of Pentecost as the birth of the church because in the book of Acts
this incredible event seems to be the kick-off party for the ministry of the
apostles. We think of it as the birth of
the Christian church, and we are their descendents.
But
was it the birth of the Christian church?
Are we the descendents of what happened that day? Well, kind of. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all
together in one place – and so we, the modern day disciples, gather today. We come together, hope that Jesus will show
up to prepare us for the Holy Spirit coming and blowing us out into the world
to continue his ministry.
But
it was not just the disciples who gathered that day. It may have started with them, but we don’t
read far before we find out that there were others: “There were devout Jews from every nation
under heaven – and at the sound of the roaring wind, they gathered. They gathered together in one place to
see what was happening.
This
event was not just for the disciples.
This event was not just for those who had hung out with Jesus when he
was alive, like the other gatherings had been.
This was not only for those who had seen him since his death. This was a gathering of people from every
nation under heaven. The author is so
insistent about this that he lists the nations.
I didn’t make Stan read them all – because I’m a nice person – but he
lists them: Parthians, Elamites,
residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, and on and on. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all
together in one place…all the nations!
These
were not people who knew one another.
These were not people who shared much in common. They didn’t speak the same language, they
didn’t share the same culture and habits, and sometimes they quite specifically
didn’t like one another. And, maybe most
importantly, these were not people who knew, cared about, or followed Jesus. The
descendents of what happened that day are not just us – those of us gathered on
Sunday mornings for church. The
descendents are all those we don’t know, who don’t speak our religious
language, who don’t worship as we do, who don’t share the same experiences of
Jesus as we do. The descendents, in part,
are the people who are not us.
Right
before the disciples were gathered at Pentecost, they had witnessed another
pretty amazing event. Jesus ascended
into heaven. Jesus had been with them in
their gatherings of just the insiders. He
had been preparing them for what was to come.
But then, Jesus took off. He
thought the disciples were prepared – ready for what was next. He left the stage, and the Holy Spirit came
rushing in. The Holy Spirit speaks a
more universal language, I think, then the post-Easter Jesus. Jesus knew the language of his disciples. He knew what to say to them so they could
understand how to move forward. The Holy
Spirit, it seems, knew the language of anyone and everyone.
Jesus
and the disciples shared a language in much the same way we Christians do today: Communion, Pentecost, justification, only
begotten son, fully human/fully divine, salvation, church, confession, doxology. These are words and phrases that mean things
to us – important things – but not so much to people who don’t gather with us
every week. It’s insider language, and
that’s okay. It helps us. It reminds us what we are doing here,
connects us to our faith ancestors, it binds us together as people who seek a
common God and mission, and it reminds us that we are, at times, meant to be
set apart from the culture and world at large.
Having our own language is not a bad thing. In fact, I think it’s essential.
But
on Pentecost we’re reminded that we also need a more universal language if we’re
to join the universal work of God in the world.
When the wind blew through their midst, the languages that had once
divided these folks from one another became intelligible – universally. They understood one another.
We
call Pentecost the birthday of the church – but I think we cling too tightly to
that. It’s not about us, really – except
as it is about all of us. We may be the
ones gathered at first, but it’s about the gathering of the nations – of those
not here in our building, not taking part in our festivals, not speaking our
language.
I
know this is supposed to be about the Christian church, but for me it’s about
something much larger. I think we need
to move beyond even Jesus if we are to connect with our neighbors in moving
toward the vision born on that day. We
need at times to let Jesus leave the stage so we can use more universal
language.
We
read that after Pentecost, the people started sharing everything in common and
giving to everyone according to their need.
People began healing others.
Isn’t that a wonderful vision for the world – not just for us? Yes, it was about Jesus for the disciples,
but not in the sense that he was center stage.
Rather, it was about a movement that continued what he began – that went
beyond what he began.
I
have to admit I struggle with Peter’s speech to those gathered that day. After the Spirit had come, and all the
nations were gathered in one place, Peter gets us and makes a speech. Well, it’s not really a speech in the sense
that his speechwriters got together and crafted something the likes of which
had never been heard. In fact, the first
part of his speech, the part we read today, was simply quoting scripture. He was helping people understand what was
happening that day by reminding them of their scriptures – of the prophet
Joel.
My
struggle isn’t so much with Peter and his quoting of Joel. In fact, I think it was a brilliant
move. It was inspiring, it helped them
see how to take who they were and move forward.
It’s a bit like quoting Gandhi or King when you are trying to inspire a
new movement that continues the spirit of what they did.
No,
my struggle isn’t with Peter, it’s with how we have interpreted what Peter – or
rather Joel – said. The last verse of
Joel that Peter quotes is, “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.” “Saved,” one of those
great insider Christian words. We have
taken this to mean that only those
who call on the name of Jesus will be saved.
There is no doubt that Peter believed Jesus was the fulfillment of what
Joel was talking about. Peter believed
that Jesus was a way to salvation – which, by the way, was about wholeness,
healing, peace, new life rather than life in heaven after death.
But
that was his context at that time. The
spirit of Pentecost for Peter meant moving beyond the images and words of his
own tradition – Judaism – toward something that included so much more…so many more. For him, Jesus transcended all the breakdowns
in Judaism, Jesus showed him how to
tear down the walls between everyone.
Jesus was not the key to an exclusive club. Jesus was the teacher who modeled how we
break down barriers between people who were divided by so much.
But,
today, it seems like Jesus doesn’t do this anymore. Jesus has
become a key to an exclusive club.
Instead of hearing Peter say, “everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be given new life,” we hear Peter say, “only those who call on the
name of Jesus will be given new life.”
There is a world of difference between those two things. One is expansive, inclusive, hopeful, transcendent,
and the other is narrow, exclusive, dead ended, and limiting.
Given
the context in which Peter was quoting these words – the coming of the Holy
Spirit – I think when we decide what they mean, we need to go with the
expansive, inclusive, transcendent interpretation. And we need to find ways today to move beyond
the narrow understanding of how we are saved and what it means to be
saved.
Listen
to the words of Joel – it is a vision the prophet is offering the small band of
Israelites who feel their own special covenant with Yahweh. Joel says, “In those days, God declares, I
will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.”
It’s a movement from the small band of followers being a part of God’s
covenant to the whole world being a part of that. That is not limited or exclusive. Joel has a vision of this, and Peter thinks
he and all those gathered that day are seeing the fulfillment of this
incredible vision. The spirit is not
being poured out on all Jews – or just on those who were friends with Jesus –
not on only men or women, old or young. The
spirit is poured out on all flesh.
I
know this seems a bit blasphemous, but I think we get tripped up on the name of
Jesus. Obviously Jesus is central to who
we are, and why we come together. Jesus
is, for us, a picture of God – a picture that we think fully embodies the God
we seek, love, and yearn for. Jesus is
for us a way to understand the scriptures that came before him. He helps us hear the prophets’ words in a
language that compels us to care for the sick, orphaned, poor, and stranger.
And
we get to keep Jesus, but it is not the language we use when we are joining
others in the work of the Holy Spirit. We
can use words that connect rather than judge, that build up rather than tear
down, that find commonalities rather than differences.
When
the disciples gathered after Easter and before Pentecost, Jesus showed up to
prepare them for what was next. But it’s
bigger than us. Maybe each week, Jesus
shows up here in worship, prepares us for what’s coming, and then at the end of
worship Jesus kind of ascends up to heaven, and then the wild wind blows us
into the world to join everyone who participates in bringing new life to those
who need it.
It’s
okay to speak our language when we gather here.
In fact, I think we need our language.
I think we need Jesus – it’s why we’ve chosen to be here. It’s the language we know – like English. At Pentecost, we do not find that all the
different languages people spoke went away and everyone spoke the same
language. All the diversity of language
remained…it just no longer separated them.
What they learned that day was that something divine unites them in
mission while they all keep their own
language.
We
need our language of Jesus, communion, baptism, salvation, doxology. It is what moves us, speaks to us, … But when we are shoved out into the world by
the wild, Holy Spirit, we need to use the universal languages: words like love, sharing in common, caring for
the poor, world peace, non-violence…these words transcend religions. They are completely a part of our religion,
but they are not ours alone.
On
Pentecost we gather, but the true gathering only happens when we leave this
place and head out to be with people from every nation under heaven; all of us
moved by the Spirit to bring new life to this world. Amen.
