The Day of
Pentecost (May 20, 2018)
“The
Spirit Poured Out” (Acts 2:1-21)
INI
If you were a good Jewish man in the
first century, you’d do your best to make it to Jerusalem for the big festivals
three times a year, if you had the means and ability to do so. There was Passover in the Springtime. There was Succoth, sometimes called
Tabernacles or Booths, in the Fall. And
in between, there was Pentecost, sometimes called the Feast of Weeks. It celebrated the wheat harvest. It also commemorated the giving of the Law to
the nation of Israel at Sinai. It was
called the Feast of Weeks because it fell at the end of a seven-week period
following Passover.
That’s why there were so many people gathered in
Jerusalem as described at the beginning of Acts chapter 2. “Devout men from every nation under
heaven.” That may be a bit of an
exaggeration on the part of the author St. Luke. He probably means every nation known at the
time.
And there were the disciples of Jesus gathered
there. A rather small band of 12
apostles – the Eleven minus Judas and the newly-minted Matthias – and a little
over 100 others. They were sitting down,
so apparently, they were listening to someone preach, as would have been the
custom in those days … just like our custom.
And as they sat there, hearing the Word of God, the Holy Spirit was
poured out upon them. There was the
sound of a mighty rushing wind, perhaps like the sound of a waterfall. Just think of the times you may have been to
Snoqualmie Falls in the height of the rainy season here … or if you have ever
been to Niagara Falls. It doesn’t
necessarily sound like water … it sounds like a powerful wind, not to mention
the spray that you feel as the water pounds down upon the rocks below. This was not just a trickling down of the
Holy Spirit, a tiny little drip-drop-drip.
This was a major outpouring, the one promised by Jesus before his
crucifixion.
And there were tongues of fire that rested upon
the disciples. This signified the
purifying presence of God, as did the pillar of fire at the tabernacle so many
years before. And they spoke in other
tongues, other languages, the languages of the people who were gathered there. Each person heard them declaring “the mighty
works of God” in their own native tongues.
What these “mighty works” were we’re not told, but I have a hunch it was
centered in Jesus and his death and resurrection. Jesus told the Twelve earlier that “when the
Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth … he
will bear witness about me. And you will
also bear witness” (John 15:26-27). This
was the reverse of Babel, when God confused the languages of the people. Now, although the disciples spoke in
different languages, the Church was united with one voice, directed by the Holy
Spirit. Everyone heard the same
message. Luke says they spoke, “as the
Spirit gave them utterance.” These were
God’s words proclaimed, Spirit-filled, Spirit-directed, prophetic words from
the mouths of the disciples.
This was the fulfillment of Joel’s
prophecy, inspired by the Spirit, several hundred years earlier. Peter quotes Joel to say that these are the
Last Days … the entire NT era, from that day forward until Jesus returns in
glory. The Spirit will now be poured out
on all flesh … without limit … upon Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and
old. There should be no comparing
Christians and saying that this person is more Spirit-filled than that
one. The Spirit will be poured out on
all. And all are given the privilege to declare
the mighty works of God … to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could experience what
those disciples experienced? A new,
mighty rushing wind blowing in our lives.
Clearing out the sinful dust and debris that get in the way of our
relationship with God. Filling our sails
so that the wind of God moves us along his way rather than our own way. We get stalled in the doldrums, feeling like
we have no purpose, no direction at all.
We get bored. We grow lazy. We know this is not how we’re supposed to be.
We often wish that we could see evidence
of God’s presence, like a verifiable miracle, perhaps a flame of fire on our
head, the ability to suddenly speak in another language without the use of
Google Translate on our smartphone or Rosetta Stone on our computer. We wish for signs of God’s presence, but it
seems as though he is absent. Shall we
go looking for him in experiences like the day of Pentecost? Maybe we can find a way to stir something up
on our own, to get ourselves more excited about being a follower of Jesus. But this leads to even more guilt than we may
already have … when the excitement doesn’t arrive. Besides, Jesus never told the disciples to
get themselves all stirred up. Rather,
he told them “to wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). There was nothing that they were do. Simply wait.
The pouring out of the Spirit would happen according to God’s timing and
in his own way, not theirs.
The Holy Spirit is still poured out upon us today,
in God’s timing and in his own way. He
is poured out through the preached Word of the Gospel. It may not sound like a mighty rushing wind,
but we are filled with the breath of God nonetheless, like those dry bones
enlivened through the preaching of Ezekiel.
He is poured out through the waters of Baptism. It may not be the pounding of a waterfall,
but God’s promises are connected to even a mere handful of water. He is poured out through bread and wine in
the Sacrament of the Altar. The Spirit
works through the Words of Institution to deliver what it is … the very body
and blood of our Lord Jesus which deliver forgiveness of sins, life, and
salvation in his Name.
God never promised us a Pentecost like the one in
Acts, that is, with accompanying signs such as speaking in other languages and prophesying. It happened in a similar way on three other
occasions recorded for us in the Book of Acts … to the Samaritans, to Cornelius
and his household, and to a group of disciples of John the Baptist. But emotional highs or ecstatic experiences
are not evidence of the Spirit. Speaking
in tongues as it is understood today and other miraculous events are not
assurances that you are a true Christian … although you will hear this in
certain circles. Scripture does not say,
“Everyone who speaks in tongues is a true believer.” Nowhere does it say that.
What it does say is this: “Everyone who calls upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And we can only do this when the Holy
Spirit has been poured out upon us. “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the
Holy Spirit,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:3.
In a Pentecost sermon, Luther said this: “The
kind of Pentecost people the Holy Spirit produces [are] people who know that
they have a gracious God and Father in Christ, and who boldly proceed to
confess Christ before the whole world, and are prepared to suffer for his sake”
(Complete Sermons, VI: 161).
And what do we see at the end of the chapter after
Peter’s Pentecost sermon? People were
cut to the heart. Peter called them to
repentance and to be baptized. And
that’s exactly what they did. Nothing
spectacular. No sound of a mighty
rushing wind. No tongues of fire. No speaking in other languages. Just the simple – yet most certainly
Spirit-filled – beginnings of the New Testament Church by repentance and baptism
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And they received the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
And so have you.
INI
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