Acts 2.1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
John 14: 8-17
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
I have been always interested in why certain times of the year seem to feel different when compared to others. At Christmas time there is the excitement of the season, the decorations, the presents are bought, the music becomes jolly, hope and joy are the feelings that many people have. When it’s cold it’s crisp, you enjoy walking in it. New year is the same, but then there is that sense of ‘new things coming’ or ‘hitting the reset button’ on things or the infamous ‘I’ve joined the gym.’
But then mid-January comes and February comes and the cold and wet are no longer crisp, they’re miserable. I think it’s similar in November as well there’s that sense of wearyness, but at least, we’re Nearly at the end of another year.
And it’s almost as though everybody has a similar mood or a similar feeling at each time of the year. You see this in microcosm where after a series of damp and dreary days, suddenly there are two days of sunshine, and everybody is out having beer, barbecues and not wearing enough clothing!
These cycles are of course, in there in every nation and every culture. This extended weekend has been a particularly positive one as we celebrate 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II on the throne.
At times of national celebration, the mood changes, there is the sense that the best days are yet to come. There is a sense of the goodness of the human spirit, and that that, though at times things are difficult, we can still get through them, together.
Pentecost is that time of year for the Christian, that time of celebration. Along with Christmas and Easter, it is the most important festival of the Christian calendar. And that is because, it is the birthday of the church. And it is called that because one day, two thousand years ago, in Jerusalem. God did something that, we are still feeling the ramifications of today. It is something that has shaped the entirety of western culture and the western way of thinking, even the scientific worldview that we have today, is built upon Judeo-Christian principles. None of the modern world as we know it would have happened, if the Spirit hadn’t moved all that time ago.
The twelve disciples are hidden away in a room in Jerusalem for fear of the Jews, they are in prayer, waiting for the promised advocate, the promised Holy Spirit. And we read that there was a whooshing like the wind throughout the house and tongues of fire alight upon each disciple. And from that moment on, everything changes. They go out into the world to speak about the name of Jesus. They can even speak different languages. An incredible miracle to be sure. But it’s the complete change in the disciples that is most amazing I think, especially when you consider that these same disciples abandoned Jesus when he was at the cross. Something has changed then. Something had empowered them, something had changed the atmosphere both around them and within them. It was the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the living God which sets their hearts on fire with love for him and for his people. The divine life, eternity, God himself had come to dwell in them. That same Spirit of God, dwells with us here and now.
Sometimes the work of the Holy Spirit is attributed to a particular form of Christianity; Pentecostalism, where speaking in different kinds of tongues (though not, languages as such) is commonplace. No, the miracle at Pentecost is that the disciples could speak other actual languages; which makes a lot of sense when you consider the context into which the church was born.and if we look at the background we find out why.
Because Pentecost is not originally a Christian festival; It is a Jewish one (it’s also known as the festival of weeks. It hearkens back all the way to the Old Testament. At Passover, the Jews remember their time in Egypt, at the time of the plagues where they are commanded to slaughter the lambs and putting the blood on their door posts so that the angel of death passes over them when he is sent to destroy the first born of Egypt. Remember, they escape from Egypt and enter the desert. At Pentecost, they remember the fiftieth day of their salvation, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the law from God. Here God is doing something new, he has brought them to salvation, and now says, this is the law that you must abide by in order to remain my people. This became the ‘Festival of Weeks. And so every year it was celebrated, Passover, then Pentecost, all the way into the first century.
But during that Passover in particular, something unique had happened. The lambs were slaughtered as usual, but a man was as well. A man who said that he came to bring the kingdom of God to earth, who preached that people should repent, who said that somehow in him, the divine life was most fully expressed. He was killed, but death couldn’t hold him, and he was resurrected on the third day, Easter Sunday. And he told his disciples to go out into all the world and baptise people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Something that we still do today). Then he ascends into heaven, but before that he promised to send his Holy Spirit. Jesus says in our Gospel reading
I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.’
In the first century, jews would gather in Jerusalem from all over the world to celebrate this special time. So lot’s of people would be there who speak many different languages.
How appropriate therefore that the Spirit of truth gives them that ability, to speak that truth to all the people who were in Jerusalem at the time. At Sinai, the Moses came down from the mountain with laws written on stone for the people to obey. Much of Jesus’ teaching was against applying such a strict interpretation of the law to the Jews’ current circumstances.
But at Pentecost, the Spirit comes from heaven, and fills the hearts of the disciples. The Spirit of truth came to dwell in the hearts of the disciples. God does a new thing. And like a raging fire, it spread over the whole of the ancient world. The Spirit gave them what they would need, so that they would face their current circumstances.
That same Spirit, that exact same spirit, that set the heart of the disciples’ hearts on fire, it’s the same Spirit, who gives his people the gifts that they need to face the challenges that they face. And this applies to us not only individually, but also as a church. He is dynamic, he changes our hearts, and gives us the power to work in the world for his purposes. Pray that the spirit will be at work in our lives today. Pray for our church that he will do the same. Pray that we will be given the things that we need to meet the challenges that are to come. Pray, knowing that the Spirit is listening, and he is working in all of us, in order to bring God’s kingdom to earth, as it is in heaven.
Amen