Parthians, Medes, Elamites

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Pentecost

Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA

Acts 2:1-21

Theme: The Holy Spirit for ALL

 

 “¹When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But 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. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o”clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷‘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. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. ²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. ²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

 

Something caught my eye as I was preparing for this morning’s sermon.  I knew, of course, that we would be celebrating Pentecost Sunday this morning, and I knew there was a connection with the JEWISH celebration of Pentecost … but I wasn’t completely clear on how that originated. 

 

The alternate reading for today’s text – that is, the birth of the church – is found in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 11, verses 24 through 30.  In an interesting parallel, THAT passage speaks of the Spirit of the Lord descending … some would say jumping … from Moses to 70 elders of the tribes of Israel.  The story is an odd juxtaposition to the account in Acts.  Yes, the Spirit of the Lord descends on the 70 elders, and they do prophesy, but it is in what appears to be a radically different context.  The people of Israel have just been complaining about not having MEAT to eat, and it gets to the point where God seems to say, ‘If it’s meat they want, it’s meat they’re going to GET!”… and God proceeds to overwhelm them with all the meat they could want – more than they are able to eat, really.  The text even has God saying they’ll have so much it will be coming out of their nostrils! 

 

Pentecost – the Jewish Pentecost – celebrates the giving of the Law, traditionally something that happened 50 days after the Passover – that is, 50 days after the Israelites were permitted to flee Egypt.  So we as Christians recognize our roots in the Jewish tradition by sharing the name of the celebration, but with a different emphasis.  The Law defined the people of Israel.  It is the Spirit of God which would be intended to define us as Christ followers. 

 

What stands out for you in the story?  That there were people from all over the Roman Empire represented?  That there was a sound like a rushing wind?  Tongues of flame over their heads?  That they were talking in every tongue represented there?  It is certainly one of the more colorfully described events in the New Testament, in fact, probably THE most colorful. 

 

You see, in a sense, the Christian Pentecost paralleled the original Pentecost.  While the first commemorates the giving of that which defined for us how we should ACT, the second defined for us how we should BE – that is, where our actions, where our thoughts, our sense of self, our place of rest, our source of hope, should reside.  In the first, God is saying ‘This is what I tell you” in the latter, God is showing us “this is who I AM”. 

 

Because that was, in the end, what happened at Pentecost.  We speak of God incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ.  It is one of our basic tenets of faith – one of those foundational pieces of what we build our understanding of faith on. 

 

Another piece of the foundation is the Trinity.  God in three persons, blessed trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Now, we have God with all of God’s attributes – immortal, invisible, wise, beyond our understanding and yet accessible through the person of Jesus and … and … the Holy Spirit – the comforter, our companion, the intercessor. 

 

We sing about the Holy Spirit, we study about him to some degree, but do we really live out the reality of his presence in our lives?  It is the Holy Spirit that moves our own consciences to first recognize his presence, and in so doing, sensitizes us to an awareness of the Holy in our lives – and the immediate and direct CONVERS – the Unholy as well.  we are made aware, by his prompting, of what we are doing that is grieving to the Spirit of God, that is not of the Kingdom, that is bringing darkness rather than light into our lives, that is tearing us down rather than building us up – and not only ourselves, but those around us.

 

Last week and earlier this week I sat with the family of Chano Arellanes, and wondered at the way they were still able to find it in themselves to laugh and joke, to play after suffering through the tragedy that took his life.  There were moments of profound grief – when we first greeted each other – at the airport and at Minerva’s home – the tears didn’t stop for a long long time.  But in the next few days, I watched as Cristel and Juan Carlos and Angel Gustavo and even Minerva at different times broke out of their sorrow and were able to laugh and kid around, surrounded by family that loved and supported them and cared for them – and communicated in a completely accessible way that they – Chano’s family – were not facing their future by themselves. 

 

In a similar way, the disciples were still struggling between the grief of the death of Christ on the cross, and the utter astonishment of the resurrection.  Part of them was still thinking that this MUST be a dream – there is no WAY this could really be happening.  And yet it was. 

God is again letting the disciples know – letting US know – that we are not going about this on our own, running from the starting gate under our own steam, finding out how far we can get before we run out of fuel, out of energy, whatever.  God is providing for us that which we MUST have to make this work – GOD GOD’S SELF – dwelling in us!

 

The simple truth of the matter is that were it not for the Spirit of God in and through us, the church would not exist today.  I firmly believe that.  We can talk about it in philosophical terms, or we can experience it in emotionally charged services and tearful confessions at the altar, but ultimately we have to come to grips with the fact that God has chosen to dwell in US – fallible, fragile, proud, egotistical, bull-headed, shallow, selfish people … not terribly unlike the people of Israel who complained of not having enough meat to eat after being freed from a life of slavery … and that the promise of presence PERSISTS. 

 

We are his presence in the world.  We are his light.  We are his Joy.  We are his Love.  We are his help.  We are his hope. 

 

What does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church on Pentecost Sunday, 2008? 

 

It means that we are not only ourselves, though we ARE that – we need to understand that as well as anything else.  We ARE us --- but we are MORE than that --- we are the US God intended us to be – or that is our GOAL.  God wanted Hilda to be Hilda, of course, and God wanted to shine through her gift of music.  God wanted Cliff to be Cliff, and God wanted to shine through his gift of leadership.  God wanted Sam to be Sam, and God wanted to shine through his gift of steadfastness – faithfulness.  God wanted each of us to be who we are, and through being who we are he wanted to highlight one other aspect of who HE is. 

 

We are not all expected to play the organ, or the piano, or sing, of lead, or be caretakers, we ARE all expected to be a facet of an incredibly multifaceted gem – the body of Christ named Jerusalem Baptist Church. 

 

Let’s pray.