Sermon | Year B - The Year of Mark

May 31, 2009 | Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

The Feast of the Pentecost is about the birth of the Church. In a sense the message of Pentecost is that God brings to the church gifts, authority, and reconciliation.

The scene of Pentecost goes something like this. The disciples are back in the Upper Room where they had the Last Supper. In that room they are now waiting and wondering. Since Jesus ascended into heaven, for over a week they had been lingering in anticipation. Then, that morning they heard a sound. It is the sound of the rush of a mighty wind. It is the coming of the Holy Spirit.

In the Greek, the Holy Spirit is described as being the breath of God. And so the Holy Spirit, this breath of God began to blow on that place like the blast of a forceful wind. Flames of fire danced around the disciples.

With the wind, fire and flame, suddenly, the fear and uncertainty of the disciples was gone. These were replaced by peace and confidence, courage, strength and unity.

Then, having received those gifts of personal transformation, something remarkable happens; the disciples began to speak and boldly communicate the word of God. Amazingly people from all different backgrounds and from all the nations of the known world heard and responded to what the disciples were saying and 3,000 people were converted that day.

Before that morning the disciples were not fully aware of what was happening. Even with the resurrection and ascension they disciples had never fully grasped who Jesus was.

The Gospels show us disciples who never entirely comprehend just what it is that Jesus is doing. However, now with the gift of the Holy Spirit, something changes. These disciples become people who are transformed from self-focused and self-obsessed people often concerned with their own glory and status into Apostles of the faith.

The disciples are able to see the Scriptures fully. They are able to see themselves fully. And most importantly, they see in a complete sense who Jesus was and is.

What we see in the Pentecost story is a powerful and compelling image. It is filled with energy. It is full of mystery. It is complete with a kind of electric excitement. However, something more than a pretty picture is taking place in this story.

In Genesis with the story of the tower of Babel, we read about the people being scattered as God confused the language of all people. God did this because the pride and arrogance of humans had become too great. The division that occurred at the Tower was in a real sense the product of human sin, just as the expulsion from the Garden of Eden was a product of sin.

Adam and Eve are given the Garden of Eden but lose it because of sin. The same kind of sin was at the heart of the Tower of Babel; it is the sin of pride of trying to be like God. And so, in a sense, like the Garden of Eden, God expels the people from their tower by confusing their language.

When the day of Pentecost takes place, something is happening that is connected to that scattering at the Tower of Babel. It is something linked to human sin and human separation from God.

What was the mission of Christ? After all, why did he come here? In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself. In other words God was the actor and not humans.

When humans are the actors, when they are the ones who initiate the action with God that original sin from way back at the Garden of Eden shows itself. This is what was happening with the Pharisees. That is why Christ was always in conflict with these well meaning people. The Pharisees thought they could heal the breach between God and humans. They thought they could work their way up to God. They thought they could point to their perfect observance of the Law of Moses and thus justify themselves before God. They result is always the pride of sin.

With Christ, humans are not building themselves up to God. Instead, God is bringing himself to them. God is the one doing the reconciling. God is the one doing the atonement. God is the one bringing us together.

The reason Christ did miracles was not to show off but to reveal something about himself. Now, on Pentecost the miracle that reveals something special on that day is this gift given to the disciples of speaking in other languages. And not only do they speak in other languages, they speak with great authority.

There is this connection on that morning that goes all the way back to the Tower of Babel and the sin of pride that lead to the scattering of all people. When the disciples speak in other languages, it is a sign of God reconciling the world to himself.

The division between God and humanity that once was no longer is. Through Christ the Father has brought all people together. And that is why we celebrate Pentecost. In the end, that is what the mission of the church is. God created the church on Pentecost morning so that we might bring that message to the world and so that we might be able to live it in our lives.

This birthday of the church is the birth of our mission. It is the celebration that as God once divided the world because of sin, now the church is to teach God’s victory and reconciliation through Christ.

The betrayal of Christ led to the crucifixion. The crucifixion led to the resurrection. The resurrection led to the ascension. And the ascension led to Pentecost. We are now in that long but final phase. Where we await the return of Christ. And as we wait we live, teach, and celebrate the reconciliation that God gives through Christ who is the center of our faith and church. Amen.