Pentecost Sunday B - 31 May 2009

Pentecost Sunday B - 31 May 2009
Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
James V. Stockton

Take this moment for a nice deep breath. A deep breath in, a deep breath out. You may feel a calmness; rest in it. You may feel energized; rejoice in it. Now notice the people around you. Turn to now to someone near to you, and speak to him, to her, just four words: say, “God’s Love, God’s Power.”

Today is special because we celebrate the Day of Pentecost. And this little exercise is what we celebrate, and why. People will often assume that the miracle of Pentecost is the gift of tongues, by which the apostles of Jesus proclaim the Gospel to foreign people they have not met, in languages that they had not known before. We’ve heard the story: the apostles are together in a room somewhere. They are in the city of Jerusalem, and the city is extra-crowded just now because people have come there to celebrate Pentecost, the Festival of Weeks.


Later in history, the festival also came to be associated with God’s giving of the Law or Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. But in Jesus’ day, and in the days of the apostles, it celebrates the ending of the first harvest the harvesting of the ‘first fruits’ of the land. And it is one of three feasts that calls for the people to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This is why the city is crowded. Foreigners from all over the Mediterranean have come to worship God in the Temple by celebrating this festival. The vast majority of them are Jews, like the apostles are, like Jesus was.

There are also ‘god-fearers’ with them. These are people who worship God, the god of the Jews, but have not ritually and ceremonially converted and become Jews. These are the Gentiles, and they are welcome only so far into the Temple in Jerusalem, and no farther. They can come only so close to God’s presence, and not closer; for the traditions have held for many generations, the Gentiles are not among God’s chosen people. So they must keep their distance from God, and remain in their place.

Likewise, the apostles themselves must remember and keep their place. Though you and I think of them as the very special people that they were, in their day they are merely a handful of peasants among the rolling masses of peasants and commoners that now swell the city. You and I regard the apostles with reverence, and we are right to do so. We follow their teachings and even take vows to do so. But in their day, the apostles are no one special, not in any obvious way. And then they open their mouths to speak.

Recently, I read a fable about the Animal Kingdom. It concerns the mighty lion and his mastery over the other beasts of the land. One day Lion decides to make sure that all the other animals know that he indeed reigns in the Animal Kingdom. He takes a walk and comes across the mighty rhinoceros. “Rhino!” Lion calls out with great command. “Tell me, who is the King of the jungle? Speak wisely, now,” he warns. Rhino is no fool, so quickly responds accordingly. “You, O Lion, sir,” says Rhino. “You are King of the Jungle.” “Well said,” replies Lion. And he moves on.

The apostles are no kings, no authorities. They are not officials of the Temple. They are not educated and trained by the rabbis to reason on the meaning of scripture, or to pontificate on the proprieties of tradition. The have one qualification that makes them special, only one. They have known the love of God.

Just weeks ago, shortly after his resurrection, Jesus had met with the Apostles. In a room where they have secreted themselves away, Jesus appears to them. They have come away to a safe place to console themselves. From a safe distance, they watched Jesus die on the cross. They watched as his body was taken down and carried away for burial. They have heard tales of an empty tomb. Some of them have seen it for themselves, one or two of them has even seen Jesus himself, not dead, but alive again, risen from the dead. But the rest of them are not convinced. They are scared and they are worried that those who went after Jesus are coming next for them.

So, he does not heighten their fears by knocking at their door. He does not raise their alarm still further by calling to them from outside their room. Jesus simply appears to them. The apostles simply notice him. “Peace,” he says. “Peace be to you.” ‘Let yourself find some peace. Allow peacefulness to wash over you,’ Jesus invites the apostles. ‘I am sending to you the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God will guide you, will move you, and will bring to you the fullness of truth that is already mine.’

It is this Spirit of God that moves then through the apostles when they speak with the gift of languages. It is this fullness of truth that they speak then to people from far and wide who have gathered to worship God. It is God’s power that moves within them and through them on the Day of Pentecost showing the world around them how really special ordinary common folk can be.

Still walking through the jungle, Lion comes across a wart hog. Big, burly, its tusks promising menace and mayhem to any and all. Yet, Lion does not hesitate. “Wart hog!” he calls out. “Speak wisely now,” he warns, and tell me: who is King of the jungle?” Wart Hog wants no trouble here. “You are,” he says. “Yes, it’s you; you are.” “Well said,” Lion replies. And he moves on.

The gift of Pentecost may be understood as the miracle of the apostles’ sudden ability to speak in languages that they’ve never known or spoken before. This miracle certainly gets the attention of everyone gathering near them to see what’s all the commotion. But even the miracle fails to persuade everyone. As the scripture says, Some ‘hear them speaking about God's deeds of power’ and are ‘amazed, wondering what this means.’ But others sneer with skepticism. ‘No,’ they declare. ‘These people are just drunk on new wine. Nothing of God could happen through people as mundane as these.’ Which goes to show, I suggest, that the miracle of Pentecost is not so much in the miraculous gift of languages itself, but in God’s choice of the people to whom the gift is given.

From a group of frightened men and worried women, people with hopes, disappointments, with regrets and satisfactions, with flaws and virtues, from this group of people ordinary in every way the presence of Christ Jesus and the Spirit of God raises up a people powerful in the peace of God boldly declaring the power of the Love of God.

Lion continues his proud walk through the jungle. He comes next to an elephant, and wants to make sure that this one, too, will know that the Lion is her king. Elephant!” he calls out. “Tell me now, and speak wisely, who is the King of the jung - ” And that’s as much as the lion can say. Because in an instant, the elephant has Lion in her trunk. She pounds Lion several times into the ground. She dunks him several times in nearby river. Then she tosses him hard onto the river bank, and stomps away. Lion, now beaten and bruised, slowly rises. “You know,” he calls out after Elephant, “just because you don’t know who the King of the jungle is, that doesn’t mean you have to get all mean about it!”

The Day of Pentecost is about people speaking up for the power of God, some of whom have not done so before, most of whom have not been welcome to do so, all of whom have not believed or understood themselves to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so. The gift of Pentecost is in God’s choice of the people to whom the gift is given. Everyone who turns to God,’ the Apostles proclaim ‘shall be saved.’ Not just ‘some,’ not just ‘the best,’ but ‘everyone’ can turn to God, everyone can have God’s Love who wants it. It is an uncommon message that continues as it began, being brought to the world through an uncommon community of blessedly common people.

As a child] is baptized here this morning, new voice is given to the movement of the Spirit of God. Watch for it, listen to it, feel it. It may emerge as a deeper calm, or as a renewed energy. Through someone nearby, God is speaking to you. Then turn and look around you. Someone else is waiting to hear the peace and the power of the Love of God speaking in the language of you.

And so, may Almighty God so draw our hearts, so guide our minds, so enrich our souls by the Holy Spirit that we may ever know the blessing of belonging to God in service of the Good News of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the same Spirit, One God, now and for ever. Amen.

© 2009, James V. Stockton