May 19, 2024 Sermon
Sermon title: “The Birth of the Church”
Scripture: Acts 2: 1-21
(Other lectionary choices include Psalm 104:24-34, Romans 8:22-27, and John 15:26-27 and John 16:4b-15.)
Acts 2:1-21
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
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.”
Peter Addresses the Crowd
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.’
Today we celebrate Pentecost, and the color of celebration is RED. If you were here last week, you heard another Scripture reading from the Book of Acts that mentioned “The Promise of the Holy Spirit.” Today is the day that we get that promised Holy Spirit, and as you heard, it descended upon the church in Jerusalem.
Keep in mind that “Spirit” means “Breath,” and it would not be wrong to say that God breathed his Holy BREATH on the young church, sanctifying it in some way. Also, the author of this passage, whether it's Luke or somebody else, was trying to make a connection to Genesis, where it says God's Spirit (or Breath) moved upon the waters. Also, unlike Genesis and the Tower of Babel story, these folks in Jerusalem WERE able to understand each other, whereas those building the Tower were NOT able to understand each other.
What is the meaning of this story? One meaning could be that the message of Jesus and his INCLUSION of everybody was for all the world to hear, not just that group of Jerusalem believers. In the words of Lutheran pastor Michael J. Wollman of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the message is, “Christians go! That's what Jesus commissioned and commanded. Go, make, teach, baptize, LOVE. Eat and drink, too, yes! And whenever you do, remember Jesus and Jesus will be there. But go, make, teach, baptize, love.” Then he mentions the Tower of Babel story from Genesis. He says, “Maybe they wanted to reach the top of the rainbow. Maybe they thought God would like the huge structure reaching up in praise. But that's not how the story goes. The story says that God confused their speech into a babel, so they had to abandon the building project and scatter around the world....It seems that if God created heaven and earth, no human structure would be all that important to God. Humans are important to God - all humans from the whole world, in all their languages, cultures, and colors....Stay and be the same? No. This is not what God is up to. Go, and tell the world that God loves it so much that he sent his only Son.”
Another thing: I remember years ago seeing the Kevin Costner movie about Robin Hood, “Prince of Thieves.” Morgan Freeman was in it, too, and he played a Muslim. His dark skin made a little girl ask him, “Did God paint you?” Freeman's character laughed, and then he said maybe so. Maybe God DID paint him. When the little girl asks, “Why?” Freeman's character says, “Because Allah loves infinite variety.” Isn't that great? Allah loves us all, regardless of our race, language, color, or even political party!
Do you wonder where the term Pentecost comes from? It means “the Fiftieth,” and it's another name for “the Feast of Weeks.” For the ancient Hebrews, it happened 50 days after Passover. Passover occurred in April, and so that made Pentecost come up early in June. At that time, travel conditions would be at their best, and those good conditions made it possible for lots of people to make it to Jerusalem. That's why we get such a list of countries in the scripture we heard for today.
The gathering celebrated TWO things: First of all, it commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Secondly, it was also an agricultural celebration. At Passover, the crop's first omer of barley was offered to God, and at Pentecost two loaves of bread were offered in gratitude for the ingathered harvest. The law said (in Leviticus 23:21 and Numbers 28:26) no servile work should be done. So, it was a holiday for EVERYBODY, and the crowds on the streets would be greater than ever. Says William Barclay, “What happened at Pentecost (to the young church) we really do not know except that the disciples had an experience of the power of the Spirit flooding their beings such as they never had before.”
Something else happened, and that is something we call “speaking in tongues,” or glossolalia. Before I continue, let me say that the Apostle Paul was not too enthusiastic about the practice, because you can fake it! You can make unintelligible sounds and pretend that they mean something when maybe you're just making unintelligible sounds! Also, the Apostle Paul was a thinker as well as a writer and preacher, and he thought whenever the Gospel is preached, it should be understood by everybody.
So, we have a difference of opinion among us from the beginning: those who speak in tongues and say they feel the Spirit, and those who DON'T speak in tongues but who also insist that they are Spirit-filled, too. Who is to say? Is only one side right or are both sides, right? Thus far we have lived with the difference, as even more differences occurred among us. (What are some of those differences? There is an Eastern branch of Christianity, which broke away from Rome way before the Protestant Reformation. And look what happened after the Protestant Reformation: Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Disciples (Yay!), Episcopalians, and later Mormons. And let's not forget how many times the Baptists have split and the Methodists, too! And look at the mega- churches these days that belong to NO denomination. There are MANY differences among us!)
Whatever happened on that day in Jerusalem was the first time this motley crew of believers “was hearing the word of God in a way that struck straight home to their hearts and that they could understand. The power of the Spirit was such that it had given these simple disciples a message that could reach every heart.” What do you think? Amen.
Pastor Skip
