Day of Pentecost
May 23, 2010
Sermon by Rev. Dr. Marcus Pera
The
Holy Gospel according to
Philip
said to [Jesus,] “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
forever. 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 said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you every thing, and remind you of all
that I have said to you. Peace I leave
with you; my peace I give to you. I do
not give to you as the world gives. Do
not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”]
The
Gospel of our Lord.
In the
name of the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, sisters and brothers,
grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.
Amen.
It must have been at
least 35 years ago when I purchased this book that was titled, “To The Unknown God.” You can imagine why I am referring to that
this day. Yes, it was a book about the
Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, Unknown God,
little emphasized in most of the mainline churches. I think that is certainly true for the
A
little over a week ago in Bible study one of the participants asked, “Why don’t
we use the word or talk about the Holy Ghost anymore?” In this book, “To The Unknown God,”
the writer Paul Harms makes a reference to this Christian spook that lives out
in the ecclesiastical closet, fluffed on cloud nine. This kind of imagery is what gives rise out
of the concept of the ghost image. No,
that hasn’t been overly helpful as well.
We do have some
descriptions, certainly, and definitions of the Holy Spirit. We confess it in the Creed every Sunday; and
in the Nicene Creed especially: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver
of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son”— a little more difficult
language—”who with the Father and the Son [together] is worshipped and
glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.” Yes, a person of the Godhead, one to be
worshipped and praised; and that is what we are about this day.
The
Festival of the Pentecost, it’s a big festival day. The color is red. I enjoy it.
I enjoy wearing my stole, which looks like the tongues of fire. Yes, Pentecost Day. But we ask, “What is it all about and what
does it mean?” In that lesson for today
that describes that first Pentecost event, it says that “the people around were
astonished and were amazed.” And they
asked the question, “What does this mean?”
It is a very good Lutheran question, “What does this mean?” And so the question we ask this morning on
this Pentecost Day, “Pentecost, what does it mean?” What does it mean, first of all, from some of
the signs that are apparent in those readings for today?
The first sign is there; it refers back to Pentecost
that has its roots in the Old Testament.
And Pentecost was the day designation, forty-nine days, seven weeks, and
then the next day, the fiftieth day; it was a spring harvest festival; forty-nine
days from the first hepta-cycle to the first grain. And they were to give their first fruits to
the Lord. But it was also timed in the
way that it commemorated the giving of the Torah, the law, to the children of
The
second sign that I would point to is that of new wine. That seems to be a kind of strange one. You know what was happening, and people were
all talking in different tongues. It was
somewhat confusing to those that at least weren’t catching what was happening,
and the charge was made: “These people are filled with new wine.” And Peter stood up and said, “It’s only nine
in the morning. How can this be?”
There
is another reference, though, that is somewhat interesting, and that is that
wine reference that is used in the early part of the Gospel, certainly the
Gospel of Luke, that talks about the change that is happening, and then says to
the people who were critical of changing some of the dietary laws, “You don’t
put new wine into old wine skins. What
happens is you lose the wine, it will burst and you lose the skin, the carrier,
as well.” But here it’s not the disciples that are filled with wine and
drunk. No, it’s the disciples themselves
who are the wine, and they, in experiencing of the Holy Spirit, are bursting
forth with a new life that becomes apparent, a sign of Pentecost.
Another sign that is present is that of wind and fire; wind
and fire used frequently in scripture in anticipation of a particular unfolding
and presence of God. Fire that was there
when Moses was called; the fire that went before the Ark of the Covenant as a
pillar at night, guiding and guarding the presence of God; the wind that was
there for Elijah; all these referring to the bottom line of anticipation in an
unusual and extraordinary way of the presence of God among God’s people. And during this Pentecost event, there was a
sound as of wind; there were tongues as of fire, anticipating this outburst and
this manifestation of God among God’s people.
And
then you also have the sign of Pentecost that is in the reference by Peter to
Joel. And Joel changes the words of this
just a little bit, especially in the beginning, when he says that after these
things, he changes it to say that it is the end, the fulfilling, the full
presence of the
These are
signs of Pentecost. What does this
mean? What does Pentecost mean,
really? Well, first of all, it means the
birth of the Church of Jesus Christ.
When Peter preached this sermon, first of all, when they were in the
upper room, there were the disciples gathered and those close ones around
them. How many people was it that were
referred to? A hundred and twenty
people. And then what happened when
Peter preached his powerful sermon. And
finally, the people asked, “What then should we do?” And Peter said, “Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ; be baptized.”
And there were three thousand that were added to the church that
day. It was the birth of the Church of
Jesus Christ in that outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
And there were a couple of characteristics of the church
that are pointed to in this instance.
The first is that of a common understanding. This whole notion of tongues becomes kind of
strange and, in a sense, confusing. But
one of the interesting things about it is that with the different tongues and
different languages, yet people were able to understand what was going on. There was a common understanding, a common
framework, a common appropriation of the unfolding of God’s presence among God’s
people. And not only that, there was a
unity within the diversity that was apparent.
The Spirit becomes the spirit of understanding and the spirit of
unity. Some referred to this as a
reversal of the
And so we ask ourselves the question, “Pentecost, what
does it mean?” “What does it mean for us
today?” I think it means, if nothing
else, a living by the Spirit of God; a new kind of life‑filled living
that gives witness to the God who lives among us. The people were in the upper room, but they
went from that upper room out into the world to share the good news.
If we go to the Gospel Lesson for today, which was the
Gospel Lesson a few Sundays ago, there is a reference again to what Jesus said
when he said, “That greater works than these you will do than the ones I do.” Tony Campolo has a reference to this where he
remarks that when he was in Sunday school in the sixth grade he had the
question, saying, “Sure, I change water into wine, I walk on water, I raise
people from the dead.” I never have been
able to do that; I never will be able to do that. What do you mean, “Greater works than these
you will do?” But he points out then
also that what is important to recognize is that what Jesus is about is love
and not power. What Jesus is about is
love and not power. And in fact he tells
the disciples off and on to tell no one because there was a sense and a draw to
this power, this miraculous power that Jesus was displaying. Jesus was about love and not power.
And so if you take followers of Jesus, ignited by the
Spirit of God, living out their life of love to and for other people, then you
look at not just what you can do individually.
But then you do the works of love that are done by Immanuel
congregation; and then the works of love that are done by the ELCA, some close
to five-million strong; and then you take world‑wide Lutheranism with 86
million people, and you take Christianity in the whole world numbered at 2.1
billion people. These are the greater
works that are being done. And in fact,
Jesus says to the disciples, “It is even advantageous for me to go because then
the Holy Spirit will bring to you not just me but the Father as well, and the
Father is greater than I.” These are the
works of love that are done.
My goodness, how are we people caught up in this
Pentecost Spirit able to display that kind of love to and for our neighbor and
all of God’s creation? The Spirit is the
Spirit of power, rightly understood. Not
the love of power, but the power to love.
And that Spirit of power comes to us through the word, comes to us
through the sacraments, and comes to us to set us on fire and empower us to
live in love in that kind of way.
In the
Ninth Century there was a hymn that was composed to the Holy Spirit, and the
hymn that is used in the Catholic Church when, for example, the people file
into the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope.
It’s the hymn that is used when a bishop or a pope or a priest is
consecrated, even used when confirmation is there. It’s a hymn that Luther composed also, and
concluded within the hymn. And we have
several versions of that in our own hymnal, and a different composite of the
words itself. But the basic words read
this way:
Creator spirit, heavenly dove,
Descend upon us from above;
With graces manifold restore
Your creatures as they were before.
And so
we say, “Yes. Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, with the fire of your
love, and renew our faces and renew the face of the earth.”
In the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
(This is an unedited transcription of a
tape-recorded sermon given by Pastor Pera.)