Feast of Pentecost
Text: John 14:15-31
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, One God. Amen.
The Day of Pentecost, like Ascension Day, is a very much neglected but hugely important day in the life of the people of faith. It is significant on a couple of different levels.
First, let me make sure you understand that the word, "Pentecost" means, "50 days", and it refers to the day that falls 50 days after Passover, or, in the Christian faith, 50 days after Easter. The reason that 50 days is important is because God wanted the people to count seven sabbath days, seven weeks, a sabbath of sabbaths, after Passover and celebrate the Feast of Pentecost on the very next day, the 50th day.
When the people of Israel came out of Egypt, they came out on the day after Passover. They had the Passover meal the night before and they left the very next day. When they camped around Mt Sinai, Moses went up to the mountain and he was there for 40 days. Given travel time from Egypt and up and down the mountain, the rabbis taught that the 50th day was the day that Moses brought the Law down from being written by the finger of God.
Now why is this significant in the life of the Church? I mean, who cares when the Law was brought down from Sinai? Well, here’s what I want you to see about that first Day of Pentecost.
When the people of Israel came out of Egypt, they were a collection of freed slaves. They had no identity as a people. They had no idea who God was. They had no government, no sense of self and nothing but what in their mind were legends for history. When Moses came down that mountain with the Law, that collection of freed slaves became a nation. It was the Law that galvanized them into being a people, gave them a sense of God and a sense of self and provided them with a national identity.
It was the giving of the Law on the Day of Pentecost that transformed them from a confused nation of slaves into a powerful people that conquered and possessed the land that God had given them. It was the Law that kept them together, kept their identity and made them into the greatest survival story the world has ever known. There have been countless attempts to wipe them off the face of the earth, but they’re still here, and it is the Law, given on the Day of Pentecost that has kept them together.
It can be said that Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation, and that’s true. But the giving of the Law on the Day of Pentecost was what birthed them finally upon the world as a people to be reckoned with.
Let’s fast-forward a couple of thousand years to the Day of Pentecost that we read about today in our reading from Acts (2:1-11). Here again, God was about to bring forth a people. Here again, the raw material was a confused bunch of misfits who only knew in the very dimmest and partial way what God was all about, who they were to become, and what they were going to accomplish in the world.
Just as on the first Day of Pentecost, when there were thunders and lightenings and fire and smoke from the holy mountain, on this second significant Day of Pentecost, the sound of a violent wind came, and fire in the shape of tongues came and hovered above the heads of the men and women in that upper room.
And just as on that first Day of Pentecost, the people in that upper room were transformed, galvanized from a rag-tag collection of fears and anxieties into men and women of boldness and confidence to declare all that God had shared with them in Christ and to face persecution with grace and with the courage that comes from knowing that the worst that man can do to me is send me to the presence of God.
The Law was given on that first Day of Pentecost and it birthed the nation of Israel. On the second great Day of Pentecost, what was given was not stone, but Spirit. What was bestowed upon mankind was not law, but life. What was unleashed upon the world was not a new set of rules, but a people whose lives were ruled by the indwelling Spirit of God. And what defined the people of the second Day of Pentecost was not the sign and seal of circumcision, nor was it what they ate, how they dressed, where they worshiped or any other Law. In fact, this people was not defined by Law at all, but by power and love.
The Holy Spirit of God descended on that little flock and transformed them into the mightiest force the world has ever known. Do you have any idea how many kingdoms, empires, thrones and dominions have come and gone since the Church began 2000 years ago? Do you realize the efforts that have been made by military forces to eradicate the Church from the earth? Do you know how many times the Church has fought back from the edge of destruction, only to come back stronger than ever? Russia and China continue to try to eradicate the Church and they have always failed and they will always fail.
The Holy Spirit Who brooded over the face of the waters at Creation, the Holy Spirit Who raised Christ from the dead, and the Holy Spirit Who descended on that band of folks in Jerusalem to take them in an instant from fear to faith – THAT is the Holy Spirit Who dwells in you and in me.
Listen – this is not just a club of nice people who happen to believe somewhere close to the same things about life. This is not the Kiwanis Club, it’s not the Rotary and it’s not the Sierra Club. This is the Church of Jesus Christ – born in the miraculous, sustained by the supernatural and given the task by Almighty God to take the mystery of His Kingdom into the world.
Christians should be the happiest people in town. In the world, there are people who have the very same problems that we have – financial problems, marital problems, family difficulties, health problems – and they don’t have the Spirit of God dwelling inside them. They have no hope. But we have hope. We are planted and sustained by the power of God Almighty! Why should we mope when we have such hope?
Now I’m not trying to minimize whatever problems may be facing you today. I’m not trying to give you some Pollyanna attitude that says just paste on a smile and all will be well. I know that some of you face serious challenges in your families, in your careers and in your health. Please don’t think that I am saying that all we have to do is sing "Don’t Worry, Be Happy" and everything will work out.
That’s what I’m not saying. I want to listen carefully to what I AM saying.
Within you dwells the power that created the universe. There is nothing that shall be impossible.
Within you dwells the compassion of the God Who did not spare His Only Son in redeeming sinful and rebellious mankind with no conditions. There is nothing that shall be "too much to ask for".
Within you dwells the might of the Holy One of Israel, the Parter of the Waters, the Fire in the Desert, the Raiser of the Dead and the Defender of the Weak. There is no enemy that shall prove too strong.
My friends by virtue of your baptism and chrismation then the power of Pentecost dwells in you. And if the power of Pentecost dwells in you, there is every reason for you to face up to your problems and difficulties with the joy and the courage that comes from knowing that your God reigns.
And do remember this one thing: "Alleluia! Christ is risen!"
And that is the word of the Lord for this Church this morning.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, One God. Amen.