St John 14:23-31/Acts 2:1-21/Genesis 11:1-9
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Pentecost was one of the three pilgrimage feasts of the Old Testament when Jewish men were required to journey to Jerusalem. Passover and Sukkoth were the other two. Pentecost, as its name implies, was celebrated fifty days after Passover and commemorated the giving of the Law at Mt Sinai.
Farmers from around Jerusalem would rise early on the morning of Pentecost and be led by a flute player in procession to the temple mount, that is, up Mt Zion. They would sing and chant the psalms, the Songs of Ascents, as they went. Psalm 136 was the climax of these songs, O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and mercy endureth forever (Ps 136:1). It goes on to praise God, who alone does great wonders. As the farmer’s procession reached the city, the king would heave a basket of grain on his shoulder and lead the way into the temple courts.
In the temple courts the farmers would present their baskets, their first fruits. Each would say the liturgy of recitation from Deuteronomy 26: A wandering Aramean was my father, and he would recount the mighty works of the Lord, having ransomed His people from Egypt, bringing them into the Promised Land, and providing for their physical and spiritual needs; concluding with, And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which You, O Lord, have given me. The first fruits belonged to the Lord and in faith one trusted that in grace and mercy the Lord would provide more. It was a confession. And each spoke in Hebrew, regardless of where he was from. The Old Testament feast of Pentecost united all Jews in a common tongue, one language.
And so it is that there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. They had come for the feast; gathered together from nations to which they had been dispersed. Remember that it was the Lord who had dispersed them at Babel. For He had commanded Noah and his descendents to spread out, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. And they were to call on the saving Name of the Lord. But in pride and egotism, man rebelled against the command of the Lord and remained solitary. And sinful men desire to make a name for themselves; to be self-made and chase the impossible dream.
And so they began to construct a tower toward heaven. And men are always attempting to climb ladders to heaven. Ladders of good works to ascend into heaven and get closer to God by our morality and clean living, assuming that such action brings God’s favor. Or ladders of knowledge and wisdom, seeking to unlock the secrets of the divine, map the universe in an attempt to find God or else disprove His existence and seat ourselves on the empty throne. Or the ever pervasive Pop Christian ladder: emotion. Trying to find God within, trying to feel again that ecstasy, that rush, and capture it for the tough week ahead.
We climb these ladders. We try to please God, have Him smile on us, earn His grace and favor by our good works. We try to solve our problems with intelligence and wisdom that turn out to be gimmicks and tricks. We try to convince ourselves that God just wants me to be happy, so whatever makes me happy must be okay with God. These ladders all turn out to be new commandments, new laws. And to seek a righteousness that lies in works, in the law, is to cull death; it is to climb the stairway to heaven, only to realize it is a ladder to nowhere.
But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the Word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom 10:6-13)
Thus does St Peter preach on Pentecost: Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved. For the Lord who came down and scattered His people, multiplying their languages, confusing their tongues, has now come down in Christ who gathers them together by His Word.
The Old Testament feast was a foreshadowing of this. For in the liturgy they spoke a common tongue, regardless of ethnicity. But now the reverse is true: as St Peter and the other Apostles preach in different languages, it is an indictment against the Hebrews who rejected the Word made flesh who came among them. The Holy Spirit goes forth to gather all God’s elect, from every nation and race and tribe and language. He brings them into the family, making Abraham, the wandering Aramean, their faith through faith. And He gives us a common language once more in the holy liturgy, the mother tongue of Christians of all times and places.
This bold proclamation of Christ is spoken by St Peter! He who once cowered at the voice of a servant girl now stands before a crowd that could, by reasonable assumption, kill him and his companions. Indeed some mock, as stubborn men are want to do. They hear the languages and in stubborn, willful ignorance say, They are drunk.
The preaching of the Gospel always sounds like drunken speech to the unrepentant. Its not that its just radical and hard to believe. Politicians make outlandish claims all the time and no one accuses them of being filled with new wine. The problem, I think, is that politicians don’t actually believe the claims they are making. Everyone knows their words are too good to be true and so they don’t believe them either.
The problem with the Gospel – the good news that God loves and forgives us in Christ Jesus despite our hatred of and rebellion against Him – is that those who preach it do actually believe it. St Peter and the Apostles and Christian preachers ever since preach the Word with conviction. Note that its not power or dynamism. It’s the Word itself that is powerful. The Word itself is dynamic, not the man. But the fact that these men actual believe the Word does what it says, that they preach with such conviction, makes sinners uneasy.
And it should make sinners uneasy. We should be uneasy at the preaching of the Law. It ought to cut us to the quick. And with those hearers in Jerusalem we ought to ask, “What shall we do?” The Good News of God’s love for us in Christ is only good news for sinners. It is only good news if you need it. My friends, Christ came only for sinners. Christ died only for sinners. Christ dwells only in sinners. If you are not a sinner, than leave this place, it is not for you.
But if you know your sin, if you have been prideful and arrogant, if you have acted and said and done selfish things, if you have lied and gossiped, if you have cheated and stolen, and are left asking, “What shall we do?”
The answer is the same as Peter spoke that first Pentecost: repent and be baptized, every one of you. Already baptized? God be praised! Repent and return to your baptism. For there Christ gave you the gift of the Holy Spirit, who forgives all your sins. There the Father who loves you and the Son who loves you, came and made Their home with you. There He named you with His own Name. You are His and He is yours. He cannot and will not refuse your call.
Beloved, He gives you His peace. Not as the world gives does He give. But peace that surpasses all understanding. Peace that keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Peace brought by the shed blood of Christ. This peace is given through His preached Word, His watery Word, His absolving Word, His Word attached to Bread and Wine.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. For our Lord has called you to Himself in love. He has gathered you from among the nations. He has given you a new language, a common tongue, the very confession of His Word. Pentecost is fulfilled, as is all the Law. Jesus Christ whom we crucified has, in fact, been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor 15:20).
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Pentecost was one of the three pilgrimage feasts of the Old Testament when Jewish men were required to journey to Jerusalem. Passover and Sukkoth were the other two. Pentecost, as its name implies, was celebrated fifty days after Passover and commemorated the giving of the Law at Mt Sinai.
Farmers from around Jerusalem would rise early on the morning of Pentecost and be led by a flute player in procession to the temple mount, that is, up Mt Zion. They would sing and chant the psalms, the Songs of Ascents, as they went. Psalm 136 was the climax of these songs, O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and mercy endureth forever (Ps 136:1). It goes on to praise God, who alone does great wonders. As the farmer’s procession reached the city, the king would heave a basket of grain on his shoulder and lead the way into the temple courts.
In the temple courts the farmers would present their baskets, their first fruits. Each would say the liturgy of recitation from Deuteronomy 26: A wandering Aramean was my father, and he would recount the mighty works of the Lord, having ransomed His people from Egypt, bringing them into the Promised Land, and providing for their physical and spiritual needs; concluding with, And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which You, O Lord, have given me. The first fruits belonged to the Lord and in faith one trusted that in grace and mercy the Lord would provide more. It was a confession. And each spoke in Hebrew, regardless of where he was from. The Old Testament feast of Pentecost united all Jews in a common tongue, one language.
And so it is that there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. They had come for the feast; gathered together from nations to which they had been dispersed. Remember that it was the Lord who had dispersed them at Babel. For He had commanded Noah and his descendents to spread out, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. And they were to call on the saving Name of the Lord. But in pride and egotism, man rebelled against the command of the Lord and remained solitary. And sinful men desire to make a name for themselves; to be self-made and chase the impossible dream.
And so they began to construct a tower toward heaven. And men are always attempting to climb ladders to heaven. Ladders of good works to ascend into heaven and get closer to God by our morality and clean living, assuming that such action brings God’s favor. Or ladders of knowledge and wisdom, seeking to unlock the secrets of the divine, map the universe in an attempt to find God or else disprove His existence and seat ourselves on the empty throne. Or the ever pervasive Pop Christian ladder: emotion. Trying to find God within, trying to feel again that ecstasy, that rush, and capture it for the tough week ahead.
We climb these ladders. We try to please God, have Him smile on us, earn His grace and favor by our good works. We try to solve our problems with intelligence and wisdom that turn out to be gimmicks and tricks. We try to convince ourselves that God just wants me to be happy, so whatever makes me happy must be okay with God. These ladders all turn out to be new commandments, new laws. And to seek a righteousness that lies in works, in the law, is to cull death; it is to climb the stairway to heaven, only to realize it is a ladder to nowhere.
But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the Word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom 10:6-13)
Thus does St Peter preach on Pentecost: Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved. For the Lord who came down and scattered His people, multiplying their languages, confusing their tongues, has now come down in Christ who gathers them together by His Word.
The Old Testament feast was a foreshadowing of this. For in the liturgy they spoke a common tongue, regardless of ethnicity. But now the reverse is true: as St Peter and the other Apostles preach in different languages, it is an indictment against the Hebrews who rejected the Word made flesh who came among them. The Holy Spirit goes forth to gather all God’s elect, from every nation and race and tribe and language. He brings them into the family, making Abraham, the wandering Aramean, their faith through faith. And He gives us a common language once more in the holy liturgy, the mother tongue of Christians of all times and places.
This bold proclamation of Christ is spoken by St Peter! He who once cowered at the voice of a servant girl now stands before a crowd that could, by reasonable assumption, kill him and his companions. Indeed some mock, as stubborn men are want to do. They hear the languages and in stubborn, willful ignorance say, They are drunk.
The preaching of the Gospel always sounds like drunken speech to the unrepentant. Its not that its just radical and hard to believe. Politicians make outlandish claims all the time and no one accuses them of being filled with new wine. The problem, I think, is that politicians don’t actually believe the claims they are making. Everyone knows their words are too good to be true and so they don’t believe them either.
The problem with the Gospel – the good news that God loves and forgives us in Christ Jesus despite our hatred of and rebellion against Him – is that those who preach it do actually believe it. St Peter and the Apostles and Christian preachers ever since preach the Word with conviction. Note that its not power or dynamism. It’s the Word itself that is powerful. The Word itself is dynamic, not the man. But the fact that these men actual believe the Word does what it says, that they preach with such conviction, makes sinners uneasy.
And it should make sinners uneasy. We should be uneasy at the preaching of the Law. It ought to cut us to the quick. And with those hearers in Jerusalem we ought to ask, “What shall we do?” The Good News of God’s love for us in Christ is only good news for sinners. It is only good news if you need it. My friends, Christ came only for sinners. Christ died only for sinners. Christ dwells only in sinners. If you are not a sinner, than leave this place, it is not for you.
But if you know your sin, if you have been prideful and arrogant, if you have acted and said and done selfish things, if you have lied and gossiped, if you have cheated and stolen, and are left asking, “What shall we do?”
The answer is the same as Peter spoke that first Pentecost: repent and be baptized, every one of you. Already baptized? God be praised! Repent and return to your baptism. For there Christ gave you the gift of the Holy Spirit, who forgives all your sins. There the Father who loves you and the Son who loves you, came and made Their home with you. There He named you with His own Name. You are His and He is yours. He cannot and will not refuse your call.
Beloved, He gives you His peace. Not as the world gives does He give. But peace that surpasses all understanding. Peace that keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Peace brought by the shed blood of Christ. This peace is given through His preached Word, His watery Word, His absolving Word, His Word attached to Bread and Wine.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. For our Lord has called you to Himself in love. He has gathered you from among the nations. He has given you a new language, a common tongue, the very confession of His Word. Pentecost is fulfilled, as is all the Law. Jesus Christ whom we crucified has, in fact, been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor 15:20).
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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