Pentecost 2 – 23 June 2019 – Year C

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 8^thChapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 26 – 39:

²⁶ Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” ²⁹ For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) ³⁰ Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. ³¹ And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. ³² Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. ³³ Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. 

³⁴ When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵ Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ³⁶ And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. ³⁷ Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. ³⁸ The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Fear is a powerful enemy.  An historic quote that has had a profound effect on our psyche is, “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  These are the words of the United States President Roosevelt in the height of the great depression in 1933. He was concerned, fear was the force that paralysed the nation.  It prevented people from an honest appraisal of the sad state of the nation’s struggle with the depression.  The basic thrust of his opening remarks was that we can fix nothing if we are afraid to evaluate things honestly. A concept that is used to this day, especially in trauma counselling.

Today’s gospel and its context also have something to say about fear.  The context that leads up to today’s gospel is the story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  You may remember that Jesus instructed His disciples to cross the Sea with Him.  As they were crossing, a great storm arose on the Sea so that the disciples were afraidthey would drown.  They woke Jesus and He rebuked the storm so that the seas became calm. Then He said to them,^{[Mark 4:40]} “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” The disciples’ fear was a symptom of their lack of faith.

Today’s Gospel takes up the story after Jesus calmed the storm and He and His disciples arrive on the opposite shore.  We get the impression that Jesus hardly had time to walk up the beach before fear presented itself once again.  A demon-possessed man threw himself at Jesus’ feet.

Now, the Holy Spirit inspired James to write, ^{[James 2:19]}“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”  The demons in this man were shuddering.    This was a different kind of fear.  The demons that infested this man knew exactly who Jesus was.  They had gotten used to controlling this man, but now, Jesus controlled them.  Today’s gospel sayswhen [the man] saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.”   The demons wanted to get as far away from Jesus as they could, but when Jesus, Lord of all things, says, “Come,” they must obey.  They have no choice but to obey as well when Jesus tells them to leave this man. 

There are no atheists or agnostics among the demons. They have a better knowledge of God than we can ever have while we live on this earth.  Yet, their superior knowledge of God can only produce fear. Along with their superior knowledge of God they also have a superior knowledge of their ultimate future – eternal torment with no chance of parole.  Their great knowledge of God fills them with a great terror of God – a very legitimate terror.

Fear also affected the people of the nearby town. At first, they were afraid of this demon-possessed man.  The parallel accounts of this event in Matthew and Mark tell us that the demons were so fierce that no one could pass that way.  All the accounts tell how no one could even restrain this man with chains. The people in this area had good reason to be afraid before Jesus came.

The strange thing is that these same people were still afraid even after the demons were gone.  They were no longer afraid of the man who had once been demon-possessed. After all, there he was, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.  There was no reason to be afraid of this man any longer. Instead, they were afraid of Jesus. They asked Him to leave.  He had barely spent a few hours on the beach when He turned around, got back into the boat, and left.

Why were the people so afraid of Jesus?  We might understand that those who lost their herd of pigs would be upset, but why were the rest of the people afraid? Jesus had removed the terror of the demon-possessed man.  You would think they would rejoice that the demons were gone.

A few minutes ago, I mentioned the terror that demons have in God’s presence.  They know that one of these days, God will carry out the sentence that waits for them – eternal suffering in hell.  They live in terror of that day. They want us human beings to have that same terror.  They hate God, but they cannot attack Him directly.  They would always lose.  They can, however, attack the beloved of God’s creation – you and me.  If they can implant their terror and hatred of God in us, then, even though they must lose the war, they will take some of their enemies with them to suffer in hell forever.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they surrendered their dominion of this world to Satan and his demons.  They gave Satan and his demons the foothold in this world that they needed to attack us.  From that time on, everyone born into this world is born under their influence.  We enter this world as sinners who oppose God and live in terror of His presence.  The demons influence us so that we see Jesus as a stern judge who can’t wait to throw us into hell.  The desolate people in today’s gospel demonstrate that fact with their fear. The presence of Christ’s holiness terrifies them.

The demon-possessed man in today’s gospel was frightening in many respects, but even more frightening are those demons that blend into the culture.  These demons affect this world even though no one notices them.   The townspeople in today’s gospel could point to the demon-possessed man and say, “I sure am glad I am not possessed like him.”  What they didn’t understand is that not all demons produce symptoms of insanity. They thought they were free of demons, but they were afraid of Jesus.

In truth, demons work in all levels of society and in all the places of the world.  They influence people who live in castles and people who live in huts.  Their goal is to maintain our hatred and terror of God until we die and enter into the eternal punishment that God created for them.

They will not hesitate to use anything as a means to their end – pride, money, power, pleasure, entertainment, sports, family, prestige, apathy, despair, or any other distraction.  During holiday time they cause us to forget the gifts of God’s Divine Service.  They might use activities such as sports, picnics, and reunions to provide an easy excuse to miss out on God’s gifts.  There are many ways that demons try to establish a foothold in our lives and weaken our relationship with God.

With all the fear in today’s gospel, there was one person who was not afraid of Jesus, the man who had once been demon-possessed.  As Jesus got into the boat, he begged to leave with Jesus.  He never wanted to be away from Jesus again.

That is the change the Holy Spirit makes in us when He works the miracle of faith in our hearts.  The demons’ lies are gone.  The Holy Spirit enables us to see Jesus for who He really is.  Jesus is no longer the stern judge eager to send us to hell for our sins.  Instead, He is the loving Saviour who deeply desires us to live with Him in heaven. He is the one who loved us so much that He sacrificed Himself on the cross to rescue us from the clutches of those demons who seek to sow fear in us.  He is the one who opened up heaven to all believers with His resurrection from the dead.  He is the one who will return one day to take us to live in eternal joy with Him.

Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus did not stay long in that area.  He barely left the beach.  Nevertheless, He did establish a foothold of His own.  That foothold came in the form of the commission He gave to the man who once had demons.  Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” The man who now had no fear did as Jesus said.  He went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.  Here in its simplest form is the commission God gives to every Christian.  God speaks to every Christian and says, “Now that I have saved you with the precious blood that my Son shed on the cross, tell others what I have done for you.”

The Holy Spirit used this man.  The next time Jesus came to this neighbourhood, the countryside emptied itself to come and sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from Him. Church history tells us that this town became the site of one of the earliest churches among the gentiles and is still revered to this day.  It is even possible that representatives from this church attended the Council of Nicaea that formalised the creed that is a formal confession of our faith.  The Holy Spirit removed the fear of these people and replaced it with faith.

The Bible tells us that we have many spiritual enemies.  Among these are sin, death, and the devil.  Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus has power over the devil and his demons. Other parts of the Bible tell of the power Jesus has over our other enemies.  Ultimately, Jesus conquered these forces with His suffering and death on the cross.

We now have no reason to be afraid of Jesus. He loves and cares for us so much that He sacrificed Himself for us to atone for our sins and daily provides what is best for us.  He has freed us from our terror of God and gives us the gifts of grace, love and life with Him forever. Amen.

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Holy Trinity – 16 June 2019 – Year C

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

It is my intention to embrace all the Bible texts for today, (proverbs 8: 1-4 &22-31 – Romans 5: 1-5), but focus primarily on the Gospel reading John 16:12-15:

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

In the ‘Athanasian Creed’ we confess “And the catholic faith is this:  That we worship one God in three Persons and three Persons in one God, neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the substance.”  
Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, the last of the festival days.  It’s the day we dust off that esteemed Athanasian Creed, named after St. Athanasius, the great confessor and defender of the Nicene orthodoxy, who was banished from his own pulpit five times defending the great truth:  that God is three and one at the same time.  Three distinct persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Yet only one God in essence - and there is no other god than this God.

The Tri-unity of God is a paradox.  A paradox is finding truth in two seemingly contradictory things at once.  The word “triune” itself is paradoxical.  Three - yet one; (or) one - yet three.  

At first glance the Holy Scriptures continually present us with seemingly contradictory statements  God is three and one.  Jesus Christ is true God and at the same time true man.  A justified believer is both sinless and sinner.  It’s all paradox (contradictory).  In a world that demands a neat and tidy either/or answer for anything, Christianity comes with a “both/and.”

Three divine Persons, one divine Being called God.  Let’s be honest.  If we were inventing a god and a religion, we wouldn’t go this way.  We’d keep things simple and straightforward.  Religion is hard enough to promote in a secular world.  Why make things more difficult than they have to be?  The trouble with that is we don’t make up our ideas of God.  God tells us who He is.

We must take the tri-unity of God seriously for this one reason:  Jesus revealed it.  He’s the One who died and rose from the dead, and so whatever Jesus says, is gospel truth.  Jesus is the one who prayed to His Father and yet said, “I and the Father are one.”  Jesus claimed to be sent by the Father as the only -begotten Son of God, and yet He said that to see and have Him was to see and have the Father.  He promised that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit who would take what He received from the Father and hand it on to Jesus’ disciples.  He commanded His disciples to make disciples of all the nations by baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them everything He had entrusted to them.  

Friends, this is the source of Holy Trinity Sunday and the three creeds we confess.  That’s why confess the somewhat cumbersome Athanasian Creed with all its eternals, and uncreateds and incomprehensibles and threats of hellfire to all who don’t believe it.  It’s because this is the God that Jesus revealed to the world.  Three distinct Persons and yet only One, undivided God.  A paradox.

If you want to see an artist’s attempt at capturing the paradox, spend a little time on the ‘Net’ and do a Google search for ‘Artists impressions of the Holy Trinity’.  You will see virtually hundreds of expositions of the doctrine of the Trinity by famous artists throughout time. (Example Above) You see it gets people thinking and talking and discussing.  How do you illustrate this paradox without slipping into the old trap of having three gods or having a god with three faces?  What the creeds try to do with words, the artists try to do with paint and canvas.  It isn’t easy.  In fact, the Eastern Orthodox Church forbids members from even attempting it, though people still do.  There’s a deep drive in us to try to make some visual sense out of it.

This may all seem like so much doctrinal hair-splitting to some.  The Athanasian Creed might seem like an exercise in hair-splitting.  Doesn’t the Bible keep things nice and simple? Is this all really necessary?  Couldn’t we “just believe in Jesus” and let it go at that.  Rational nonconformists claim “Doctrine divides”.  

Friends in Christ, it’s never a healthy sign when the church, or baptised believers for that matter, abandon any interest in Christian doctrine and turn to their own spiritual experiences.  It’s a sign of the church grown lazy and distracted.  The creeds didn’t (and don’t), cause divisions; they identified, labelled, and diagnosed the divisions.  Doctrinal indifference weakens and divides Christ’s church on earth.

GK Chesterton, the eminent Christian writer and apologist who died in 1936, said this about his own modern-day disinterest in doctrine: - “In all the mess of modern thoughtlessness, that still calls itself modern thought, there is perhaps nothing so stupendously stupid as the common saying, “Religion can never depend on minute disputes about doctrine.”  It is like saying that life can never depend on minute disputes about medicine.  The man who is content to say, “We do not want theologians splitting hairs,” will doubtless be content to go on and say, “We do not want surgeons splitting filaments more delicate than hairs.”  It is a fact that many a man would be dead today, if his doctors had not debated fine shades about doctoring.  It is also the fact the European civilisation would be dead today, if its doctors of divinity had not debated fine shades about doctrine.” (The Resurrection of Rome, in For All the Saints, II, 27-28)

We might add to Chesterton that our own civilisations are dying and may already be dead, because we no longer take an interest in the fine points of doctrine.  What Chesterton called “the mess of modern thoughtlessness” has become a culture of “dummies.”  There are even books with the titles “Christianity for Dummies” and “The Bible for Dummies.”  When you no longer believe anything faithfully and firmly, the fine points of doctrine are no longer worth fighting for.

So what do we do with this paradox of God’s tri-unity?  What does it mean for us beyond the fact that God can’t easily be pictured, and the best we can do are triangles and St. Patrick’s three leaf clovers?

First, it means that God Himself is never alone, personally speaking.  He is in communion - the Father in communion with the Son in communion with the Holy Spirit.  When God made man in the beginning, He said, “Let us make man in our image.”  You might say that creation is a divine committee job, a collaboration of the Father’s ideas, the Son’s Word, and the Spirit’s breath and life, all working together. 

That still doesn’t quite catch the fullness of the paradox, I know.  But at the level of our human language, it’s the best we can do.  It’s one reason, I believe, that it was not good for the man to be alone when he was created, and why God separated male and female and made them two separate beings.  We are made to be in community and in communion as God Himself is in communion.

Secondly; the doctrine of the Trinity teaches us that it is the Wisdom of God, the Word, that orders everything.  In the book of Proverbs, Wisdom takes on a person and speaks (in a female voice, because the word for “wisdom” is feminine).  Wisdom was with God in the beginning, appointed from eternity, from before the creation.  Wisdom was the craftsman at God’s side, His right hand, rejoicing in His whole world, delighting in mankind.

You might say that all of science and mathematics is a celebration of this Wisdom that made all things and gave everything order and place. The laws of science exists because the Wisdom of God brought order out of random chaos.  The whole reason we can even speak of scientific laws and principles is that the universe operates by divine Wisdom.  God is a God of order, and He makes things in order.
In the New Testament we meet God’s Wisdom face to face in the person of Jesus.  He is the Word Incarnate, the Word made flesh, the Word through whom all things were made and in whom all things hold together and have their being.  He’s called the “first-born” of the creation, the image (icon) of the invisible God, the fullness of God dwelling in human flesh.  To know Jesus is to know the ordering Wisdom of the universe in a personal way.

Imagine seeing a magnificent building, a structure that commands your attention.  It makes you want to know who built it, who designed it.  Take a long, meditative look at your hand. Wiggle each finger.  Flex each joint.  Take note of the muscles and tendons and blood vessels.  Notice the shape and size of each finger.  How do you think that hand came to be?  By accident?  A quirk of nature?  Luck?  Of course not!  It’s the Father’s design, the Son’s execution, the Spirit’s life that made this hand and keeps it going.

Jesus told His disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”  And those men spent three years of “quality time” with Jesus.  Literally walking and talking and eating with Him, and they still can’t bear all that He has to say.  It’s a nonsense to think that we’ve exhausted everything. We may have read the Bible a dozen times all the way through from Genesis to the Revelation and we still don’t know everything there is to know.  We may have memorised the catechisms, gone to Christian schools, studied under the best teachers, have enough degrees to wallpaper a small room, but we’re still only scratching the surface.  Jesus promises more to come.  There’s always more with Jesus, until our last second is past, when we inherit the fullness of what the Father has given to the Son who gives us by His Spirit.

Thirdly; the doctrine of the Trinity describes our relationship with God.  It’s a triune relationship in union with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  That’s how it began at our baptism “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  The apostle Paul says, “Thanks to Jesus and the justification that came through His death and resurrection, we now have peace with God through Christ and access through faith.”

God has made peace with the world, with each and every one of us, in the death of Jesus His Son.  In trusting that peace, we have access to the Father through His Son.  Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me”, and in His death on the cross, He drew all things to Himself and in His resurrection He presented the whole redeemed creation to the Father.  The disaster of human sin, including the contribution each of us makes, has been answered in the blood of Jesus, and now by that blood, we have access to the Father.  We can come to Him as dear children coming to their dear Father, with boldness and confidence.  In Christ, we are part of the family.  Father God has poured out His Spirit on us, in our Baptism and whenever we hear His Word.  The Spirit reveals the love of God to our own hearts, so that we are able to say “our Father.”

Every prayer is about the tri-unity of God.  We pray to the Father.  We pray through the Son, through His priesthood, His sacrificial death, His blood.  We also pray in the Holy Spirit who reveals Jesus Christ to us, who works faith in our hearts, and who delivers our words to the ear of God.

The tri-unity of God is our life with God.  We are children of the heavenly Father.  We are brothers and sisters of God’s only-begotten Son, Jesus, our Saviour.  We have the Holy Spirit as our Comforter, our Advocate, our Guide.  We are always surrounded by the three Persons of our one and only God who made us, who saved us, who restores us and makes us holy in Himself. 

This isn’t some theological abstraction in a book. The practical consequences of this are that we can rejoice that we will share in the glory of God, and already do by faith, and we rejoice even in our sufferings.  That’s right, even in suffering, because God is in the middle of all of it.  He made us, He redeemed us, He keeps us going.  He’s not going to abandon us when things get rough.  He will see us through.  Not around, but through. Through whatever it is we’re asked to face, whether sickness or persecution or hardship or struggle, the Triune God is at work producing patient endurance, building character, and creating hope in our hearts that will never abandon us
Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity. Amen

The peace and love of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Pentecost – 9 June 2019 – Year C

Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for our meditation is written in the 2^nd Chapter of the Book of Acts: Verses 1 – 21:

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. ⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, ¹¹ both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” ¹² And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” 

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. ¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. ¹⁶ But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 

¹⁷ “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, 

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, 

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 

and your young men shall see visions, 

and your old men shall dream dreams; 

¹⁸  even on my male servants and female servants 

in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 

¹⁹  And I will show wonders in the heavens above 

and signs on the earth below, 

blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 

²⁰  the sun shall be turned to darkness 

and the moon to blood, 

before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 

²¹  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

No matter how often we read the Bible … no matter how familiar we are with its message, it always has something new to teach us.  Over the years the account of that special Pentecost in Acts 2 has often had new things to teach me.

One of the things that many people do not know is that, although this Pentecost was very special, it was not the first Pentecost.  The Lord instituted Pentecost about the same time He instituted Passover.  Pentecost was originally called the Feast of Weeks.  Since the Feast of Weeks comes fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits, people began calling it Pentecost based on the Greek word for fifty. Pentecost and the Feast of weeks are the same festival, and the Jews have celebrated Pentecost ever since the days of Moses.

Pentecost is also one of the three feast days that required the presentation of the males of Israel.  The Law of Moses said, ^{(Deuteronomy 16:16)}“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths.” The Feast of Unleavened Bread is one week long and begins the day after the Passover.  The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost comes fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits which happens to be the first Sunday in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Feast of Booths is about six months after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now, if we overlay these Festivals over the life of Christ, we learn that Jesus died on Passover, and He rose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits.  Then, the Holy Spirit manifested Himself in a special way fifty days later, at Pentecost.  The faithful Israelites who followed the instructions God gave to Moses would be in Jerusalem on those special days.  This means that the faithful who presented themselves in Jerusalem according to the instructions given in the Law were witnesses in Jerusalem for the crucifixion and resurrection as well as for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the following Pentecost.  In this way, the Holy Spirit gathered His Old Testament Church together to hear about ^{(Acts 2:11})the mighty works of God. God. The master strategist, had this all worked out thousands of years before it happened.

As this was the time after the ascension of Jesus, we tend to focus on the Apostles, after all they were appointed by Jesus Himself to build His Church of earth. We can easily see them as the centre figures in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  How wonderful it is for God to give them the Holy Spirit in this way.

But is we go back a read the Gospel of St John, we discovered another giving of the Holy Spirit in the Bible.  It happened on the day that Jesus rose from the dead.  ^{(John 20:19–23)}On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” ²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”Did you hear it?  Jesus already gave the Holy Spirit on the day of the Resurrection.  He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  The question is, “If Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit on the day of the resurrection, why did the Holy Spirit have to come again on Pentecost?” Didn’t Jesus get it right the first time?

We can get so distracted so distracted by the wow factor of the sound like a mighty rushing wind, the divided tongues as of fire, and the apostles speaking in other tongues,that we don’t notice the major miracle of Pentecost.  This miracle showed up in the response of those who gathered on that day.  They came together.  They heard the mighty works of God.  Then they responded. ^{(Acts 2:37–41)} Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹So those who received his word were baptised, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. There is the great miracle of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit added three thousand souls to His church on that day.  Pentecost is not about the Holy Spirit poured out on the Apostles.  It is about the Holy Spirit poured out on those three thousand souls.

In His explanation to the third Article of the Apostles’ Creed, the eminent theologian Dr. Martin Luther wrote that the Holy Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith”.  The Holy Spirit’s manifestation on Pentecost is an example of that.  1500 years earlier, the Holy Spirit worked through His servant Moses to establish feasts that would gather these witnesses from the Old Testament Church to Jerusalem so that Luke the Evangelist could write,^{(Acts 2:5)} “Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.”It was not an accident that these men were in Jerusalem on this day. The Holy Spirit had called together the Old Testament Church to tell them that the long-awaited Messiah had come in the person of Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit was getting ready to convert the faithful of the Old Testament Church into the faithful of the New Testament Church.

That is the reason for the supernatural signs described in today’s reading.  The Holy Spirit was gathering His church together so that they could hear the call of the Gospel.  As the people of the Old Testament church drew near to the house, they encountered people who told them who Jesus was and what He had done for their salvation. These people did not speak in the lofty language of the Hebrew of the temple, nor did they speak in the street language of Aramaic, or the commercial language of Greek, or even the legal language of Latin, but each one heard the story of salvation in his own native language … the language he learned from his mother and father in the home of his childhood. Each one heard in his own language ^{(Acts 2:11)}the mighty works of God. 

All these amazing things were the Holy Spirit’s means to accomplish the goal of gathering together His Old Testament Church and telling her that her waiting was over … that the New Testament had begun.  The Pentecost Pilgrims and other righteous people who gathered together on that day had been looking forward to the Messiah. They had been keeping the ceremonial law of the circumcisions and the sacrifices and all the other customs as a reminder that one day the Messiah would come and fulfil all the law and offer Himself up as the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.  Their faith looked into the future to the Messiah who was to come. Now the Holy Spirit gathered the church together to tell her that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  He is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one.  On this one particular Pentecost the Holy Spirit called together the Old Testament church and transformed her into the New Testament church.

Amid all the amazing things that happened on that Pentecost, it is easy to confuse God’s goal with the means that He used to accomplish that goal. After all, this is exciting stuff … a sound like a mighty wind … the appearance of what looks like flames of fire … the sudden ability to speak and understand a foreign language.  It is easy to get distracted by all these things and forget the main goal … the goal of creating faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  That was the goal of the Holy Spirit on that Pentecost long ago, and it is still His goal today.

Amid the signs and wonders of that special Pentecost, there were still those who resisted.  There were men in the crowd who mocked and said,^{(Acts 2:13)}“They are filled with new wine.”In any crowd there will always be those who resist the call of the Gospel.

This can be a great comfort to us as we confess our faith to the people we meet in our lives.  Sometimes, they will be interested and want to know more.  Other times they will reject our confession.  When that rejection comes, we can take comfort in knowing that even when there was the sound like a mighty rushing wind, the divided tongues as of fire, and the apostles speaking in other tongues,that there were some people who resisted their message.  We should expect that and continue to confidently confess our faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

On the day after that special Pentecost, there was no sound of a mighty wind.  The tongues of fire had gone away.  People spoke simply in their own language.  Never the less, the Holy Spirit was still at work.  The story goes on after today’s reading and says,^{(Acts 2:47})“The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.God’s Church still had His Word and the Holy Spirit continued to work through that Word.

The Holy Spirit still works through the Word of God.  It has always been that way and it will always be that way.  The true sign of the Holy Spirit at work is the proclamation of God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit points to Jesus who is the God-Man who saved us from our sin with His suffering and death on the cross and promises us life everlasting with His resurrection.  The Holy Spirit works through God’s Word when we hear it with our ears … when we read it with our eyes … when we experience that Word in the water of Holy Baptism … and when we receive it with the true body and blood of Jesus in the Bread and Wine of the Lord’s Supper.  The Holy Spirit is at work when we confess our faith before each other and when we confess our faith before those who do not know Jesus.

In today’s reading, the Holy Spirit used light and sound to call the Church to hear the proclamation that the Messiah they had been waiting for had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Holy Spirit transformed the Old Testament church into the New Testament church and the Holy Spirit continues building the New Testament Church to this very day.  The Holy Spirit still calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His gifts, sanctifies, and keeps us in the true faith.  As He gives each of us new birth into the Holy Christian church, so He also calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies that whole Christian Church on earth and keeps her in the one, true faith.  In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.  On the Last Day, He will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.  This is most certainly true.  Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen