Today
is the feast of Pentecost, literally the fifty days. This is an echo of the
feast of weeks, the fiftieth day after Passover, when tradition says that the
people of Israel were at Sinai, ready to receive the law from Moses and God.
This is for us the fiftieth day after Easter, and we are celebrating new gifts,
and the birth of the church.
We
rejoice in the birth of a child, yet childbirth is not easy. It is difficult
and dangerous. There is uncertainty as to the outcome, or what will happen once
the child is born. Paul writes in Romans that the whole creation waits with
longing, while creation goes through labor pains, to see what will be born.
What new thing will happen? Who will be born children of God? Even in all this
pain and longing, we know that children are a blessing. What blessing is born
this day?
Parents
have all sorts of expectations and dreams for their family. They fix up the
house and the child’s new room. They visit the doctor. They arrange necessary
supplies. Then the child is born. No matter what was expected, something else
happens. It is difficult to anticipate how life changing a new child can be.
This is part of the blessing and part of our learning. Our life often begins
when we let go of our expectations and plans. We live differently once we
accept the blessings of each day and rejoice in the unexpected.
We
can only guess at the expectations of the crowd that first Pentecost morning.
This celebration of the law was becoming a festival of the covenant and a time
of renewal; especially after the temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.
Perhaps they were all gathered to celebrate the giving of the law. Maybe all
these foreign born Jews had come back to renew their commitment. Perhaps they
were getting back in touch with their roots.
The
disciples were gathered for a different purpose. They had been joyful witnesses
of the risen Jesus. They saw him ascend into heaven with a promise that he
would send an advocate, a comforter so that they would not be alone. They
remembered that Jesus had prayed for their unity and their protection. Jesus
had promised that they would speak the truth and that they would continue his
work. They gathered to pray and give thanks for the blessings of that day.
Then
the strange things happened. The room was filled with rushing wind. Something
like tongues of flame rested on each of the disciples. They began to speak the
truth about Jesus and God in multiple languages. As they spoke, the visitors
from foreign lands marveled that they were hearing about the work of God in
words that they could understand. Others saw the strange sounds and the
babbling voices and assumed that they were drunk.
Peter
tells the crowd that they are not drunk, they are filled with the Spirit of
God. He compares this to the prophecy from Joel, when the Spirit of God will
fill all God’s people, and they will speak truth and dream dreams. This is a
new way of understanding the end of all things. Instead of judgment and
punishment, Peter proclaims a new way of living. They will speak truth about
God’s love and begin the message that God’s love is universal and not
restricted to one tribe or nation or family.
Today
we remember a wonderful outpouring of news and joy and love. This did not come
without significant loss. Peter and the disciples had to let go of their
previous expectations. They had lived for quite a while believing that they
would be part of a kind of human revolution or revival. They thought that Jesus
would restore their world exactly as they hoped. Instead, they saw Jesus
arrested, tortured and killed. They themselves fled in fear. Only after they
saw Jesus risen from the dead, and after Jesus had explained the meaning of all
these things – then they understood the new world that Jesus was seeking. Even
then, the disciples had to wait and wonder exactly how Jesus would use them.
This day we celebrate how the church first began to be sent out into the world
to proclaim a new way of living.
When
parents first begin to have children, they have all sorts of expectations. As
the birth gets closer, they begin to think of things they never thought of
before. Finally, they embrace their new child and everything changes. Perhaps
God arranges things this way because no one would try to have a family if they
knew how hard it would be!
All
of the good things in our life come with a kind of loss and death. If we start
a family, or begin a life long relationship, or start a new business – it’s
almost impossible to know how hard it will be. We learn by doing. We are also
blessed by the unexpected complications. We discover new strengths within us.
We find new allies. We discover new ways to rely on God. We see how God works
in our lives so that we have something worth sharing.
All
these voices and all this unexpected news have that one purpose – to strengthen
our relationship with God. We can talk about ideas about God. It’s much better
to talk about how we know God and how God has been active in our lives. We can
say that God loves us. It’s much better to tell how God has loved us through
the tough times and the blessings.
The
disciples went out into the world and convinced the known world about God’s
love. It came with a cost. Many of the disciples lived in far away lands. Some
of them died for their faith. They lived with joy and gratitude for the gifts
of God. We are called to the same work. God calls us to proclaim love in
uncomfortable places and in uncomfortable ways. We can be sure that God will be
with us. As we stretch out into those uncomfortable places, we will discover
new strength and new visions of God loving the world.
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