St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes, Vicar
Pentecost Sunday/Year A: Acts 2:1-21, John 20:19-31
May 28, 2023
Lord, take our minds and think through them; take our lips and speak through them; take our hearts and set them on fire—Amen.
What is Pentecost Sunday without the awe and amazement in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles’? Truly, what is Pentecost Sunday without hearing about the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit’s movement amongst mere mortals?
The dramatic scene took place 50 days after Passover—Pentecost means “fiftieth day.” The day-long feast was one of three pilgrimage feasts designated for the celebration of God’s goodness toward Israel. This international gathering of the entire household of Israel in one place—Jerusalem—included Jews and those who had converted to Judaism.
On that day, a violent wind filled the whole house, where the disciples were gathered, and tongues, as of fire, rested on each of them. Then the Holy Spirit filled the human beings, who were sitting in that house, and gave them all the ability to speak in other languages. Through no power of their own, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and were equipped to proclaim the gospel message to those who would otherwise miss out due to the language barriers.
A mass awakening was ignited for those who saw and heard this miraculous display of God’s unity in diversity amongst the devout Jews. The miracle on display was God’s removal of the barriers created by the diversity of human language in order to unify his devout people through the message, received by all in their native tongue, that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” That’s the miracle!
Recall that in the first chapter of Acts, the risen Christ, directed his disciples to remain in Jerusalem and to wait there for the promise of the Father. Jesus, at that time, reminded them that they would indeed be baptized by the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5), and that the Holy Spirit would give them power to be His witnesses in Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:6-8).
Some of the crowd, in ignorance, attributed this miracle to what they decided was the disciples’ drunkenness. No way was Peter going to allow the undeniable divine action, being witnessed and shared, in that moment, to be dismissed with some flippant, human explanation. Peter, with the authority of one who was like Jesus, refuted claims that the disciples were simply drunk, and essentially said, “Hey, that is not true. You all know the scriptures. Remember that God’s prophet Joel, prophesied about this very experience that we’re in the midst of right now.”
God declared that in the last days, he would “Pour out his Spirit upon all flesh…and they shall prophesy” (Joel 2:28-32). Peter pointed to the truth that was already in scripture—a scripture passage of which any devout Jew would have been aware. Up to this point, God’s promise of his Spirit, as prophesied by Joel, was something that God’s people could not yet see, but had certainly hoped for. The disciples would have recognized this public proclamation of the mighty deeds of God for what it was—a fulfilled prophesy affirming God’s faithfulness.
God’s powerful spirit blows us into desolate places—literally and spiritually—where the thirsting of spiritually-dry people can be quenched by the living water of Jesus Christ. Like the disciples in our lesson, the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to continue in the apostles’ teaching, and to scatter the seeds of the life-giving gospel everywhere the Spirit leads us. Even in times when we walk in our own darkness, of unforgiveness, illness, anger and heartbrokenness, we are called to be living examples, bearing Christ’s hope as people who are faithful to our promises to God. But how will people know about the hope of the risen Christ within us unless the miracle of Christ in your own life is on display?
Evangelism isn’t about wearing a cross around your neck or t-shirts with catchy slogans; it is about exuding the miracle of Christ, within you, outward and beyond you. Sometimes that effort involves spoken language, and so often it does not. For many, evangelism may be a paralyzing concept because many have taken on the belief and heavy burden that they alone must say and do just the right things to bring someone to Christ.
We do well to remember that we are not sent out into the world alone, ill-prepared or ill-equipped. Sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism, we are uniquely equipped and empowered to carry the life-saving gospel message out into the spiritually dry and desolate places in the world, and indeed within this gathered faith community—we who are gathered together in one place.
Like the disciples in our gospel passage, who were locked behind closed doors for fear of the Jews, after Jesus’ death on the cross, we are reminded that behind the “locked doors” of humanity’s injustices against humanity, Jesus comes among us, stands with us, and sends us out, as God sent him out, to speak truth to power with the fire of the Holy Spirit poured out from our souls; poured out from our tongues; poured out as healing balm for this hurting world.
On this Pentecost Sunday, be assured that the God who sends us, and who promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us, is faithful to His promises (Deut. 31:6). And, with God’s help, we can be faithful to our promises to God. Amen.
