Acts
2:1-21
1
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And
suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it
filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire,
appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the
Spirit gave them ability. 5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under
heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was
bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of
each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are
speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native
language? 9 Parthians, Medes, 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, both Jews and proselytes, 11
Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds
of power." 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,
"What does this mean?" 13 But others sneered and said, "They are
filled with new wine." 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his
voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let
this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk,
as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what
was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 "In the last days it will be, God
declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon 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 upon my slaves, both men and women, in those
days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show
portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and
smoky mist. 20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. 21 Then everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I
go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I
go, I will send him to you.
·
Wouldn’t it be nice to have Jesus
with us all the time? The loss of Jesus was a great distress to all the
disciples, both the loss through the Crucifixion or through his Ascension. I’m
sure they would have much rather have had Jesus with them forever – to hear his
teaching, to share his life, and simply to enjoy his company.
·
But this was not to be. In the
passage from John that we read today, Jesus makes it clear to his disciples in
the upper room at the Last Supper that he must leave them, one way or the
other. He even says that it is to their advantage that he go away. That sounds
rather cold even though he says he will send the Advocate to them.
·
That’s an odd term – Advocate. In the
original language, the term is paracletos and it means something
like “comforter”, “encourager”, or perhaps even “defense attorney.” Jesus said
to his disciples that the Advocate would not come until Jesus sent him.
·
We all know that the Gospels are
filled with admonitions by the disciples, especially Peter, telling Jesus not
to talk about suffering or leaving. The disciples did not understand fully what
Jesus was about and objected to the idea of a suffering Messiah. They’d also
object to the idea of a Messiah who’d leave them, especially since he rose from
the dead!
·
In a very dramatic conversation on
the mountain of the Transfiguration, we see what the disciples would have
preferred: Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let
us make three dwellings,* one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did
not know what to say, for they were terrified. (Mark 9:5-6)
·
Peter, ever the spokesman for the
whole group, expresses the desire of the disciples. The two disciples walking
from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the day of Resurrection unknowingly expressed the
same sentiment: ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now
nearly over.’ Although he disappeared from their sight, Jesus
did stay with them: Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been
made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
·
Jesus knew his friends and his
disciples. They would want him to stay where they could be with him all the
time, as I said earlier, to hear his teaching, to share his life, and simply to
enjoy his company. So he said he could not stay with them, but the Advocate,
who would only come after Jesus left, would lead them to all truth and to the
glorification of Jesus.
·
As we see in the reading from the
Acts of the Apostles, the Spirit came upon the assembled disciples (which
included many more people than the Twelve) and gave them gifts – of speech in
many languages and of the courage to speak. The entire church was now equipped
to spread the Good News of salvation everywhere.
·
Staying in one place would not lead spreading
the Good News or to growth. Look at the Temple in Jerusalem; the Jewish people
had a very difficult time seeing their faith without a Temple. When the first
Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and the people when into exile, the
Jewish people felt cut off and abandoned by God… until the idea of the
synagogue came about. When the second Temple was destroyed by the Romans and
the people were once again scattered, sects of Judaism that were tied to the
Temple, like the Sadducees, disappeared. Others, who were tied to the Torah and
the community synagogue, survive and flourish to our own day.
·
Had Jesus stayed with his disciples
rather than returning to the Father and sending the Advocate, people would have
had to come to where he was to experience him. There would be limits to how
many could come and how many could see and know Jesus. With the coming of the
Advocate, the Holy Spirit, those limits are gone. The Spirit leads us –each of
us- and goes where we go. There’s no place we can go where the Holy Spirit does
not precede us. Psalm 139 reminds us of this:
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your
presence? (Ps. 139: 7)
·
It is the Spirit that lead,
encourages, empowers, and accompanies all that the Church does. Where the
Church hears and obeys God’s will, the Spirit fills the Church to continue in
God’s will. Where the Church falls short, the Spirit corrects and raises up
those who are inspired to reform it.
·
Some call Pentecost the birthday of
the Church. It might be better to call the festival the first steps of the
Church.
·
Pentecost is originally a Jewish
festival of first fruits which soon became a festival celebrating the giving of
the Torah, or the Law. For Christians, it celebrates the first fruits God has
given us and the giving of the living Spirit to all Christians. We are all
called, all given a mission, and all upheld by nothing less than the Holy
Spirit.
·
Jesus no longer walks among us, but
by the Holy Spirit, he lives within us. And that is truly something to rejoice
in and to celebrate. Since the Church season of Easter is finished, we no
longer say “Christ is risen!” Now we could say “Christ is with you!” To say
that in a more ‘Church-y’ way, we’ll say “The Lord be with you” and you all
know how to respond, don’t you?
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