Pentecost
Gen
11:1-9
5/20/18
I am currently weighing a question
in my mind, and I am not yet sure what the answer will be. The question is whether I should teach myself
to read Syriac or not. Now many of you
are aware that I am working on a book about the history of Confirmation in the
western Church and Lutheranism. The goal
is for the book to trace the development of Confirmation from the very
beginning through the medieval period in the western Church, and then to follow
its history in Lutheranism. I say the western Church because Confirmation is
something that only developed in the west.
However, as I have worked with the
material it has become clear that for a number of reasons – I won’t bore you
with what they are – I will also need to include a treatment of early baptismal
practice in the east – in particular, in Syria.
In west Syria the language was Greek, so that is no problem. However in east Syria the language was
Syriac. If Aramaic is a cousin of
Hebrew, then Syriac is basically Aramaic written in a completely different
alphabet and script. I know Aramaic so
in theory, Syriac should not be all the difficult. But of course things can’t
be that simple. There are in fact two
different versions of Syriac – similar yet different enough that they are discussed
and taught separately. So the question is whether it is worth all that work to
learn Syriac. It would be helpful, but
is it really necessary?
The many languages that exist today,
and have existed during the history of the world, present challenges all the
time. They are the cause of tremendous
human effort and work. We see in the Old
Testament lesson for the Feast of Pentecost that this problem has been caused
by human pride. But at the same time, on
the first Pentecost the speaking of many languages became a sign bearing
witness to the answer God has provided for sin.
Our text from Genesis chapter eleven
takes place after the flood and begins by telling us, “Now the whole earth had one language
and the same words. And as people
migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled
there.” The people were united by one
language, and as they settled that had big plans. They said, “Come, let us make
bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” We learn that they had brick for stone, and
bitumen for mortar. Here was human
ingenuity at work – the use of technology to solve problems. They may not have
had stone, but by firing bricks that had a perfect substitute.
They had
building materials. And they had a plan as they said, “Come, let us build
ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a
name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” You’ll notice who is not mentioned here – God. He
is clearly not on their mind. Instead
the people are all about themselves. They are going to build a monument to
their own ability and importance. In
pride they are going to make a name for themselves.
This description
strikes uncomfortably close to home. How
often do you make plans and set goals that have no place for God? How often do you live in ways that
demonstrate God is not on your mind? How
often does pride guide your actions as you ignore God and his will?
God saw what they were doing and said, “Behold,
they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the
beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be
impossible for them.” Created in the
image of God to have dominion over creation, even after the Fall, man is still
gifted. The problem is that we use those
gifts in ways that ignore God. We act like we are God. You see this in all the ways that
biotechnologies use aborted babies as the raw material for ever more daring
projects.
So God
said, “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may
not understand one another's speech.”
There is very intentional irony here.
God is described as having to “come down” to see their puny effort. He confused their language and dispersed them
over the face of the earth.
The
existence of the many languages in the world has been caused by sin. Yet on the
day of Pentecost, the many languages became a sign of the fact that God has
provided the answer to sin. We heard in
the second reading, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together
in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing
wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided
tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance.”
Jesus had ordered
the disciples to remain in Jerusalem. He
instructed them to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you
heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the
Holy Spirit not many days from now.” On Pentecost
this baptism occurred, accompanied by the sound of a mighty rushing wind and
tongues as of fire on their heads.
It also
resulted in the disciples speaking in other tongues. The text clearly indicates
that these were foreign languages – the languages of the many faithful Jews
from other parts of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world who had chosen to
live in Jerusalem. Attracted by the
sound they were amazed to find Galileans – not the most sophisticated people
around - speaking in their own languages and telling about the mighty works of
God.
Some
attempted to dismiss the whole thing by saying that the disciples were
drunk. But Peter responded, “For these
people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the
day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘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; even on my male servants and
female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall
prophesy.’” Peter declared that this was
an end time event. It was a fulfillment
of the prophet Joel’s words because God had poured out his Spirit.
Throughout
the history of the Church, people have been drawn to focus on the mighty works
of the Holy Spirit. And the problem is that they have often done so in ways
that put all the attention on the signs and wonders, or on the Spirit himself.
Yet Peter was absolutely clear that all the things happening on Pentecost were
about Jesus.
He
proclaimed that Jesus had been crucified – in fact the Jews listening to him
had been complicit in this. However
Peter announced, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and
foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God
raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him
to be held by it.” God had not allowed his
holy One to see corruption. Instead Peter declared, “This Jesus God raised up,
and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of
God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has
poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”
You were
complicit in Jesus’ death too. In fact,
you caused Jesus’ death. It was
because of your sin that Jesus was numbered with the transgressors and died on
the cross. It was because of your sin
that Jesus received God the Father’s judgment. But this was also God’s plan to
give you forgiveness and salvation. It
was God’s plan to defeat death and give you resurrection life.
Peter says
that the outpouring of the Spirit demonstrates Jesus is the risen and exalted
Lord. In Jesus’ ascension we see his
exaltation. His ascension does not mean
that Jesus has left us. Instead, he is closer than ever before. This is true because he has poured forth the Spirit
on his Church. The Spirit is the
continuing presence of the risen Lord everywhere at once! Today, Christians all
over the world are gathering to hear Christ’s Word and receive his
Sacrament. Some must do so in secrecy
because of the threat of persecution.
They do so using hundreds of languages.
Yet through his Spirit, Jesus Christ is present with all of them giving
them the forgiveness he won on the cross.
The Spirit
is doing the same thing in our midst today.
It is the Spirit poured out on Pentecost who has called you to the faith
through the Gospel. He nourishes and
strengthens you through Word and Sacrament to continue to live as the forgiven
child of God.
As we think
about the Spirit on Pentecost, we must never forget about what Jesus said to
the disciples when he told them about the coming gift. He said, “But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in
all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
You have
received the Spirit through baptism. Blessed with the comfort of forgiveness
and life, the Spirit now uses you to bear witness to Jesus. He doesn’t send you to all Judea, Samaria and
to the ends of the earth. Instead, he
sends you to Marion, Carterville, Herrin, Johnston City and Carbondale. He uses you to speak with the people you know
about Jesus and the salvation found in him. This very speaking becomes the
Spirit breathed means by which he uses the Gospel to call others to faith in
Jesus.
So whom do
you know in your life who does not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Whom
do you know who has had some ties to the Church but no longer attends on
Sunday? Whom do you know who are still members of this congregation, and
yet have not been seen in this place for many weeks or months? You have received the Spirit so that you can
be forgiven in Christ. You have received
the Spirit to speak about Jesus to these people and to invite them to join you
here in receiving his gifts.
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