Pentecost
June 5, 2022
The other day, as I wandered through the supermarket, I found myself in the greeting card aisle. The section for Father’s Day caught my eye. One card featured the Berenstain Bears, with the kids making fun of their goofy Papa Bear. Another had a Valentine’s heart, as a romantic Mama declared, “Thank you for making me a parent.” Of course, there was the card with Snoopy, addressed to a Cool Dude on a Cool Day. I wondered which of these cards I might receive.
This is how we mark a lot of our holidays. We try to capture the sentiment of the holiday on a greeting card. Sometimes it works, sometimes it goes in a different direction.
Christmas is the best example. On the cover, there’s a manger scene with friendly beasts. Or shepherds, covering their eyes and looking up into the sky. Or wise men still seeking the Holy Child. Or there might be a snow man, a reindeer, or a Jolly Old Elf. What do you put on a Christmas card?
For Easter, we don’t send or receive as many cards, but I’ve seen a few. Always a bunny, or a photo of daffodils, some colored eggs. Yet there’s never a sign of an empty tomb, terrified women, or an angel in white. Hallmark skips the real story and downsizes the event.
So what kind of card is appropriate for Pentecost? This is a big day, too. According to Luke and his writings, Pentecost is just about as important as Easter. Jesus ascends into heaven; the Holy Spirit comes down. How could you depict that? There could be a blazing fire, in hues of red and orange. Or a group of babbling Jewish fishermen. Or a crowd outside, convened by the noise, curious and confused about whatever is going on in that Upper Room.
Pentecost. There is no way to fit that on the front of a greeting card, which is why the greeting card companies don’t sell them.
So what is Pentecost, anyway? Good question. Turns out, it’s a holiday that had been around for a while. Way back in the book of Exodus, it was called Shavuot, which draws upon the Hebrew word for the number seven, as in seven weeks of seven days. This was a festival to celebrate the first harvest of the wheat crop, numbered seven weeks after the celebration of Passover. So Happy Wheat Festival, everyone! Just floats your boat, doesn’t it?
So this Wheat Festival moved from the countryside into the city, as Israel’s people shifted toward Jerusalem. It became a celebration of God’s Words. There was the Passover, the departure from slavery in Egypt, and then God spoke the Commandments. We don’t know when that happened (newly freed slaves didn’t keep appointment calendars), but they had a good day already set aside – seven weeks of seven days – so Pentecost became a celebration of the Voice of God.
That’s why, in our story, there were Jews gathered from every nation under heaven. They came to Jerusalem to celebrate the God who speaks. It was followed 49 days after the Passover, so the holiday name had shifted to “Pentecost.” (“Penta” signifies 50, fifty days). They weren’t sharing Pentecost cards, but they were celebrating the Torah, the speaking of the Holy God.
And that year, the year that Jesus died, after those Jews came to Jerusalem, after they gathered from every nation, the Wind started to blow, the Fire came down, the flames distributed, and then, All That Noise! Everybody was speaking. Everybody was preaching. Everybody was talking about the great deeds of God. How do you ever put that on a greeting card?
No wonder everyone was confused. They still are. So let me tell it to you straight. Pentecost is about three miracles.
The first is the death and resurrection of Jesus. God did that. Jesus spoke with power, the world tried to silence him, and God brought him back. When Luke describes the event of that day, he says, in his modest way, that the disciples were “speaking of God’s deeds of power,” he’s referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus. He’s talking about the signs and wonders that Jesus performed. He’s talking about the teaching, and the feeding, and the giving as done by Jesus. And this was the first miracle: the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Pentecost is connected to all of that.
The second miracle is that the eleven disciples, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and all the others with them were empowered to speak about Jesus. God did that, too. God’s Spirit blew through the windows, filled the lungs of the followers of the Christ, and they exhaled Good News to the world. This is God’s doing. Just a brief time later, the Temple leaders scratched their heads. How is it possible that these simple, uneducated fishermen are so bold and articulate?[1] Well, they had gathered to celebrate God’s speech – and thanks to God, now they are speaking! That’s the second miracle: they proclaim! And God did this, too.
But don’t miss the third miracle. After God’s vindication of the Lord by raising him from the dead, after those who love Jesus are empowered to proclaim him, there’s a third miracle as great as the others. Simply this: everybody understands the message. Everybody comprehends the good news is not just for Jesus who is alive, not merely for the disciples who speak, but for all of us. Nobody is excluded, everybody drawn in.
A new community is formed. That’s the miracle.
Pentecost is the undoing of all the confusion at that old Tower of Babel. You remember that story. Our mythical ancestors presumed they could storm heaven by building a tall skyscraper. They underestimated their ineptness. They thought they could climb up there and make themselves equal to God.
The plan crashed and burned, and those sad folk ended up merely talking to themselves. All of them isolated, unable to communicate with one another, unwilling to listen, refusing to learn how to reach out to one another, and everybody out for themselves. This has always been our default human condition.
By contrast, Pentecost offers the miracle of community. God creates understanding among a human family that was diverse from the very beginning. God unlocks hearts, opens minds, and provides a depth of comprehension that creates community. In one brief shining moment, everybody gets it: Jesus is alive, death does not have the last word, cruelty is conquered by love, and now, a new human community is possible! This is all God’s work, God’s Word, God’s way. God intends for us to live together in peace with his Living Word at the center.
Now, this is chapter two in the book of Acts. In chapter three, there is pushback from those who refuse to listen. By the end of chapter four and the beginning of chapter five, selfishness stains that community of Christ followers. Yet we still have that memory of chapter two. There is a God-given unity that comes before the division. There is the testimony of truth before the spins and lies and attempts at self-preservation. It is possible to live together. To share, to understand. We can dwell in faith, hope, and love. We can work with each other, side by side, guard each one’s dignity, save each one’s pride. This is a reality. For God has given us Pentecost.
The world
struggles to understand this. Those who guard crumbling principalities believe
it’s not possible for people to get along. That’s why they work so hard to keep
dividing us.
And let’s be honest how churches argue and split, in one generation after another. Maybe you heard about the first two Scots who are arrived in America. The first one started First Presbyterian Church. The next one began Second Presbyterian Church, right across the street.
And let’s confess the presence of a destructive gene in our DNA. Any one of us is perfectly capable of blowing up a friendship and hurting those we love. Any one of us is tempted to be arrogant or rude, or insistent on our own way. Yet God gave us Pentecost – to proclaim and understand that the love of Christ is stronger than the power of destruction. And if we find ourselves being fished out of the continuing mess of daily life, we know there is a power at work in Jesus to create what the world dismisses as impossible.
It happens here in this diverse family of faith. There are differences of opinion about so many things. Yet at the end of the day, we affirm that what we have in common is so much greater than whatever could divide us. And what we have common is the presence of Jesus Christ, who gives us his Spirit and calls us to enlarge his Table.
So,
Happy Pentecost, church of God. You are a wonder to behold and a work in
progress. And everything we share is a miracle from God.
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