Acts 2:1-21
The Day of Pentecost
27 May 2007
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Fifteen or more years ago, as my Aunt Sue was writing her doctoral dissertation, she included something very interesting in her research, something that actually makes a whole lot of sense. Aunt Sue wrote her dissertation on the children of clergy – something that she knew a lot about as she personally had three clergy children – and how many of them tend to be “gifted” children, children of more than usual intelligence. The interesting fact that she included her dissertation, which doesn’t just apply to children of clergy, was that “giftedness” can manifest itself in two ways: either in a very highly driven, highly motivated, highly producing child – the kind of child that generally make parents very proud – or in a very lackadaisical child, a child that is often labeled a problem child, an underachiever. Teachers who are sitting in the pews know how true that statement is. “Underachiever” and “dumb” don’t usually go hand-in-hand. “Underachiever” and “unchallenged,” “untapped” often go hand-in-hand.
Now take that thought about “giftedness” and broaden it out a little bit. Being gifted or blessed in any way can be used either for the good of oneself and others or for the harm of oneself or others.
Last night, before going to dinner, I watched “The Big Spin” on television. Maybe some of you saw this as well. “The Big Spin” is a one-half hour program sponsored by the California Lottery . “The Big Spin” is a big wheel, like a vertical “Wheel of Fortune” that people get to spin with the chance of winning up to 3 million dollars. Last night’s program featured a young man who epitomizes what I am getting at this morning. The host of the program always asks guests what they plan to do with the money they win. Most say they want to buy a new car or pay off some credit card bills or take a trip of a lifetime. Last night’s guest said he wanted to use his money to help others. Even the program host commented how unusual that statement was, but the guest went on to explain that he had at one time been paralyzed from the neck down and that God had blessed him and healed him and now he wanted to be a blessing to others. You see what I mean about how gifts are used?
The gift of language is an important gift. The gift of language is what enables us to communicate with each other. It’s what enables us to develop contracts. It’s what enables us to build friendships. The gift of language is the primary tool that I use in my ministry every single day. Language is a wonderful gift.
Language in our modern world, however, we unfortunately know all too well, more often separates than unites.
Walk around your own neighborhood this afternoon and you’ll probably have a good experience. Not only will that be a healthy experience for you, and your doctor will probably thank me for suggesting that, but in walking around your neighborhood you will probably get to see friends you haven’t seen for some time and you may meet neighbors you haven’t previously met. Walk around the church neighborhood this afternoon and you may not have as good an experience – not because the neighborhood here is unsafe; not because things happen in this neighborhood that don’t happen in your own neighborhoods; not because life in this neighborhood is any different from life in your neighborhoods – here people live; here children ride bikes and skateboards; here people sit on their porches; here people plant flowers and paint their homes to beautify the neighborhood; here there’s a grumpy neighbor who likes to complain about everything – just like life in your neighborhoods. What would be different as you walk around this church neighborhood is that you will be acutely aware of the language barrier and how the gift of language – more so than even appearance – sadly divides people.
That divisive nature of language is the direct result of sin. At the Tower of Babel [Genesis 11], we see that what God had created as a special gift for human beings – language as a communication tool between humans and a vehicle to be used by them to praise Him – God had to take that special gift and use it as a punishment, as a way of cursing and dividing people. That He had to do because people were using God’s gift of language in a way He never intended – in a way to bring glory to themselves and steal the glory from Him. Diversity in language was introduced to foil their plans and to keep them from accomplishing something using the gift of language in a corrupted kind of way.
Who was rejoicing that day when the people of Babel dreamed up their plans and drawings for their magnificent tower? The devil was. The devil was rejoicing because people were doing something for themselves, intentionally or unintentionally leaving God out of the picture. Who was devastated that day when the people of Babel dreamed up their plans and drawings for their magnificent tower? God was. God was devastated because His gift of creativity had to be thwarted. God was devastated because His gift of language had to be turned into a divisive curse. And that’s what we see in our world to this very day.
But God would later redeem His gift of language. We call that day Pentecost. It was a day just about like any other day. Jerusalem was a metropolitan city, more so than even Rome. Jerusalem was the Los Angeles of its day. Strategically located, people from throughout the world passed through Jerusalem on a daily basis, bringing with them the rich diversity of their cultures and languages and belief systems. On that Day of Pentecost [Acts 2], God redeemed His gift of language, long corrupted by human sin. On that Day of Pentecost, God again showed the world the proper use of language as He intended it. On that Day of Pentecost, God’s gift of language no longer divided or separated people. Instead, language was again used to bring God the glory and the praise and the honor rightly due Him as people from every corner of the known world heard about God’s love for them made evident in Jesus Christ, the Man of Nazareth Who spoke Hebrew and Aramaic, but also the Man of Calvary Whose suffering death and resurrection was limited by spoken language.
“Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.”
Those were the words of St. Peter, the words that were undoubtedly translated into every known language spoken that day. Those were the words of Peter, the same Peter who had earlier tried to limit and contain Jesus, wanting to not leave the Mount of Transfiguration [Mark 9], pushing the little children away as bothersome distractions [Mark 10:13ff], commanding others to stop preaching and healing in the Name of Jesus [Mark 9:38ff]. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter’s message had changed. I believe it changed because of the actions of unbeliever named Pontius Pilate.
On the day that Jesus was crucified, remember what Pilate did? He ordered that a piece of wood be attached to Jesus’ Cross. On that piece of wood was written the charge against Jesus, the charge that ultimately became His death sentence: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” That charge was written in Aramaic, in Latin and in Greek [John 19:19-20]: Aramaic being one of the spoken languages of the Jews; Latin being the official language of the Roman Empire; Greek being the common language used throughout the Roman Empire. In so writing that charge in that way, Pontius Pilate did the Church of Jesus Christ a big favor. He broke the mindset of the early disciples that Jesus was “theirs.” Pilate became the first preacher to the world that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” [John 3:16]. That sermon preached that day on Calvary, using God’s tool of language, correctly echoed Jesus’ own words, “But when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all [people] to Myself” [John 12:32]. Finally, language being used as God intended, no longer a curse to divide, but a tool to evangelize, a tool to proclaim the wonders and love of God, a tool to break down division and to show what life on earth used to be and to give a glimpse of what Heaven will be.
That’s one reason I truly love this congregation and its rich history and its rich future. That’s why I can stand here week after week and bring messages of hope for us as a congregation. The history of this congregation is the story of reaching out. Before the days it was even “politically correct,” this German-speaking congregation, all the way back to the early 1900's, began using English to proclaim the message about Jesus and His love for all people, just like Peter did. And we haven’t stopped. Just last Sunday, this congregation again boldly proclaimed through its action of calling Pastor Marcello Gómez as our Associate Pastor for Hispanic Outreach that reaching out in the Name of Jesus is the tool that God intended language to be.
Today and tomorrow, many people will head to the cemeteries to remember those who have gone before us. Cemeteries are an amazing place, especially on holidays. People who are strangers and enemies outside the walls of the cemetery suddenly become friends inside the walls of the cemetery, united by grief and loss and pain. Isn’t that exactly what God intends the Church to be?
Sin separates. Sin divides. Sin brings death to relationships and destroys friendships. God in Jesus Christ unites. God in Jesus Christ brings openness and unity. On the Day of Pentecost, God in Jesus Christ reversed the curse of Babel and with one language from Heaven – the “Holy Spirit language” of love and forgiveness and mercy and grace – He demonstrated that all people are sharers in His Kingdom.
May God continue to bless us, individually and corporately, as we allow Him to work in us and through us to be a blessing to Him, to His world and to all people, properly using His tool of language, telling all people that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena