Commonly Called Whitsunday
Acts 2:1-11 * John 14:15-31
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath
seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a
nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion
(Isaiah
66:8)
We could say rightly that Zion
God the Word (λόγος)
came into the world on the Day of the Annunciation, and showed himself in his
Nativity when he was born in Bethlehem Bethlehem
Our ministry as the Church is His
ministry, as he extends his Incarnation through us, and goes about doing good
not only as far as one man may travel, but into every place on earth,
preaching the Gospel in all the world as a testimony to all nations, gathering
out of all nations those who are his disciples. The Church, his bride and his
Body, believes and does works greater in number, just as the disciple Elisha
did twice in number the miracles of Elijah the prophet, when a double portion
of the same Spirit rested on him. (II Kings 2:9f, John 14:12)
Among the many people in Jerusalem,
who had come for the feast of Pentecost, were pilgrims from various nations,
that is the God-fearers and proselytes who were born as Gentiles, and either
had begun to convert to Judaism, or had fully converted. Also, there many Jews
of the Diaspora who lived most of the time in foreign countries. Although just
about everyone in the Roman Empire spoke
enough Greek to get by, as it was the international language, these pilgrims
heard the disciples speaking in the languages of their own distant homelands.
Anyone with genuine experience of such things knows fully well that this was
not something uncontrollable, not the result of a trance or ecstasy, and certainly
not emotionalism; the speaking was subject fully to the self-control of each
one who spoke in these other tongues; but the words themselves were known only
to those foreigners who heard the word of God each in his own native tongue.
“Now when this was noised abroad, the
multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them
speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one
to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilæans? And how hear we
every man in our own tongue, where in we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and
Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, and Cappadocia, in Pontus , and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt , and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene ,
and strangers of Rome
What were these tongues (γλῶσσα, glōssa) that we read about? How did they serve as a sign for
unbelievers (I Cor. 14:22)? Why did God choose a thing that seemed so weak and
foolish that onlookers expressed derision? "Others mocking said, These men
are full of new wine." The Scripture goes on to say, "But Peter,
standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of
Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken
to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the
third hour of the day." (Acts 2: 13-15) The many disciples spoke mysteries
to God (I Cor. 14:2), understood by none of the local men. But to those who
heard the truth spoken in their own tongues, by men who never learned to
speak them, but were simply given utterance of praise and thanksgiving
for "the wonderful works of God," this was not a thing to be treated
with contempt, but with fear. It was a sign. The division of mankind into
different nations through the confusion of tongues at Babel
“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:9,10)
Peter had no trouble identifying what had happened, and doing so from Scripture:
“But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to
pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of 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: And on my servants and on my
handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall
prophesy.” (Acts 2:16-18 quoting Joel 2:28)
Peter had changed. He had been a
natural man (ψυχικός psychikos-soulish) unable earlier in his life
to understand why the Christ, the Son of the Living God, was ready and willing
to take up the cross; later he was afraid and denied the Lord three times. But,
now he stands on his feet boldly, not afraid of death, having his mind focused
on the truth, able to understand and know from Scripture everything that had
unfolded and was unfolding. He had been a disciple for more than three years,
but now was closer to Christ than at any time when he beheld him with the eyes;
for he was now part of the Body of which Christ is the Head. Many a time Peter
had stumbled and tripped over his own tongue; and he had failed to speak the
right words on the night in which his Lord was betrayed. But, now he spoke with
more clarity, more power and more authority than any prophet of the Old
Covenant. He delivered the first Christian sermon, as he was now the fisher of
men Christ had foreseen; his dragnet of words brought in about three thousand
souls. The young Church thrived with healthy vital signs.
None of this was man-made. The best
efforts of organization could not have produced it; the most detailed planning
could not have pulled it off. No human effort could have brought it forth in a
day, because the nation born on the Day of Pentecost was chapter two of the
Word made flesh. The Body of Christ now came into the world.
What is the life of the Church? It is
the Holy Spirit present within us. What is the strength of the Church? It is
the power (δύναμις) of God by his Holy Spirit,
present within us. Who is it that takes fallible and failed human beings, lifts
them up from the ground and sets them on their feet? It is the Holy Spirit
present within us. Who is is that puts his word of eloquence and power on their
formerly unclean lips? It is the Holy Spirit present within us. Who is it that
fulfills his own purpose and will with flawed human instruments? It is the Holy
Spirit present within us. Who makes Christ known among all nations of the earth
to people of every race and tongue? It is the Holy Spirit present within us.
Who has unlimited power, and works most effectively through us after we
have come to the end of our own strength, and can go no further? It is the Holy
Spirit present within us.
We know from the end of the Gospel of
Luke that the disciples were forbidden to take this work on themselves
prematurely, as if it depended simply on human power and wisdom.
“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my
Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem
Frankly, in light of the
foolishness of sinful men, it is very obvious that God's power and grace have
never depended on anyone less than God himself. Never think that we, as the
Church, have succeeded in representing God and spreading his kingdom by our own
human cleverness, or our best laid plans, or our own strength. We have an
organized structure, but the permanent shape of that structure was revealed and
enacted by the Holy Spirit. The whole life of the Church is charismatic
(χάρισμα); from the receiving of Scripture to the
Sacraments, from the Apostolic Succession to the faithful service of each
member.
Indeed, St. Paul, speaking in the
context of spiritual gifts, even goes as far as to call the Church by the name
of Christ himself: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all
the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ...Now
ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." (I Cor, 12:12, 27)
So, I have not spoken carelessly in saying that the Church is part two of the
Incarnation. The Jesus who goes about now doing good and healing is none other
than the Body of Christ and members in particular. He does his work through
you, through his Body the Church, by the Holy Spirit, the other Comforter who
is with us and in us.
The day of Pentecost was a feast in
the Law of Moses when the first sheaf of the harvest was waved before the Lord.
It was also the same day that the Lord had descended on Mount Sinai, when the
whole nation of Israel
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