Feast of Pentecost video and sermon

 

Ad Meskens / Wikimedia 

Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer 

Pentecost          

Genesis 11:1-9      
Acts 2:1-21           
John 14:23-31

O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

Not long ago I started a lengthy reading project in reading Homer’s Iliad. Reading it makes me appreciate once again the unity, purpose, generosity, and grace of our Lord God. The Lord God that is revealed to us in the Bible is a far different God than what the ancient pagan myths portray. The Iliad tells the story of the Greeks attack on the city of Troy. Many of the pagan gods are involved in that war. The gods are not of one mind whatsoever about who should win the war. Zeus favored Troy. Zeus’ brother Poseidon favored the Greeks. Zeus’ wife, Hera, also favored the Greeks. Wednesday evening, I completed Book 14. In that chapter, Hera took it upon herself to seduce Zeus and with some kind of potion from fellow goddess Aphrodite, she made Zeus go into a lengthy sleep. Once Zeus was no longer watching and interfering in the battle, Poseidon leaped in so that the Greeks’ fighting was strengthened. Then, in the beginning of Book 15, Zeus wakes up and accuses Hera of mischief which she denies. 

The whole lot of them are a powerful, dysfunctional mess that think only about themselves. Their shenanigans amongst themselves and their intervention in human affairs is far different than what we experience in the Bible and in our lives. 

The God revealed to us in the Old and New Testaments demonstrates consistent cooperation and unity of purpose within the Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are no shenanigans and working against each other. As we experience God, His sole purpose is to express his love for us through creating us, stating clear expectations, disciplining us for the purpose of inducing repentance, and leading us into faith in Christ who redeems us through His sacrificial death on the cross. God’s love for us includes His express desire for us to be with Him in paradise forever. We are led into a lifelong sanctification process to prepare us for eternal life in heaven.  

The reading from Genesis is an example of God’s discipline for the sake of repentance. God’s expectation is that people would worship Him and love their neighbors. The stated intention for building the city and Tower of Babel is declare themselves great and mighty. The Tower of Babel is thus an example of oversized sinful human pride. The Lord confused their language as an act of discipline to, first, stop building a monument unto themselves, and second, to return them to a humble state. God moved humanity from one language to many because of their rebellion. His desire is that they turn away from worship of themselves and worship the God that creates and sustains them. 

On this Feast of Pentecost, the confusion of language is laid side by side with the mystery of the Apostles speaking in languages that they do not know for the sake of announcing the Good News of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What was once confused, for God’s purposes, is now made clear. People then hear in their own language that God incarnate has come to save them through His sacrificial death on the cross. His resurrection is the promise of our resurrection through faith in Him. Jesus is the paschal lamb who takes away the sins of the world. On account of Jesus’ blood shed for us, the punishment we deserve for our sin passes over us. We are forgiven on account of Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel reading, we heard Jesus say, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” How can we know Jesus and His words, unless we hear it in a language that we can understand? We also heard Jesus promise again that the Helper will soon come. He will remind the disciples of all that He taught them. And, He will lead them further into God’s truth. 

The event we commemorate today in the dramatic coming of the Holy Spirit is another expression of God’s love and care for us. God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are working together so that all people throughout the ages will be able to hear in their own language that God creates us and that He earnestly desires to save us from our sins through faith in God’s son, Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps the Apostles communicate. The Holy Spirit makes our ownsalvation possible. He works faith within us through the preaching of the Word. And, he makes it possible for us to hear this Word when it is presented in a language we can understand.  Thanks be to God for His grace to us!

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.  

 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter from LCMS President Harrison about Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Recognized Service Organizations

  A Letter from LCMS President Harrison about LIRS and LCMS RSOs    FEB. 6, 2025 LCMS.ORG A letter from President Harrison about LIRS and LCMS RSOs Dear Saints of the LCMS, Grace and peace in Jesus! For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above ev...
Read more

Vigil of Easter

Image
The Lutheran Church of Our Saviour hosted the Vigil of Easter this year. We were joined by the congregations of St. John's, Rensselaer; St. Luke, Rensselaer; Trinity, Goodland; St. James, Reynolds; and St. James, Logansport. I was blessed to serve at the Altar with the pastors of these congregations. May the Lord continue to bless all of our ministries in the coming days and years! Here is my brief homily for the Vigil. Easter Vigil  O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.  Not long ago I read the Odyssey. Book 14 relays how, after many challenges and delays, Odysseus finally lands on his homeland of Ithaca. Aware that he has been gone a long time and that he is walking into circumstances that are not as he left Ithaca to fight the Trojans, he comes disguised. His first human encounter is with his loyal swineherd Eumaeus. Eumaeus does not recognize him. He says to Odysseus.  Come, old soldier, t...
Read more

Lenten Preaching Workshop

Image
 Rev. Dr. David Petersen of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Ft. Wayne offered an informative, thoughtful, and excellent Preaching Workshop for us at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne.  He introduced us to the philosophical treatise The Four Loves by C S Lewis and led us into a fuller understanding of the two primary words for love that are used in the New Testament. He provided us with sample sermons so that we can use, edit, or inspire us.  This was a day well spent!  
Read more