Day of Pentecost - Sermon Text and Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer, IN
Day of Pentecost
Acts 1:1-21
John 7:37-39
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (2 Cor 1:2)
If we lived and worked in Jerusalem in AD 33, even if we did not keep a daily calendar, we would know that the feast of Pentecost was in process. Pilgrims from across the Empire came and went regularly throughout the year in Jerusalem. The faithful came to the city to fulfill their observance of the Mosaic law and to participate in different festivals. The multi-day feast that culminated in the night of the Passover feast affected everyone. But, Pentecost is the farmer’s festival. Natives would note that there was a surge of farmers traveling the streets. During the feast of Pentecost farmers came to the temple with a sample of their first fruits of harvest.
The male head of the family would put a sample of the farms first fruits into a basket, bring it into the temple, and engage in a well-orchestrated and rehearsed liturgy in the temple with the priest. Unfortunately, over time, that liturgy became a source of frustration for the priests and the farmers.
In AD 33, Jerusalem is an international city. A citizen might have occasion to communicate with people in at least three languages. For example, the lingua franca of the Empire at that point is Koine Greek. You might conduct business or visit with outsiders using the Greek language. When you are with your people, family and friends, gathered for supper and talking about the events of the day, you will most likely be talking to each other in Aramaic. We have glimpses of Aramaic in the gospels. When you go to the Temple for the official rites of the faith, that is when you hear the Scriptures, songs, liturgy, and sermons, and announcements in the Hebrew language.
Most of us need to interact with a language regularly in order to for us to be conversant. Farmers that were not from the immediate area, did not have opportunity to use their Hebrew. They used Greek, Aramaic, or some other language. Some of those language groups are listed in the reading from Acts.
Language became a barrier to worship and to fulfill one’s heart’s desire to express gratitude to the LORD for the bounty of the harvest because the leaders of the Temple insisted that worship and festival liturgies be always conducted in Hebrew. So, you stand in line with your basket of the harvest. You finally find yourself before the priest in this incredible, magnificent temple, which is far bigger and grander in appearance than anything on your farm or in your village. The priest says something you don’t understand. The priest being a kind and good, patient man, indicates that you are now supposed to respond with your part from memory. That part is from Deuteronomy 26:3, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.” After a moment of uncomfortable silence, the good priest kindly gives you the words to say in brief phrases. You dutifully repeat. But you really do not know what you are saying. The priest then holds out his hands to receive your basket. You give it to him. He waves it before the Altar, then places it before the Altar. Then, he comes back, looks at you because it is now time for you to say your next part and indicates that you are to continue. What you are supposed to continue with from memory, in Hebrew, no less, is Deuteronomy 26:5-10a. “‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’
The kind, patient, priest helps you along as best as he can, but gosh this act of gratitude and worship is turning into a difficult and frustrating affair. Farming is hard work. Lots of frustration tied to it. Lots of things are out of your control from weather events to bugs to tools breaking. And, quite frankly, travel to Jerusalem was not easy. Lots of miles traveled and time is lost on the farm where there is always work to be done. You are glad to make the trip because you know in your heart that this bountiful harvest is a true gift from God. You are grateful. You have joy in your heart. Yet, the frustration of the offering experience is robbing you of joy and wearing on your gratitude.
Language is at the heart of this frustration.
Jesus is God and he becomes incarnate for us and for our salvation. That salvation is not just about an eternal reward in heaven. Salvation starts now. Salvation begins in Jesus’ renewal of your life through the cross and resurrection. When we study the gospels, we see that Jesus regularly renews the lives of people through his words, his announcement of forgiveness, his statements that the kingdom of God is at hand. He regularly corrected the false doctrine that you have to keep the law perfectly in order to make yourself righteous before God. No, God is the one who makes us righteous. And, in the Old Testament he provided instructions on how to receive God’s righteousness. It begins with faith in God, not yourself.
As you know, Jesus did more than speak. He renewed peoples’ lives by his healings and miracles. The lame walked, the deaf heard, the blind saw, the lepers were cleansed. All to fulfill Scripture, no doubt. Real people are affected. Peoples’ lives are renewed, they are better, after an encounter with Christ.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit is coming. He ascended so that the Holy Spirit could descend. The Apostles and the Church will do incredible things through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The first thing that the Holy Spirit does is renew the feast of Pentecost by addressing the language barrier. Everything that happens in the temple and around the Altar of the Lord points to the coming Christ. Well, how are you supposed to be prepared for what is supposed to come if you do not understand the language in which it is being conveyed?
On this day, the Holy Spirit made a loud, grand, spectacular entrance into the lives of the faithful and his future converts. The sound of it is heard all over Jerusalem. When the people run to the source of the commotion, they are greeted with the amazing sight of the visible manifestation of the Spirit of God resting upon the Apostles. They heard the good news of Jesus Christ clearly spoken and easily understood in their own languages. How can these Galileans possibly get around the barrier of all those different languages? They didn’t. The Holy Spirit did. The Holy Spirit proclaimed Christ to the nations that were before them and created faith within 3,000 souls who were immediately baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Those brought to faith in Christ Jesus, crucified and risen for them, experienced the renewal of language. They lived with the benefit of renewal in their lives. They met the resurrected Passover lamb in the preaching of the Apostles and of Peter. They believed. They received forgiveness for their sins. They grew in faith.
The Holy Spirit continues among us. He speaks Gospel through the Church to renew your life in a language that we can understand. For this we are grateful. The Christ we know and worship is the true hope of our world.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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