Whitsunday 2017

June 4, 2017

Acts 2:1-11

“Receiving the Spirit”

Today we celebrate “Whit” or “White” Sunday. The name is commonly understood to come from the wearing of white by all the converts who come to be baptized on the Day of Pentecost. It also has been attributed to the interpretation of the word “Wit,” which means “wisdom”. This day speaks to the wisdom the Spirit brings to the believer and how the Word of God is opened to those in whom the Spirit dwells. It may not be as big of a celebration as Easter or Christmas, but it is every bit their equal in significance to the Christian faith.

The second chapter of Acts deals with the miracle of Pentecost. The chapter divides into three parts. Today’s epistle deals with the first part, verses 1-11. In it, we see the miraculous manifestation of the Holy Spirit. This first part can be further divided into two segments: the descent of the Spirit on the believers, and their witness in the area of Jerusalem’s Temple.

During the time of the apostles, Pentecost was the spring harvest festival, referred to in the Old Testament as the Festival of Weeks. It always came seven weeks, or 50 days, after Passover. We are told that “All” of the followers of Christ were gathered together when the Holy Spirit descended…all 120 of them. They were probably still assembled in the upper room, which must have been somewhere near the temple grounds, in Jerusalem. Luke describes the experience as being both audible and visible. We need to study the words he used to describe the scene and understand that it is unlikely Luke was present when these events took place. But, as he documented his gospel account, I’m sure he heard it described, dozens of times, by the apostles who were there.

Luke said there was a sound “like” a violent wind. We see John use descriptions similar to this in the Book of Revelation. John tried to describe the living creatures he saw and described the first creature as being “like” a lion. He was trying to describe something he had never seen before, so he used the closest thing he could think of to describe what he was witnessing. Luke does the same thing here. Saying the sound was “like” a roaring wind was the best analogy given to him by those who were there. Their description brings to my mind the scene when the glory of God filled the temple. The description of that incident sounds like a tornado or hurricane was raging within the temple.

The visible part of the Spirit’s arrival looked like a giant flame with lapping tongues that rested on each of the eleven apostles. All who were present (remember the room was filled with over 100 followers) were filled with the Spirit, and each began to “speak in other tongues.” The phrase used is kind of ambiguous. It could refer to ecstatic speech, the phenomenon known as glossalalia or “tongue-speaking,” which Paul dealt with at Church in Corinth. If you recall in that case, everyone in the church was speaking in tongues and causing a lot of confusion. So, Paul told them “only two or three speak and someone needs to interpret.” However, it could also refer to speaking in other languages. In Greek, the word glossa can mean either “tongue” or “language.” Since the next section speaks of the temple crowd hearing their words in their own native tongues or “dialect” it seems more likely that it was a miracle of speaking in other languages rather than in the ecstatic, non-sensical glossalalia.

Evidently, the Christians rushed outside from the upper room and went out into the temple courtyard. Crowds would have been gathered there to celebrate the festival. Some estimates have said there were about 200,000 people present, at that time. The courtyard would have been a natural place to witness the gospel.

Luke tells us The Spirit-filled Christians met there and he described them as, “Jews from every nation under heaven.” Luke, like Paul, was sometimes prone to exaggeration. There were other nations than those represented, but this crowd came from all of the known world around them. These Jews are described as “staying” in Jerusalem, not necessarily being from there. Possibly, these were Jews from outside Palestine who had taken up residence in Jerusalem. In total, they represented most of the civilized Roman world, including the Near East, Asia, North Africa, Rome, the islands (which included Crete), and the deserts of Arabia. These Jews heard the witness of the Spirit filled Christians, all in their own languages.

The Christians are described as declaring the wonders of God. They were praising God. But, the crowd was divided on how they interpreted this. Some acknowledged the miracle and wanted to know more. Others were skeptical and accused the inspired Christians of being drunk. Throughout the Book of Acts, the gospel creates division; just as it still does today. Even the clearest miracle brings no response apart from those who affirm the faith.

The question must come up, “What was the significance of Pentecost to Christian belief?” The answer is…Everything! Without Pentecost there would have been no further story in Acts. The coming of the Spirit furnished the power for the Christian mission. That is the significance of the “roll call of nations” in verses 9–11. Already at the very beginning the worldwide evangelical mission was symbolized in the witness in all these languages, representing all the areas of the civilized world. At this point they were all Jews. Many were probably Jerusalem residents and wouldn’t return home after hearing the gospel. Symbolically, the evangelical mission given to us by Jesus Himself, had begun.

Another significance of Pentecost was the universal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, God’s Spirit resided only with selected individuals like the prophets. And many of them only had it for a short period of time. Here in the church, in the new people of God, the Spirit rested on everyone, young and old, male and female alike. As Joel had prophesied long before, this was a sign of the final times. That is why Peter made Joel’s prophecy the starting point for his upcoming sermon.

Power can be used in at least two ways: it can be unleashed, or it can be harnessed. The energy in ten gallons of gasoline, for instance, can be released explosively by dropping a lighted match into the can or it can be channeled through the engine of an automobile, in a controlled burn, and used to transport a person 350 miles. Explosions are spectacular, but controlled burns have lasting effect, staying power. The Holy Spirit works both ways. At Pentecost, He exploded on the scene; His presence was like "tongues of fire” and a “Rushing Wind”. On that day, thousands were affected by one burst of God's power. But, He also works through the church. God used His Holy Spirit to power this institution of the Body of Christ for the long haul. Through worship, fellowship, and service, Christians are provided with staying power.

I looked for a way to wrap this sermon on the Holy Spirit up in a neat little package you can take with you. I hope you never tire of C.S. Lewis because I looked to his explanations for a lot of things and he did not let me down today either.

In his book, “Mere Christianity” C.S. Lewis expressed it like this, “The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. This is almost inconceivable, but if we look at it this way, it will make some sense. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the ‘spirit’ of that family, club, or trade union. They talk about its ‘spirit’ because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving, which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather “like” a person. But, that is just one of the many differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and the Son is a real Person, He is, in fact, the Third of the three Persons who are God. This Third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the ‘Spirit’ of God. We don’t need to be worried or surprised if we find it (or Him) a little vaguer or more shadowy in our mind than the other two. I think there is a reason why that must be so. In the Christian life you are not usually looking at the Holy Spirit. He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something ‘out there’, in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you…God is love, and that love works through men…Especially through the whole community of Christians. But this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and the Son.”

I can’t find a better explanation than that. So, on this celebration of Pentecost, may the Spirit of God fill each and every one of us, so that we may be the vessels who spread His gospel and complete our mission.

Amen,

Fr. Bill Shepard†

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Fr. Bill Shepard†