The Rev. Sam Hook
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School
Ezekiel 11:17-20 | Psalm 104 | Acts 2:1-11 | John 20:19-23
Grace and peace to you from God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
A lot of mainstream Christians become a little uneasy; in fact some of us become a little jumpy when preachers begin to talk about Pentecost and the Holy Spirit — some folks start to think about flames coming from peoples' heads or speaking in tongues which is also known as glossolalia. When thinking about the Holy Spirit, many of us think of a Japanese convert who was talking to Dorothy Sayers, who was a great missionary in Asia. And when he was trying to explain the Christian theology, he said "Honorable Father", very good. Honorable Son, very good, Honorable bird, I do not understand at all.
Today I want us to look at the passages from both the Book of Acts and the Gospel of John. In John's Gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples shortly after the resurrection and they're hold up in a room with the doors locked and they were afraid. And Jesus appears to them and breaths on them and says to them, receive thee the Holy Spirit.
In last weeks' reading from Acts which I was working on feverishly until Friday when Robert said I was working on the wrong lessons, Jesus tells his disciples, right before his ascension, to go and wait in Jerusalem. they're to They were to wait for the promise of the Father and they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In the reading from Acts today, for this Sunday, the promise that Jesus had made to those disciples before his ascension came true. This coming of the Holy Spirit is the culmination of God's promise. This promise is not just a New Testament promise. We find this promise being spoken of throughout the Old Testament with the prophet Ezekiel and Joel being only two of them. In fact, I think it could be argued that what Adam and Eve were seeking when they went to the tree of knowledge was not so much the knowledge but the presence of God in their lives. Men have been seeking that forever.
Charles Carter writes in his book The Person and Ministry of the Holy Spirit, man has as much of divine power as he has of the Spirit's divine personality. God does not give his power to his followers, he gives himself and his power is in his personality." So with the understanding that the Holy Spirit is actually God's presence in our own lives, let's go back and look at the story of the Holy Spirit in Acts.
Despite the colorful imagery of flames coming out of people's heads and talking in various tongues, what the disciples received at Pentecost was God's presences. Throughout the ages we have always hungered for Gods' presence to dwell within us. To the coming of the Holy Spirit and the belief in Jesus Christ, we can have that divine presence in our own lives. And that presence becomes a distinguishing mark of a people belonging to God who are Gods' children. The business about talking in various languages always has troubled us, but please note that each language was a real language as we heard today, for those who are Greek, or Hebrew, or Spanish, or Japanese, you heard the word of God in your own language as did the people who were gathered in Jerusalem that day. What you have in effect, is the reversal of the Tower of Babel. Remember in that story the people were working on a tower that was to be the biggest and tallest building in the world, to reach up to God. And God changed them and they began speaking in languages that no one understood, so they could not complete that tower. In today's lesson, we have God coming to those people at Pentecost and letting them all hear the Gospel of God, the Gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ in their own language. So now at Pentecost it is possible for all of us to understand. Even those of us that speak Southern English.
But what does the Holy Spirit do for me? There are three things that I want to talk about that the Holy Spirit does for us. One comes from Paul's letter to the Romans which happens to be my favorite verse. Paul says in Roman's 8, "the spirit itself bearath witness with our spirit that we are children of God, that neither death, nor life, nor Angles, nor principalities, no powers, no things present nor things to come nor height nor depth or any other creature is able to separate us from the love of God which in Christ Jesus our Lord." The second thing, the indwelling of the spirit in our own lives allows us to witness to the resurrection of Christ and His love for all of us. Witnessing is not just oral, because a lot of people become really uneasy, particularly Episcopalians, about giving oral testimony about the love of Christ. But it is also living a consistent and righteous and exemplary life so we witness not only with our voices, but we witness with our way we live If we live good and faithful lives , then that witness is shown to others. The third thing the Holy Spirit does, it allows us to reach beyond ourselves and do remarkable deeds. According to a legend, when Jesus returned to heaven following his ascension, the Angels gathered around him in amazement and looked at the wounds on his hands and on his feet, they shuddered about His suffering and finally Gabriel spoke "Master, you suffered terribly down there, do they know and appreciate the extent of your sacrifice?" "No, said Jesus, Not Yet. Right now only handful of people in Jerusalem know" Then what have you done to let everyone else know, what kind of marketing plan do you have, asked Gabriel. I have asked Peter, James and John and a few others to spread the news. They will tell others who will then tell others until the message spreads to the ends of the earth. But Gabriel knowing our human nature asked, well what is Plan B? Jesus says, I have no plan B — there is no alternative strategy — I am counting on them.
Throughout the ages, Jesus is still counting on spirit filled Christians to do remarkable deeds for Him. Spirit-filled Christians have taken the Gospel to all corners of the earth — they've endured great hardship and even death. But Jesus' plan is still at work in our world. Today, I would like to present a challenge to you Episcopalians, spirit-filled Christians to follow in the works of Peter, James and John and those few others in Jerusalem who Jesus was counting on to spread the good news . I know that a lot of you think that Washington Street is the end of the world. I can assure you that I have actually made some adventures beyond Washington Street and there are not barbarians there.
For several years, since I have been part of the congregation, we have had 20 acres of lands beyond La Quinta. Yes, that is beyond Washington Street. I know, it's scary. Our task is to build another church. And my challenge to you is who will go and do that? Who will go with the spirit and in the footsteps of Peter, James and John? I can assure you that there will be very few hardships and I can guarantee you that your life will not be in danger. But who will help start that new church? Who will spread the word, and then they will tell others. The spirit is given to the followers of Christ that they may live for Him. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God dwelling with in Christ's disciples, dwelling within us, the spirit enables us to live that exemplary life which shows the Grace of God.
A famous Boston pastor named Dr. A. J. Gordon tells of the story on himself when he went to the Chicago Worlds' Fair. In a distance at one of the Asian pavilions, he saw a man in brightly colored Oriental clothes who appeared to be working diligently turning a crank which was producing a mighty stream of water. Gordon was impressed with the man's energy and how smooth his motions were and what kind of condition he must be in to be able to do that. Drawing closer though, he discovered that the man was actually made of wood. Instead of him turning the crank, the flow of water was actually turning the crank and thereby making him go. So it is with those who are about the Lords work. Those of us who celebrate the Holy Spirit on this Pentecost Sunday. It isn't our efforts for him that achieve the results. It is the flowing river of the Holy Spirit channeled through our lives which keeps us going and reveals infinite results.
My prayer for you today is that you may know that Holy Spirit, you may know Gods presence in your own lives and you may be like Peter, James and John living a life which proclaims the wonderful good news, that Jesus Christ died and was resurrected and offers us eternal life.
Amen.