Whitsunday (Pentecost) – Sunday 19 May A✠D 2024
✠ Psalmody: Wisdom 1:7a, Psalm 68:3;1 ,4a, c, 11a, 33b, 35a;104:30
✠ Lection: Genesis 11:1-9;Acts 2:1-11;St. John 14:23-31a
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Just as the dispersal of languages from the Tower of Babel was a one-time significant event, so to was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts, chapter two. It was the fulfillment of what our Lord had promised to His disciples as we’ve been hearing in our recent Gospel texts from John 15 and 16. The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was sent forth with a specific task. Jesus said, “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” The Holy Spirit came to proclaim the Christ and His Words, the Good News of the Gospel, salvation for all sinners, not to continuously give new, fresh revelation to all the generations that follow. We see this in what happened at Pentecost when “they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” What they uttered were words that the people around them could understand, not unknown, unheard of gibberish. Such babbling would be of benefit to no one and would serve injustice to clear Gospel of our Lord. There were devout men from every nation present, hence these were people from the language groups scattered from the Tower of Babel. There was a message that they needed to hear, and it would come loudest and most clearly into their ears if it was in their own language. That was the ability the Holy Spirit gave that day; the ability to speak in tongues, in sensible languages, languages that the Apostles didn’t know, and yet spoke plainly, in order that those from afar off could hear that God had become a man, was crucified for the forgiveness of their sins, was raised from the dead, and had ascended into heaven just 10 days earlier.
In the Gospel last week, you received the spoiler. This story comes to you repeatedly, so that you may believe and keep on believing. There is no mystery for you as to what was happening at Pentecost. Walking in today, you knew what to expect even if this was the first time hearing Acts chapter two. Jesus said, “when the Helper comes… he will bear witness to me.” The speaking of foreign languages at Pentecost was a miracle that beckoned to God’s finished work on the cross. Those filled with the Holy Spirit were speaking intelligible, understandable, life-giving words about Jesus. It was a miracle that God the Holy Spirit used to bring salvation to the nations, to the languages there that day, so that the Word would go out, eventually making its way to places like North Royalton many, many years later. What was once different languages being dispersed as judgement at the Tower was now the languages going out, carrying the Good News of the forgiveness of sins, the Good News of life, the Good News of salvation.
The result of the Holy Spirit’s blessed utterances and His emboldening Peter to preach was that “they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’” All the people from these different, scattered nations were now being united, brought back together in an eternal brotherhood of faith that extends beyond skin color, beyond culture, beyond borders, beyond language, beyond death. What the Lord had confused due to man’s sin at The Tower, He was now using to draw all men to Himself. It is the universal message of the Gospel of the One Person by Whom and in Whom all creation was reconciled to the Father; it was by and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus proclaimed in every language is Good News.
And there were added that day about three thousand souls, which is the exact opposite of what happened at the foot of Mount Sinai when the Law came down from above. Some Jewish traditions hold to that day being the 50th after the original Passover, making it the very first Feast of Pentecost. Recall that Moses had gone up the mountain to meet with Yahweh and to receive the tablets inscribed with the Holy Ten Commandments. Down below, the people pressed Aaron into fashioning a golden calf saying, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Because of their idolatry, 3,000 men of the people fell by the sword in judgement.
Under the Law of God, we stand judged along with them. It exposes the murder in our heart when we burn with hate. It exposes the fork in our tongue when we spew slander and hurt someone’s reputation. It exposes the vile sins for which we are to repent. Since we know how our fallen, fleshly response is to the written Law of God, we need His intervention to counter it. We need the Holy Spirit to come and write upon our hearts Himself, trusting Him as He does so with the same godly truth from the pages of the Bible. It alone is where we find the Word of God today. Not in the gobbledygook nonsense money-hungry televangelists mutter. For the Spirit writing truth upon the heart that He has regenerated brings with it the desire to love God and gladly do as He wills. The new heart desires His Word as He has fully given it, not to hear something fresh as if our Lord needs to say more that He already has. The Scriptures are sufficient, yet the unbelieving, dead heart sees the Commandments, it sees the Word in its sufficient form from of old as burdensome, pesky, and restrictive, whereas the living heart is courageous and delights in keeping it; in holding fast to them and to the Savior they make known.
The unbelieving heart exists in a scary place because it can be so deep in its sin that it doesn’t even feel it. Yet believers have the Comforter Who truly comforts where it is needed. The place that we need comfort the most is in the realization of our sins. We need it the most there because only one thing can comfort the Christian: the Holy Spirit bearing witness about Jesus. It is by the Gospel of Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit comforts you and strengthens you in your struggles, in your worries, in your pain, in facing down your sin. Unbelievers don’t struggle over their sin. They’re too happy and content with it. So, take courage that struggling with sin is part of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Don’t despair, but clutch to the forgiveness all the more that you know you have in Christ. In other words, it’s a good thing that sin in your life troubles you and is being purged out through your suffering over it. The Holy Spirit especially comforts there, where the Good News of sins freely forgiven gives peace to the weary soul. The Spirit sees you contrite in heart over sin and He strengthens and encourages you with the forgiveness that you have in Jesus. As long as you are in this life, you will struggle with sin. As long as you are in this life and have the Holy Spirit, you will be comforted in the struggle. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, and it is among the sick that the Holy Spirit is constantly at work, which is why He tends to us this day. He will remain always comforting with God’s clear Word that entirely, wonderfully, sufficiently testifies about our Savior in every language in which it is proclaimed, because, thanks be to God, this Jesus dies for the sins of the whole world, for every nation once scattered to the four winds.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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