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Feast of the Pentecost - A (May 11, 2008)
My dear friends, the resurrection, the pouring forth of the Spirit, and the mission, these are the three things that we must reflect upon as we celebrate this feast of Pentecost. First, the reality that Jesus is alive. It is very important that we grasp this truth, just as those first disciples did. Jesus is alive and here in our midst. Jesus is in our hearts and we can turn to Jesus at any moment. He is alive in the pouring forth of the Spirit.
In the gospel reading, John has Jesus breathe on the disciples there. And that, of course, reminds anyone who is aware of the scriptures of the only other time that God is described as breathing. It is when God created Adam and Eve, when God created all of us. God breathed upon that lifeless form and it became alive. So John wants us to realize that Jesus, by breathing upon us, makes us alive in a new way and then he says: "As God has sent me, I send you." And that means each one of us. If we really take these words of Jesus seriously, "As God has sent me, I send you", it will mean that we will try to do what Jesus did.
Jesus was a light to the world. He broke away from and helped people to break away from the darkness of ignorance, prejudice, hatred, and evil. He became a light. He was a healer. Jesus always reached out in love. As God sent Jesus, God sends us to heal. And also as he did right there on that first Easter Sunday night, he forgives.
The first gift he brings to his disciples is forgiveness. If we are being sent in the same way as Jesus, we too must be people who forgive. Jesus brought it to his disciples and then, he asked them to forgive one another. That is something that has to happen in our everyday life, in our personal family life, in our interactions with our fellow workers, or at school or in our parish family. We have to bring them Jesus' gift of forgiveness.
Jesus came into this world to bring forgiveness, and that is so healing. Forgiveness heals the one who is forgiven, but also heals the one who has been hurt and forgives. That is a tremendous gift that Jesus gives, and it is part of his mission, to bring that spirit of reconciliation, of forgiveness, into the world, into our church, into our family, everywhere. But the mission of Jesus, of course, also is to reach out to others, to heal.
Jesus spent much of his time taking care of those who were in need of physical healing, and spiritual healing. He consoled people, brought joy into the lives even of those who were grieving over some terrible sorrow or tragedy in their lives. Remember how Jesus described himself, like a mother hen gathering her little chicks together around her to protect them, to love them, and to help to nurture them. Jesus was always there spreading his goodness and his love. That was his mission, to transform the world, to bring the gift of peace. We must carry peace in our hearts and share it always with others if we are going to carry out the mission of Jesus. We must be people who care about others. We have to be that kind of people, nurturing, loving, caring, forgiving, and compassionate.
Jesus said in the synagogue at Nazareth: "This is why God sent me, to heal the broken hearted, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim God's year of favor." This is why God sends all of us. Let us take this seriously today. That means that we have to think of various ways in which we go into the world, confirmed as disciples of Jesus, being sent as he was sent, doing what we can to change the world and make it a better place to live.
People's lives can really be changed if we really take seriously the fact that we are sent out into the world just as Jesus was, to be a light, to be a healer, to be compassionate, to be forgiving and so on. How different our world would be if we followed the example of Jesus. And so each of us has to remember, "I am sent, as God sent Jesus." Also, it is not just on an individual basis that we have to keep on trying to change the world. There are larger issues as well.
When Luke described Pentecost, he talked about how there were all those different people from every part of the known world at that time. They spoke all kinds of different languages. They were separated and divided from one another by their language, their culture, their history and so on. Through the coming of the Spirit, all those barriers were removed.
Luke was referring to what had happened in the Old Testament, at the time of the Tower of Babel, when all the nations were dispersed and division came into the world. Now, through the coming of the Spirit, it is reversed. Peoples are to be drawn together into one human family. Our world will be divided and will ultimately be destroyed unless we, who are the members of God's family, the covenanted people of God, take seriously that we are sent into the world as Jesus was sent. Jesus was sent to break down barriers, to heal divisions, to make the nations of the world one human family, to stop arming ourselves in a way that will bring about destruction and death, and to work for the coming of the time when all the nations can live in peace without weapons that can destroy all of us. "As God sent me, I send you." That is what Jesus said to the first disciples and that is what Jesus says to all of us today.
My dear friends, if we pray from our hearts for the Holy Spirit to come upon us today, it will happen. If our hearts are open, the Spirit of Jesus will change us, and we will go forth from this church, ready, more than ever before, to be true disciples of Jesus, to choose Jesus over everything and everyone else, and to follow his way, and to carry out his work in our world.
God bless you.
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ACTS 2:1-11
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, "Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God."
1 CORINTHIANS 12:3B-7, 12-13
Brothers and sisters: No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
JOHN 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
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