What Does This Mean?

May 19, 2013

Acts 2:1-21

¹When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes ¹¹Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 


¹⁷  ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, 
     

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, 
          

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 
     

and your young men shall see visions, 
          

and your old men shall dream dreams. 


¹⁸  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, 
          

in those days I will pour out my Spirit; 
               

and they shall prophesy. 


¹⁹  And I will show portents in the heaven above 
          

and signs on the earth below, 
               

blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 


²⁰  The sun shall be turned to darkness 
          

and the moon to blood, 
              

 before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 


²¹  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord

shall be saved.’”

Sermon:

“What does this mean?” 

It was the question asked by a diverse crowd gathered in the middle of noisy, dusty Jerusalem.  There were people milling about speaking a cacophony of languages, but mostly just sticking to their own kind. 

There were Parthians, and Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, visitors from Rome and folks who called Jerusalem their hometown.  There were Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, Republicans and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, teenagers and grandparents.  There were even Duke fans mingled with Carolina fans.  Like I said, it was a diverse crowd!

Suddenly the scene turned into a combination of Gone With The Wind and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  A great wind blew through the place and fiery tongues landed on each of Jesus’ disciples’ heads.  They began to speak about God’s deeds of power and everyone heard and understood in their own language. 

The Southerners asked, “What does this here stuff mean, y’all??”

The Northerners asked, “Pardon me everyone, but might you know, perchance, what this occurrence signifies?”

The Presbyterians just stood in the corner muttering to themselves, “Well THIS is certainly not decent or in good order!”

Many in the crowd answered that question with a logical assumption: those disciples were drunk (and not on sweet tea)!

Peter got annoyed at that idea, and stood up to speak to this varied crowd, and said, “Drunk?!  Please!  It’s only 9 a.m., and we don’t drink Irish coffee, people.”  Recognizing that what was happening was not a meteor shower or some mass hallucination, Peter quoted the prophet Joel:

“When the time’s right, God says, 
     

 I will pour out my Spirit upon all people, 
          

sons and daughters will speak the truth, 
     

teenage boys will see the way the world’s supposed to be, 
          

old men will dream of that reality. 


Male, female, young, old: my Spirit will be poured upon everyone, and they will prophesy.”

He went on to say something about blood, fire, mist and darkness, and portents, signs and the coming of the Lord’s great day.  And he finished with Joel’s words, “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Now we’re not told whether people believed Peter.  No doubt some still believed that they were enjoying spirits with their breakfast cereal and not the Holy Spirit.  But whether they accepted the answer or not, they did ask that most important question, “What does this mean?”

This is a question we should keep asking all of our lives.

On this Pentecost Sunday, where we commission our high school graduates for the next stage in their lives, I am asking this question on behalf of Brandon and Karen.  We can ponder the meaning of the coming of the Holy Spirit for ourselves as well, but today, I want to tell those two what I think this whole “Pentecost thing” means for them.  I know they absolutely love being singled out like this.

Karen and Brandon, you need to know that when the Spirit of God was first poured on all people, they didn’t really understand what was happening (hence the thought that they were drunk).  But the Spirit was poured on them anyway.  So, embrace those times of questioning, when new experiences in life and challenges cause you to reconsider what you always thought you knew about God.  Do not fear uncertainty.  A deep connection with God and those around you is not found in being afraid to challenge and question…it is found in the courage to ask questions.  No amount of questioning will take the Spirit away from you.  That Spirit set up camp in your soul at your baptism, and will never leave you.

Which brings me to another thought: it’s not enough to say that the Spirit is in you, that you have a “personal relationship” with God through Jesus and just leave it at that.  Like that group of disciples and strangers in Jerusalem at Pentecost, you need a faith community where you can most fully experience the Spirit at work.  The Spirit was not poured on all people so that they could walk around with their nose in the air like Hermoine getting another answer right.  (You know I had to get another Harry Potter reference in there!) 

The Spirit was poured on all people so that they could prophesy.  That there is a scary word!  Here’s what it means: speak the truth, all the time, no matter what the cost to your popularity or pride.  When you see that things are not as they should be, when someone is left out and no one will speak to them, when alcohol is seen as the solution to social awkwardness, when people are looked down on because they come from a different background, it is your job to prophesy.  To tell the truth.  The Spirit is in you so that you will speak for those who have no voice, so that you will encourage those who are beaten down, and show another way of life simply by being exactly who God made you to be, and no one else. 

I wish I could tell you this was easy.  The truth is, telling the truth is a lot harder than just going along with what everyone else is doing.   But I don’t need to tell you that being a prophet is hard…you know that.  Because you already are a prophet.   I’ve seen it. 

Karen, you are a prophet filled with the Spirit when you pray with boldness and defy peer pressure to be yourself no matter how hard that choice can be.

When the burden of being a prophet, of being a bearer of the Spirit, gets too great, you will always have this place.  Here, you can always come back to remember who you really are.  Here, you can experience the Spirit refilling your spirit with hope.  Here, you can be reminded of what we all see: that you are a child of God, and that you are not the future of the church but that you are the church right now, as God is using you to bring light to others. 

We are so grateful to be your church family and that, promised in baptism and reaffirmed in confirmation, you will always belong here.  And we make a promise to you (you might even call it an “unbreakable vow”:  we will pray for you, we will support you as your continue becoming who God has called you to be, and we will listen to you as you continue to teach us all what it means to be a prophet filled with the Spirit.  Amen.