The Feast of Pentecost – June 8, 2025Psalm 68; Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-24St. John 14:23-31a
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Feast of Pentecost existed before
the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. It celebrated two things.
First, Pentecost was a harvest festival. The faithful of Israel would bring
grain offerings to the Temple in thanksgiving for the harvest with which God
had blessed them. Pentecost was at the beginning of their harvest and the
faithful would bring the first fruits of their harvest to God.
We have much to learn from our
forefathers. They did not wait to ensure the harvest was complete before
returning thanks to God. They did not wait to ensure they saw 80% or 90% of
what was planted grow to maturity. That which they harvested first was given
back to God in thanksgiving, showing they trusted their heavenly Father to
provide the rest.
In this way, we see a model for our
giving to the church. We are free in the Gospel, no longer commanded by God to
give 10%, a tithe, of our income to support the Temple. Rather, we are free to
give more. We are free to give more because we are no longer under the Law but
have been made free children of the Father.
The blessings of God in the Old
Testament were shadows of the blessings in the New. So too were the offerings
of the faithful in the Old Testament shadows of the New. Neither diminishes
after the Resurrection of Christ. They are magnified. Circumcision was a sign
in the flesh of men that they were part of God’s covenant. In the New
Testament, Holy Baptism fulfills this sign in the flesh by being offered to men
and women, and rather than a removal of our flesh, it places the robe of
Christ’s righteousness upon us. God’s blessing is magnified, not diminished.
Our financial support of God’s church
looks to the Old Testament to find a place to begin. The first fruits of the
harvest were offered to God, 10% was required of all the faithful, each year.
In the New Testament, in the age of the Church following the Resurrection and
Ascension of our Lord, 10% is a great place to begin returning thanks to God
for the many blessings He has bestowed upon you. Remember, everything you have,
like the grain harvest of old, comes from the Father and will eventually return
to Him. You are the steward of these earthly blessings. If the Lord has blessed
you handsomely, return thanks handsomely. Ten percent is a great place to
start, but the Lord loves a cheerful giver, no matter the dollar amount you
give.
The second purpose of Pentecost prior to the Ascension of our Lord, was to commemorate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Here we see the clearest connections to the descent of the Holy Spirit. At Mount Sinai, the people were commanded not to touch the mountain for its holiness. Moses alone could approach the presence of God. A great cloud descended upon the mountain with thunder, lightning, and the terrifying sound of a mighty trumpet. Fire flashed from the top of the mountain. The people became frightened and stood afar off.
The coming of God upon Mount Sinai
indicates the nature of what was given. The Law reveals God’s wrath over our
sin. It reveals our sin, shows it plainly by the lightning flash of God’s Word,
and thunders loudly in our hearts. The sound of the trumpet announces judgment
is near. In our sin, we flee from these signs, knowing our fate is sealed in
our mortal state, consigned to the eternal fire of God’s wrath.
At Pentecost, however, the Holy Spirit
descends with the sound of a mighty, rushing wind. This sound is only described
as the sound of rushing wind but must itself be something more. I believe it is
the sound of the Holy Gospel, being spoken by the Holy Spirit, Himself. No
matter what the sound was, it did not inspire fear in the apostles nor in the
people gathered in Jerusalem. This sound of the Holy Spirit brought to
remembrance all the words of Christ in the hearts of the apostles. The crowds
in Jerusalem, gathered for the harvest feast and to commemorate the giving of
the Law, are drawn toward the sound.
Whereas the people at Mount Sinai were
kept away from the Mountain of the Lord, the voice of the Holy Spirit draws the
crowds in. The Holy Spirit descends in fire, just as He did on Mount Sinai, but
this time it is not frightening. He descends as tongues of flame, bringing the
Words of the Gospel of Christ to the apostles to be shared with the world. The
crowd gathering at this sound is somewhat skeptical, yet they are drawn to the
sounds of the apostles beginning to preach.
Here, the various peoples from
throughout the ancient world, heard the mighty works of God in their own
languages. The apostles preached to them concerning the death and resurrection
of Christ. These languages no longer separate the Elamite and the Mede, nor do
they find their unity in these languages. They are unified in the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. They are unified within the Body of Christ.
The Tower of Babel is often
misunderstood. God commanded Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth.
While Noah’s descendants multiplied, they did not fill the earth. Once they
reached the plain of Shinar, they decided the land was ideal and they ceased to
fill the earth. Working together, the men of the earth decided to build a tower
to God, making a name for themselves.
God could not have this. The unity of
man, even at the beginning, with only Adam and Eve, is not found in language,
lineage, or ethnicity. The unity of man is found in God, in the Body of Christ,
in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The men of earth desiring to make a name
for themselves rejected the Body of Christ for the body of their own work. The
name man makes for himself is Sin and Death.
The building of the Tower of Babel
itself is somewhat of an engineering miracle. Our ancient ancestors were very
intelligent and capable of great wonders. Such ability quickly goes from a
blessing of the Most High into an idol. God has placed you into relationships
with your fellow man such that you are to serve him in various ways. God has
given abilities to engineers, pilots, carpenters, plumbers, managers, teachers,
and store clerks. This is commendable.
Yet these careers are not the same as
who and what you are. On the deathbed of a Christian, no one wants to hold his
favorite chisel, or cling to his over-full timecard. A Christian desires to
hold his family close and cling to the Word of God. A Christian desires a visit
from his pastor to hear the Word of God and receive His gifts one more time on
this side of glory.
While the accomplishments of this life
are something to give thanks to God for, they are not the most important aspect
of who you are. Your baptism is the most important aspect of who you are
because it tells you whose you are. The name God gives to the Baptized
is Life, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In your Holy Baptism,
you find yourself a child of the Heavenly Father and a member of the Body of
Christ. In this Body, you find unity with the Judean and Cappadocian. In this
Body, you are one with the Phrygian and Pamphylian.
God punished the peoples at Babel by
forcing them to spread out and fill the earth. This was God’s command from the
very beginning. Languages would naturally develop as man spread out to cover
the earth. God forced this process by dividing their languages while they dwelt
together. Certainly, this is a punishment for those living in Babel as they
could no longer communicate with friends and possibly even family. They must
set out to different parts of the world and build lives where they could
communicate.
This dispersion of peoples is recognized even
in heaven. When St. John sees a vision of heavenly worship in the Book of
Revelation, he sees a multitude without number, of all nations, tribes,
peoples, and tongues.[1] This
multitude is all praising the Lamb who is on the Throne of heaven, that is,
they are united in their praise and worship of Christ. They are the united Body
of Christ, retaining their individuality and individual languages.
From the beginning of man, God desired
diversity of language and culture so that man could not mistake where unity is
found. Unity is found in the Body of Christ. For this reason, the Holy Spirit
descends upon the apostles in tongues of flame. These gentle flames illumine
the Word of God, setting the hearts of man on fire with the love of God. If the
coming of the Law was terrifying for man, the coming of the Gospel is a great
comfort. The dispersion of man at Babel was God enacting His Law upon man and
the preaching of the Gospel on Pentecost is the fulfillment of God’s Law by
uniting the multitude of nations, tribes, peoples, and languages in the Body of
Christ.
Just as fire is both deadly and
necessary for life, so too the Word of God kills and gives life. The Law comes
to reveal our sin and cause us to flee. But we must ask, “To where shall I go?
I am a poor, wretched sinner. Where is salvation found?” Then the Holy Spirit
enters in with the satisfying warmth of the Gospel to reveal the deeds of
Christ saying, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the
world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid.”[2] “And it
shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”[3]
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
