Pentecost + June
4, 2006 + St. Paul’s Church, Lake James, N.C.
+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s begin with a
bit of history. Long before the birth of Jesus, the Jewish People’s harvest
season lasted for what was termed “a week of weeks” – that is, 49 days. Then, on
the following day, they celebrated its conclusion with a festival called
“Shavout” in Hebrew, or in Greek “Pentecost,” which simply means 50th
day. As time passed, that holy day became not only an occasion for
thanking God for the crops, but also a commemoration of the Covenant made
between God and the Hebrews with the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
It was that event, more than any other in their history, which gave Jews their
particular identity as “The Chosen People, the People of God.” It was that event
which made them “A People with a Purpose – a People with a Mission!”
Jewish self-understanding was, and still is, that through the gift of God’s
Spirit, they were empowered to fulfill that divine mission, and
so, at Pentecost, they paused, as to this day they still pause, to give
thanks to God. It’s no accident, then, that in the Book of the Acts of the
Apostles, St. Luke notes that it was on that Jewish Feast of Pentecost that the
disciples of Jesus received the gift of the Holy Spirit and the dynamic
outpouring of the power of God which would enable them to fulfill
their mission.
God the Holy Spirit is not just a theological conceptualization
of the love between God the Father and God the Son but rather, the Third
Person of the Holy Trinity – as much God as the Father and as much God
as the Son. It is God the Holy Spirit who indwells that body known as “the
Church,” sanctifying it and empowering it to do the will of the Father on earth
through the celebration of the sacraments and in many other ways, continuing the
ministry of Jesus on earth. So today, along with billions of other Christians
all over the world, we at St. Paul’s Church celebrate the great 50th
Day of Easter, the Feast of Pentecost, thanking God that the Holy Spirit not
only came upon the disciples so long ago, but that the same Holy Spirit has
continued to come to the Church throughout the centuries, and continues to come
now, even to us!
When any of the sacraments are celebrated, it is God the Holy
Spirit who enables those rites to make real what they signify. In Baptism, it is
the Holy Spirit who brings the baptized into a new, living relationship with God
and with the rest of us in that body we call “The Church.” Likewise, in the
Eucharist, through the ministry of bishops and priests, the Holy Spirit brings
about the consecration of bread and wine so that those simple elements become
spiritually, supernaturally, and truly what they were not before, namely the
Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood, and our food of life.
As we heard in
today’s Gospel, the wonderful ministry of reconciliation, the forgiveness of
sin, is specifically entrusted to the Church and has been passed down from
generation to generation through those ordained for that ministry of mercy. I
have always found it amazing that the ministry of forgiving or retaining sins,
and the ministry of consecrating the Eucharist, have been given to priests,
people who, despite our considerable human imperfections, are nonetheless
used by the Holy Spirit as channels bringing God’s love and grace to those who
are willing to receive them. I was awed by that almost 45 years ago at my
ordination to the priesthood, and I am still awed by it today. I suspect the
same is true for Father John.
One of the normally essential elements in the celebration of a
sacrament is the use of words, such as “I baptize you” or “Take, eat,
this is My Body, do this or “By God’s authority committed to me, I
absolve you of all your sins.” Not only words like those, but all words
can be powerful, having intensely positive or negative effects. Luke describes
what happened after the gift of the Holy Spirit had been bestowed on the
disciples, saying they began to speak, and the crowd heard them each in their
own language! Luke even lists some who were there in the crowd: Parthians,
Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia (in other words, people from all
over), people whose languages were quite different from each other, and yet each
not only heard, but understood the disciples as they preached the
Good News of Christ! Scripture scholars say that account was intended to provide
a parallel to the Genesis story of the Tower of Babel, that wonderful tale
explaining why the nations of the earth are separate from one another, why their
people speak different languages and so are often unable to understand each
other. Then, by contrast, at the first Christian Pentecost, that pattern was
reversed as all were able to understand each other! The lost unity of
humankind is now restored through the Christian Gospel and in the Christian
Community. As St. Paul comments, “By the One Spirit, we were all baptized into
One Body. Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, male and female, all are one in
Christ!” That new unity is both symbolized and expressed through words –
words not only heard, but understood by all present at that first Christian
Pentecost.
You and I know that words can be meaningful, neutral, or empty.
As an example of meaningful words, think of having a cherished person
look into your eyes and say “I love you.” For neutral or empty words, consider
being bored to tears by words in a long speech which seems to have little if any
meaning (something which never, I am sure, happens in sermons!). For
negative words, think of the great pain which can be caused by words of
rejection.
In the Bible, we can easily find examples of each type.
St. John’s proclamation that “The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us,” is a thrilling message which is especially celebrated so joyfully at
the happy festival of Christmas. Think also of the Easter affirmation that
“Christ is Risen!” bringing our almost automatic response of “Alleluia!” and in
this parish, when Father John gives the dismissal at the end of the
liturgy, not just one, but a whole bunch of “alleluias!”
Some of the less-than-thrilling Bible texts might include the
minutia of ceremonial directions for the proper way to prepare and offer animal
sacrifices. If we are not completely repelled by them, we might just yawn
through a lengthy reading of them, wondering why they were read to us at
all!
For the third
category, words which can hurt, how about some we just heard in today’s
Gospel, namely “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors
being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews…” “For fear of
the Jews!” Through the centuries of Christian history, phrases
such as that have often acted like sparks, igniting hatred, persecution, and
violence and vehicles for the teaching of rejection, and contempt.
While it is true
that, for some hearers, many words of the Bible seem to go in one ear and out
the other, leaving no imprint, with words such as those I have just quoted, one
might simply rejoice if that happens! Too often such words are retained,
given an evil power all their own and then used to excuse or even encourage
terrible things. In the early days of their rise to power in Germany, the Nazis
used those very words of the Bible to justify their attitudes, and later,
their persecution of Jews. How often have Christians, hearing those words in
John’s Gospel, failed to pause and ask themselves what the real meaning of that
phrase might be? “For fear of the Jews.” What were the Disciples,
those men hiding behind locked doors, if not Jews? What was the saint for
whom this parish is named, the great Apostle Paul, if not a Jew? What was the
Blessed Virgin Mary, if not a Jew? And most of all, what was our Lord
Jesus Christ, if not a Jew?
How careful we need
to be with words, even words found in the Bible, to be sure we understand them
correctly and use them to further the work of the Holy Spirit rather than
undermining that work!
The issue is not limited to anti-Semitism. It is so easy, and
sadly so common, to label an entire race, nation, or other group, using words to
hurt. Think of the popularity of Polish jokes, Irish jokes, Black jokes, Jewish
jokes, Wasp jokes. A real difficulty is that sometimes, those jokes are funny,
(at least to some of us,) which doesn’t lessen the harm they can do or the hurt
they can cause.
As with most all of God’s gifts, abuse is always possible. We can
use a gift for good and noble purposes, we can strip a gift of all meaning
leaving it empty, but also, we can so debase a gift as to transform it into a
weapon against others, forgetting that “the others” (whoever they may be) are
children of God just as much as we are. So let me suggest that one great message
of this Feast of Pentecost is the importance of using God’s gifts the way God
intends them to be used. When it comes to the use of words, remembering
that they are intended not to demean or divide, but to unite in the Name of God.
My sisters and brothers in Christ, as we celebrate this wonderful
festival in honor of God the Holy Spirit, may we be reminded once again of the
powerful presence of that same Holy Spirit, in the celebration of the
sacraments, in the proclamation of God’s holy Word, and in our very midst. But
may we also commit ourselves to the rejection of a misuse of God’s gift of
language through which prejudice and bigotry are fed instead of being condemned.
Those are high goals, fulfilling them is a tall order, but by the aid of God’s
grace, they are not beyond what we can do and be. Remember, this is
Pentecost! We are aided by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Aren’t we?
+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit.
The Reverend Alfred T. K. Zadig, Ph.D.
