Community Church Sermons
Pentecost Sunday, Year C – June 3, 2001
"Everyone Was Amazed!”
Acts 2:1-21; 43-47
“Everyone was
amazed….!”
That’s how St. Luke puts it in Acts 2:43 as he describes the reaction of Jerusalem to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
“Everyone was amazed…!”
And I like that description, because the power of the Holy Spirit is nothing less than amazing! And that’s what we’re going to chat about today, but first, let me give you a little theological background.
One of the strangest and most confusing of all the doctrines in the Christian faith is our teaching of what is called the Holy Trinity. It is the notion that God exists in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe this because of our historic experience of God’s revelation in the world. There is the Parent of humankind who created us, and loves us, and seeks our redemption. We read about this first person of the Trinity on the pages of the Old Testament as he enters a Fatherly relationship with Israel, promising to lead them to new life in a new land if they will but follow. Then there is the Son – the incarnation of God as an actual human person within history. We meet him as our Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel – God-with-us – who loves us and gives his life for us, and offers us the gift of resurrection. And then there is the Holy Spirit, or as he is sometimes described, the Holy Ghost. He is the unseen, creative Power of God who hovered over the face of the deep at creation, and brought the world into being from nothing. And this powerful spiritual presence hovers over peoples’ lives, too, anointing them with special power to accomplish God’s purposes. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit only descended upon certain leaders who had a special job to do. When the job was done, the Spirit left. But now, in the afterglow of Jesus’ resurrection, the Holy Spirit is about to do a new thing in the lives of the followers of Jesus.
Now the Holy Trinity is much easier to experience than to describe. Trying to explain it often creates more problems than it solves, and I – for one – can sympathize with those who just don’t get it. For me, it’s just easier to say that, in my own life, I have come to know God as my loving Parent, as my precious Savior, and as my daily Source of Guidance and Power. I’ll leave it to the theologians to work out the language.
Today is Pentecost Sunday. It is the day we Christians set aside to celebrate the coming of this third person of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit - to the followers of Jesus. You will remember that, after Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples all ran for their lives. They wanted to get as far away from the memory of Jesus – and their denial of him - as they could. So after the resurrection, Jesus went looking for them. And when he found them – huddled in fear and shame - he bathed them in loving forgiveness. Then he told them that he was returning to heaven. And he was giving them the job of being his living representatives on earth.
And the disciples said, “Who? US???” After all, they were decrepitly human. They were unbelievably unfaithful. They were about as pitiful a lot as you could find. How in the world could these losers possibly become Jesus’ living representatives here on earth? Jesus answered, “I know it sounds silly. But I’m going to send you the Holy Spirit to give you the power!!”
And so they waited for the power to come. For fifty days after Easter, they waited and prayed. And then, on the day of Pentecost, the spirit came. Those who experienced the moment described it this way: “When the day of Pentecost had come, we were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven came a sound like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where we were sitting. Flaming tongues of fire appeared among us, a flame resting on each of our heads. And we were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave us ability...”
The Power of God came to the people of God! Not to just one, or two. Not for just a period of time. No, the Holy Spirit came to all of them and to all who came after them, and for as long as it will take to bring in the kingdom of God.
And then Luke gives us this beautiful little passage that is our text for today. It describes what happened next as the people of Jerusalem experienced these new Spirit-filled believers. Luke writes:
“They were all amazed…”!
Now, why do you suppose they were amazed? What do you think they were amazed about?
Well, Luke tells us in verse 43. The people were amazed “because many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”
Wonders and signs.
Funny what happens to you as you grow up in the Christian church. You usually begin with a childlike faith that is full of wonders and signs. Kids easily accept the idea of mystery and miracle. God steps in to save Noah and his family from the flood. The Red Sea is parted so the Hebrews can escape from Egypt. Manna falls from heaven to feed the people in the wilderness.
Signs and wonders are so much a part of our faith when we are young. As children, we were captivated by stories of miracles. Remember how Jesus turned water into wine? My dear Baptist mother still claims it was non-alcoholic wine Jesus turned that water into. But I like to say, “If it was non-alcoholic wine, then it wasn’t much of a miracle!” That was his first sign. His first wonder. Water into wine. The real stuff. And according to John, the good stuff – not like Tellico Village wine - the kind that comes in a box - but the kind that comes in a real glass bottle – with a cork - and a vintage date to boot! And do you remember how Jesus healed many people of their illnesses? The blind see. The deaf hear. The lame walk. Even lepers are cleansed.
You can’t help but notice that the pages of the Gospels are full of miraculous signs and wonders, and when we are young, we love those stories.
But when we grow up, something happens to this childlike faith. Immersed in the culture of our scientifically rationalistic world, we hear dissenting voices. We read other books. We go off to college. We become…engineers. Scientists. Intellectuals. Skeptics.
And along the way, we hear that the signs and wonders of the Bible are not really signs and wonders at all, but events that have reasonable scientific explanations. Now the Red Sea is parted not because Moses performed any miracle, but because it is probably not the Red Sea he crossed. It was probably the Reed Sea – a marshy area to the north where strong winds can, in fact, cause the water to appear to retreat at certain times of the year. Now the feeding of the five-thousand with a few fishes and loaves is not so much a miraculous work of Jesus, but an outpouring of human generosity triggered by a boy’s offering of the small lunch he had with him. The boy’s giving causes others to reach into their bags, and pull out their loaves and fishes, too. And suddenly, there is enough food for everyone, with several basketfuls left over.
You know how it goes. As you grow up in a culture like ours, signs and wonders soon lose their sparkle. Faith moves away from the mysterious, and becomes more an intellectual system of personal morality and social ethics.
And most of us are content with this level of faith in which we try to model the idealism and principles of the kingdom of God. “What would Jesus do?” we ask ourselves, as we face the practical challenges of life. And to one degree or another, we try to incorporate these ideals and principles into our own lives.
And that is good. Nothing wrong with that at all. For all intents and purposes, embracing and living Christian values is what faith is all about…
…until the day the doctor says, “Cancer”…or the night your child is burning up with fever…or the moment you realize that alcoholism or some other destructive power has you by the tail and you can’t get free…or the time you face a tragic loss or a sad ending, and you feel like your life is smashed into a million different pieces, and tomorrow will never come again.
We all arrive at times in our lives when faith-as-morality is not enough – when faith-as-ethics is not enough – when the social Gospel – as important as it is - is not enough.
Sooner or later, we all come to the moment when more than anything else, we need the touch of God’s power in our lives!
“Everyone was amazed because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.”
Now, if your faith has drifted over to the side where there is no longer room for signs and wonders, I wonder if today you might become willing to let it drift back to where it used to be.
A short while after Ed moved into our community, he was diagnosed with bone cancer. There was the usual round of treatments – chemotherapy – radiation. Sadly, they had little or no effect on Ed’s disease, other than to wear him down and make him terribly weak. And what was worse was that, as badly as he needed rest, Ed simply could not sleep. All he did at night was toss and turn. And without sleep, his life lost all vitality. He was nearing the end of his life, and there was so little that he could share with those he loved.
Then one day when I was visiting with Ed, he asked me if I believed God answers prayer. I told him I do believe God answers prayer. Then I asked him what he believed. Ed said he had never really been sure before, but now he knew. Then he told me what had happened.
Tossing and turning one night – in sheer misery - Ed called
out to God. It was one of those prayers where you just cry out to God in
desperation. God are you there? If you are, I really need you! Help me God!
And then, with tears spilling down his cheeks as he shared the story, Ed related that, as he prayed that prayer that night, something unexplainable – something truly miraculous happened. It seemed as if God’s hand came upon him, and he fell asleep! For the first time in weeks, he slept! He slept like a baby! A deep, peaceful, relaxing, renewing, spiritually cleansing sleep! He slept all the way to morning.
And from that time on, Ed slept every night, and was refreshed and strengthened for living out as best he could his final days on earth
Now, I don’t know how to explain such a mysterious and wonderful thing. But one thing I DO know is that there are times in all our lives when, more than anything else, we need to be touched by the power of God.
You may have come here today needing such a touch of God’s power in your life. Don’t be afraid to ask for it! And don’t leave here today before you do! I want to assure you that this is what God wants for you, too!
You see, this is what Pentecost promises! It reminds us of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit sent to you and to me. Just like the Spirit came to Moses, just like the Spirit came to Elijah, just like the Spirit came to Jesus – the Holy Spirit comes today to ordinary people like Ed – and like you - and like me.
Because God knows we need signs and wonders sometimes just to make it through the day, or through the night. And God knows we sometimes need to be agents through whom miracles are channeled into the lives of others we love.
May you open your life to be amazed too – by the power of the Holy Spirit!