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When the witnesses on hand asked for an explanation of the strange phenomenon they had just observed, Peter deferred to Joel. 500 years before it happened, Joel spoke about a time when God would do some pretty strange things to get your attention. Visions, dreams, prophesy, blood, fire and smoke. Keep in mind that all this happened 2000 years ago when this kind of stuff would still grab your attention. Today, we've so seen it all that we're so not shocked by anything. Today, we'd probably say that it was all just special effects and conclude that we've seen better.
Peter said that the purpose for these bizarre happenings was that you might recognize that the Lord was at work and "that it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
I. When the day of Pentecost arrived.
The day of Pentecost has been on the church's calendar a lot longer than Christmas or Easter has. Pentecost was established as a 'holy day' for God's people, way back when the church met in the desert. There, God told Moses to set aside the 50th day after the wheat harvest began to give thanks to God for the crop. On the 50th day after the first fruits were cut, Israel was to bringing baskets of the grain that they had harvested to the temple as a thank offering to God for the harvest. The day of Pentecost gets its name from its place on the church calendar. It literally means, "the 50th day."
If you think about that for a minute, you'll realize that there's something really weird about this. Israel is in the desert. Crops don't grow in the desert. What kind of harvest are we talking about here anyway?
Like all of the Old Testament holy days, Pentecost was a sign that pointed to something far greater than the celebration of a good crop of wheat. In fact, it pointed forward to the day when the new Israel would celebrate the harvest of a good crop of souls.
And the celebration would take place fifty days after the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep, had been raised. On that 50th day, God's people would celebrate the harvest of souls produced by the Seed of the woman.
And what a harvest it was. A crop of 3,000 souls brought to the Lord. And what a harvest it still is. The same Seed continues to produce its crop of souls and will continue to do so right up until that day when Jesus comes and announces everyone who will call on the name of the Lord has been saved.
The day began with everyone, all together in one place. The congregation consisted of the Apostles and who knows how many disciples, all followers of Jesus. Sounds a bit like our gathering here doesn't it? Followers of Jesus gathered together with the Apostle's word. We're all part of the same crop as they. We've grown from the same seed as they.
When we gather together, we know it's time to settle down and prepare for worship when we hear the ringing of the bells and the prelude. If it's Bach or Buxtehude, we know that Tom is at the organ. The prelude on that day was "like the sound of a mighty rushing wind." They might have known who was at the organ too. 50 days earlier, Jesus had breathed on them. Then, they were all together in one place and "Jesus came and stood among them and said 'Peace be with you.' And when He had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" (John 20:21-22). That was a little Pentecost.
But now, from the right hand of God the Father, the ascended Jesus bends down and breathes His holy breath on them once again. This is the Lord's big Pentecost. The breath He had breathed on them 50 days earlier gave them peace. The breath that He breathes onto them here gives them speech. "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak . . . ."
And what speech it was. We would probably appreciate this more if we lived in New York City or Los Angeles where there are so many foreigners with their different languages. Suddenly, everyone could understand exactly what was being said. Not because they could suddenly interpret foreign languages but because what they were hearing was in their own language.
There was a time when the whole world spoken the same language. In heaven, we're told that everyone will speak the same language again. But in the meantime, the Church's mission is to speak in foreign languages, as many as there are foreigners. It would be totally foreign to the long history and practice of the Christian Church to demand that everyone must learn to speak our language if they expect to hear what we've got to say.
The mission adventure that we're being called to in Cambodia and Thailand is a result of the church translating books and catechisms into foreign languages so that foreigners can understand the good news of Jesus Christ in their own language. So every time a Thai or Cambodian picks up a bible or Luther's Small Catechism and reads it in his own language, it's Pentecost all over again.
II. Evangelism.
At the end of this day of Pentecost, the harvest numbered 3,000 souls.
' 3,000 heard the Word in a language they could understand and came to faith, were baptized and believed.
' 3,000 heard that they were reconciled to God, not by their worthiness or goodness but by the worthiness and goodness of Jesus Christ, whose crucified body and blood atoned for all of their sins and whose resurrection from the grave was the unmistakable evidence that God has accepted His sacrifice for your salvation.
' 3,000 went back to their own countries and homes and communities and jobs, speaking what they had heard in their own language to their children, coworkers, friends and neighbors.
That's evangelism. No fancy programs or special training. Just one person telling another about Jesus in a language they can understand.
It was like a field of ripe dandelions. The wind blew upon them and they were scattered. And as they returned home, new fields were sown, new crops began to grow, new harvests were celebrated, and "everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
The Christian Church was born when Christ, the seed, was crucified, died, buried and raised from the dead. But until the Holy Spirit came, it just lay dormant. No growth. No public speaking. It remained locked behind closed doors. But when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, the Church began to spread and grow, from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria'to Waterville, to Thailand, to Cambodia, to the ends of the earth.
And just like real dandelions, many have tried to uproot it and kill it and keep it from spreading. But the harder they try, the more it is scattered and the more it grows.
III. Others mocked
I wonder sometimes what is more remarkable about the day of Pentecost, that so many were converted in one day by the preaching, or that so many were not. "But others mocking said, 'they are filled with new wine.'"
I know that 3,000 seems like a large number, and it is. But, it was really only a very small percentage of those who were there and who heard the message in their own language. Estimates are that between 150,000 and 250,000 foreigners came to Jerusalem for these religious festivals. Of that number, 3,000 believed and were baptized.
I don't know why, but for some, the seed doesn't take root and grow. No crop comes from it. Jesus spoke to this in His parable of the seed and the sower. The seed is sown but it doesn't always work.
' Some seed falls on hard soil and it never sinks in and so never takes root and grows.
' Some seed falls on rocky soil and grows for a while but then withers and dies.
' Some seed falls among the thorns and although it spouts begins to grow, it's gets choked by all of the cares and pleasures of this world.
The unpredictable nature of this divine Seed sometimes tempts us to react to it in a couple of ways that are not good.
We become very cautious about where we sow the seed. We hate to be rejected, and since it seems like rejection happens far more often than acceptance, we opt to hold back casting the Seed until we're sure it's going to land on good soil and take root. Which means that we are far more willing to talk about Jesus with those who already know Jesus, with whom we're pretty sure we're not going to be rejected, than we are with an unbeliever.
In addition, we are sometimes tempted to suspect that the Seed needs some help to make it more effective. So we give it some jazzy packaging and catchy slogans, and before you know it, we're talking more about our programs and slogans than we are about the gospel.
Both temptations seem so out of sync with the day of Pentecost and the way that the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit was 'poured out.' No demographic studies, no surveys of felt needs, no programs or clever slogans. The power of the Seed is the Holy Spirit and not you and me. The Holy Spirit creates faith in the heart, "when and where He pleases," and as much as we'd like to, we cannot control the Holy Spirit. Nor can we blame ourselves for when it doesn't produce a crop or praise ourselves for when it does.
But this much we can be sure of, the Holy Spirit works through the Word and not apart from it. Faith in the heart is planted and takes root through the Word. Where there is no Word, there is no seed being planted, no chance that faith will ever take root and grow. The Holy Spirit Himself declares that "Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. How can they hear without someone preaching? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (Rom.10:14-15).
IV. Tongues of Fire
Maybe that is why, on this day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit showed up looking like a tongue. "And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them."
Luther thought that artists miss the point when they draw the tongues on top of the disciple's heads. He thought that the tongues should be over their mouths because the Spirit was at work through their mouths.
That the Holy Spirit appears as a tongue and carries the Word, makes us think about our own tongues and the words that we speak. James compares the fiery tongues of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to our tongue saying, "The tongue is a fire . . . setting on fire the entire course of life . . . . With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God." (James 3:6-9)
Could such things as these tongues of ours ever be instruments of the Holy Spirit?
The really strange phenomenon of Pentecost and the work of the Holy Spirit, is that He uses our mouth and tongues to sow His holy and saving Word. The Holy Spirit purifies and sanctifies our tongues for His purpose just as He did on that first Pentecost day.
So, today, we celebrate the harvest. Not with the sound of rushing wind and tongues of fire. That was the first Pentecost. We dare not test God, expecting that He should keep doing strange things to get our attention. Today, we celebrate the day of Pentecost by speaking and hearing the same message as was spoken and heard then. Jesus Christ is crucified for your sins and raised for your life.
Today, we give thanks to God for the harvest, especially that it includes each of us.
And like them, we return to our homes and communities and friends, ready to let the Holy Spirit use our tongue for His purpose. And all so that, "it shall come to pass, that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."