Acts 2: 1–21; Psalm
104: 25 – 35, 37; I Corinthians 12: 3b–13; John 20: 19-23
This is a homily by
Fr. Gene Tucker that was given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday,
June 4, 2017.
“GOD’S
ACTION AND OUR RESPONSE”
(Homily texts: Acts 2: 1–21 and John 20: 19–23)
Let’s
approach the Pentecost event using this central idea:
God
acts, and God’s people respond.
This
morning, we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples who had
gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. Luke, the author of the Book
of Acts, as well as the gospel account which bears his name, narrates this
event for us.
In
many ways, the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit marks the beginning of the
Church’s sending out into the world, as Jesus had told them they were to do,
saying that they “will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and
to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1: 8)
It’s
appropriate that this day is also known (informally) by the title “The Birthday
of the Church”.
The
Pentecost event is marked by God’s action, and by the human response. Hold that thought for a moment, and we’ll
come back to it momentarily.
Before
we examine in detail what happened on the festival of Pentecost, let’s note
that John also tells us about a bestowal of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus had
gathered with His disciples after His resurrection on the first Easter Sunday.
John tells us that Jesus “breathed” on the disciples, and said, “receive the
Holy Spirit”. Bible scholars have pondered what relationship there is - if
there is any - between John’s report and Luke’s report as we have it in Acts.
Some believe that there may have been two unique manifestations of the Holy
Spirit’s presence. Others aren’t so sure. In the final analysis, it’s possible
that we will have to live with the mystery of the relationship between the two
reports until we see the Lord face-to-face in heaven someday.
The
Pentecost festival itself takes place fifty days after Passover.[1] Since
the timing of Jesus’ death and resurrection bracketed the Passover in the year
of these events (for the Passover that year took place on Saturday, the Sabbath),
the feast of Pentecost fell on a Sunday.
The
observance is, in its original meaning, a harvest festival, marking the first
fruits of the grain harvest. (See Deuteronomy 16: 9–10.) In later times, the
Pentecost observance also marked the giving of the Law to Moses. Pentecost is
one of three major festivals which would have brought observant Jews to
Jerusalem from all over the known world. It’s no wonder, then, that Luke is
able to provide us with a long list of places these pilgrims had come from.
In
its most basic meaning, the Feast of Weeks marks God’s action and humankind’s
response, for the festival acknowledges God’s goodness in making the harvest
possible. God’s people make their response by offering the first fruits of the
harvest God has provided in return.
Let’s
remind ourselves of the theme with which we began our consideration of the
Pentecost celebration:
God
acts, and God’s people respond.
God
acts in the descent of the Holy Spirit, which comes in unmistakable power: wind
and fire. People react by being able to tell what great things God has done in
Jesus Christ as they are gifted with the ability to tell the onlookers about
those wonderful things in languages they had not known before.
God
is acting to bring in a harvest, not of grain this time, but of people. As
Jesus had told His disciples, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people,”[2] so now
the harvest of souls begins. The harvest will begin in Jerusalem, but then it
will move outward through Judea, into Samaria, and then to the ends of the
earth. God is also giving a new Law, a law of love, a love made known in Jesus
Christ, a love which is meant not just for God’s people only, but for everyone,
everywhere.
If we
look at the history of God’s interaction with the human race, we can see a
consistent theme:
God
acts, and God’s people respond.
The
entire witness of the Bible fits into this theme: God
does something, and people’s lives are changed as a result. The Bible has a
divine thread in it, and it has a human thread, as well. Sometimes, the
relationship between the two threads is described as being like a rope or a
string of twine, where the two threads are wound around one another. The divine
thread predominates, however.
We
acknowledge the truth of God’s acting and our response at the beginning of the
Eucharistic prayer, which always begins (after the opening sequence of “The
Lord be with you,” and the “Holy, Holy, Holy”) with a remembrance of God’s
mighty acts by which human beings are saved. The Eucharistic prayer concludes this
remembrance with God’s greatest saving act, the sending of Jesus Christ to
redeem us from our wayward ways.
Then,
after remembering the words our Lord used on that first Last Supper (“This is
my Body, this is my Blood”), we ask God to set us aside for His holy purposes.
The
theme we began with is spelled out in the drama of the liturgy:
God
acts, and God’s people respond.
Whenever
God’s people forget that it is God who is the source of power, and not
ourselves, trouble is the result. Human history bears witness to this truth.
The
Church’s history also bears witness to that same truth. If we rely on our own
resources, our efforts will fail. Though we are endowed with “memory, reason
and skill” (as Eucharistic Prayer C in the 1979 edition of the Book of Common Prayer so beautifully
affirms[3]), those
God-given gifts aren’t enough, by themselves, to ensure that we will be
following God’s will, doing God’s work.
Pentecost
reminds us that God acts, often without out inviting Him to do so, giving His
people direction, purpose and power to be faithful witnesses in the world
around us.
AMEN.
[1] The festival is best known to Christians by
a name, Pentecost, which comes from the Greek, meaning “fifty”. In Judaism,
however, the festival is known as the Feast of Weeks, for the timing of this
festival was seven weeks after Passover. It is variously known, also, by the
name the Feast of Harvest in Exodus 23: 16.
[2] Matthew 4: 19b.
[3] Book
of Common Prayer, page 370.
