Acts 2:1 – 21 / Psalm 104:25 – 35, 37 / Romans 8:14 – 17 / John 14:8 – 17, 25 – 27
This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania,
by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, June 5, 2022.
“FIRE: PROPERTIES OF GOD AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”
(Homily text: Acts 2:1 – 21)
Each year, the feast of Pentecost
offers us a chance to consider the nature and the work of the Holy Spirit, for
we are treated to the account of the coming of the Holy Spirit on this day, as
the Spirit descended on those who had gathered together. The Spirit’s coming
was marked, Luke tells us[1],
with the sound of a mighty wind and with something like tongues of fire that
appeared over the heads of each one gathered.
The presence of fire should tell us
something about the Holy Spirit’s power, and about the identity of the Spirit
as an integral part of the God-head. (We will have more to consider next week
as we concentrate on God’s identity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit on Trinity
Sunday.)
Fire, in the Bible, is a marker for
God’s presence. Consider, for example, the presence of fire in the burning bush
as Moses was passing by that bush. (See Exodus, chapter three.) Then, as the
Israelites were leaving their bondage in Egypt, a pillar of fire led them by
night (and a cloud led them by day), as we read a bit later on in Exodus.[2] Then, when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, the mountain
was covered with smoke and fire.[3] In
the Old Testament prophet Malachi’s words, God is portrayed as having a
“refiner’s fire” which will purify the sons of Levi (the priests who served in
the Temple).[4]
The properties of fire inform us about
God’s power, and – in the case of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit’s power, for
there are clues in each of these incidents cited above. Fire has the ability to
purify. It has the power to protect (through its power to purify). It has the
ability to change things (like changing water into boiling water or into
steam).
God’s Holy Spirit works in our hearts
and minds, gradually purifying us (if we allow the Spirit to do those things),
and changing us into the image and likeness of God.
God’s Holy Spirit has the power to
protect us, by making us aware of the presence of evil and of the power of
evil.
God’s Holy Spirit has the power to
change things, to move us in a different direction, or to enable us to do God’s
will (and to know that will). That, in essence, is what happened at Pentecost,
when devout Jews from all over the known world had gathered in Jerusalem for
the feast of Pentecost. There, the Holy Spirit made its presence known by
enabling the disciples to speak in the native languages of those gathered. The
purpose was to enable the Good News of God, made known in Christ, to spread
throughout the world.
We would do well to bear in mind the Spirit’s methods and ways.
Sometimes, the Spirit is a gentle, supporting presence, a force from God which comforts us in times of distress or trouble, protecting us just as that pillar of fire protected the Israelites from the Egyptian army which had pursued them and was intent on destroying them as they made their way out of slavery in Egypt.
At other times, however, the Spirit barges into our lives with power and with discernable, unmistakable signs. Those who received the Spirit’s power at Pentecost would surely affirm that they were the passive receivers of the Spirit’s overpowering presence. Yet, the Spirit’s descent moved those who’d received it, changing them and enabling them to do things they wouldn’t have been able to do on their own.
And, at still other times, the Spirit intercedes in our lives, convicting us of ways and thoughts which do not bring credit to God’s presence in our lives. We know these ways by a word which isn’t too welcome in the age in which we live: Sin. In such times and circumstances, the Spirit refines and purifies, just as those priests of old were warned that God is like a “refiner’s fire”.
AMEN.
[1] Luke is the author of the Book of Acts, and also of the Gospel account that bears his name.
[2] Exodus 13:17 - 22
[3] Exodus 19:18
[4] Malachi 3:2
