The Church Empowered for Mission Was Born at Pentecost

Homily for Pentecost (Seventh Sunday after Pascha)

Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11…………….John 7:37-8:12

Today the whole Church celebrates the Pentecost—the 50^th day after the Resurrection—the day on which, according to the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples of Jesus received the gift of the Holy Spirit that empowered them to speak in different languages and so to fulfill the Lord’s command to go and teach all nations.  For this reason, Pentecost is often called “the birthday of the Church.”

Now, before our imaginations carry us off into fantasies of what the birthday of the Church might involve—balloons, cake, and party games, for instance—we need to be very clear about what sort of Church was born at Pentecost.  It is the Church, empowered for mission that’s born at Pentecost.  All the liturgies and hierarchies and doctrines and canon laws and magisteriums came later.  The basic and essential gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the tools necessary for preaching the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ to the whole world.

That is what that tongue-twisting list of nations and nationalities means—it’s a list of all the countries in the known world at the time.  All those people, gathered in Jerusalem, heard the Word of God in their own languages for the first time.  It was such a radical and unprecedented experience that it’s no wonder they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

One thing it means is that the connection between religion and nationality is broken forever.  It means that anyone in the world can hear the Gospel in his or her own language and become a Christian.  It means that God does not belong only to one nation.  It means that God does not love or choose to favor one country more than all others.  It means that there isn’t just one holy language in which to read God’s word and pray and worship.  It means that the door is open and the barriers are broken down so that all people can come as equals into God’s house.  And it means that everyone who has received the Holy Spirit—everyone who has been  baptized and chrismated—has the responsibility to carry out God’s will in these matters.

We have to admit that we Christians haven’t always done very well with this mission.  We have tied the Church to civil governments and enforced belief and imposed “holy” languages.  We have refused to see God at work in other peoples and have condemned, even attacked, them as infidels.  We have judged and excluded nations and groups of people as inferior or unworthy of hearing God’s word and coming into our churches.  We have selectively emphasized the teachings of Jesus that suit our purposes and have ignored or tried to explain away those that inconvenience us.

So, on this great feast of Pentecost, let us focus again on the basic and essential gift of the Holy Spirit—empowerment to be true Apostles to all people.  It’s the awesome gift of an awesome responsibility, but God didn’t make us in God’s image and likeness for nothing.  This gift empowers us to do what God created us to do.  Therefore, let us bold and do it, always giving thanks and praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and ever and to ages of ages.  Amen.