Pentecost Tongues: Acts 2:1-21 -- Day of Pentecost

“firebouquet” Creative Commons Image by tofu minx on flickr

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

             ⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.  ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?  ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  ¹¹Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."  ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"  ¹³But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

             ¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.  ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.  ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

             ¹⁷'In the last days it will be, God declares,

            that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

            and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

            and your young men shall see visions,

            and your old men shall dream dreams.

  ¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

            in those days I will pour out my Spirit;and they shall prophesy.

  ¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above

            and signs on the earth below,blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

  ²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness

            and the moon to blood,before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.

  ²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' (NRSV)

Early on in our relationship, Elizabeth and I had to get used to how we spoke of some things…  I’m from Western Pennsylvania, while she’s a Pennsylvania Dutch girl.

What I call “hot dog buns,” she calls “hot dog rolls.”

I call people “ornery,” she says they’re “on-ree.”

What I call “chipped-chopped ham,” she calls “not suitable for human consumption?”

And the crown jewel of them all: I drink “pop,” while she drinks “soda.”

Isn’t it funny how language works?  Two people can speak the same words—and mean two different things.  In Western Pennsylvania, you ask for soda, you’ll be given directions to the nearest Dairy Queen.  In Eastern Pennsylvania, you ask for pop—and you’ll be meeting someone’s dad.

That’s the truth about language: it’s born in communities.  It binds people together.  On that same token, if you don’t speak the language, you’ll be lost in a sea of humanity…

On the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, you have a vast crowd of people of languages and ethnicities too numerous to name. 

Here in this vast crowd are people of lands and tongues too numerous to name.  Then, all of the sudden, “tongues of fire” appear on them—and they speak the Gospel in other language.   Instantly, the language barrier is incinerated.  No longer will the Gospel be confined to Aramaic-speaking Jews.  The Christian faith will now transcend the otherwise impermeable boundaries of language, ethnicity, and geography.

This is important because “the Jesus movement” was on the verge of extinction.  Jesus has ascended to heaven.  He’s gone—leaving his disciples and a small band of followers behind, frightened and uncertain over what the future will hold.  There was the very real possibility that they would die for their faith in Jesus—and that the Christian faith would die with them. 

Thankfully, our faith isn’t putting us in mortal danger—but our faith and the life our church certainly is.  There isn’t a single person here who wouldn’t be lost without Jesus Christ.  There is nothing in our lives more precious than him—but as we watch churches close left and right, we can’t help but ask: “will our church survive?”  “Will our faith survive?”

Our church works so hard to serve our community.  We do outreach.  We have youth and children’s ministries.  We have Bible study and Sunday school.  We have great worship.  So why don’t people come?

Then, when you see the megachurches out on Route 28 packed to the doors, you wonder “what are we doing wrong?”

It all comes down to this: how can we communicate the truth about Jesus Christ that people need to hear in a ways that are relevant and meaningful?

The answer is: we need the Holy Spirit.  We can’t do it on our own.  We can flood our calendar with programs, put an LED sign on the front lawn, bring in a professional praise band—but razzle-dazzle doesn’t speak the Gospel.  People do.

The church born at Pentecost was built of relationships.  It didn’t matter the language or the nationality.  The Spirit animated the people with the words and the deeds that in turn bound them to Jesus Christ and each other.  This is God’s work—and God is far from finished.

So our Pentecost begins with this question: Why is Jesus precious to you?  Why is your church precious to you?  In what ways are the gospel promises coming true in your life?  In our stress-filled lives, we don’t take the time to do this—and that’s a shame.  We don’t take time to reflect, to remember, to give thanks.  It is in remembering the God who was that we can trust the God who will be.  Make no mistake—your testimony of God’s works in your life that’s going to be meaningful to your neighbors. 

But that’s not all…  In order to speak the truth, we must live the truth.   We must forgive sins and love unconditionally.  We must do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.  Love and humility speak the truth of the Gospel like no words could ever do.

I think the hardest part of living in the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit is always bring and creating change—and we change about as easily as we learn new languages.  A language of faith that’s meaningful for new generations may be totally foreign to us—while at the same time, the language of faith that’s meaningful to us may be foreign to everyone else.  

There’s a reason why we don’t read King James Bibles in church: people don’t understand it.  People don’t speak it.  That’s how it is for us. 

Do you notice how the Holy Spirit changes the insiders to speak the Gospel to the outsiders, so that they hear the Gospel in their own language?  The burden of change falls upon us—and we need to be ready as the Spirit leads us to new languages that speak the same truth.  I’m talking languages of (1) music; (2) languages of preaching and teaching; (3) languages of publicity and communication; (4) languages of practicing our faith and serving the community.  It’s not for me or anyone else to say what that change will be.  All we can do is get out of the way and let the Spirit animate us to speak in new tongues. 

But knowing full well that Jesus is alive and that the fires of the Holy Spirit can’t be quenched…we can embrace the future with hope.  If the changes happening in our congregation are any indication, we’re on the cusp of a Pentecost that hasn’t been seen for generations.  Put your trust in the Lord, love your neighbor as your self—and we’ll be just as amazed as these first Christians as to what the Holy Spirit can do!