Pentecost: The Miracle of the Church: Acts 2:1-21

The Resurrection is the heart of our belief. The Resurrection defines the primary belief of the Church. We are Christians because Christ rose from the dead. It is the single most important event in all history. Then 50 days later is Pentecost. Pentecost is the day which gives definition to the Church. The Church is who the Church is BECAUSE of Pentecost. The events which occurred on the Day of Pentecost, following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, are the events, which put into motion the very existence of the Church today. It is true that we are not the Church without the Resurrection, but it is also true that we are not the Church without Pentecost.

Pentecost was a Jewish feast. One of the seven major feast of the Jewish year. So when the scripture says, “When the day of Pentecost came. . .”  It is not saying, “When the day which would later be called Pentecost came. . .” It was Pentecost, when the events we as Christian have come to associate with Pentecost occurred.

Pentecost was a day the disciples would have known and would have celebrated. Pentecost takes place 50 days after Passover, which means that the events of Pentecost occurred 50 days after the Resurrection. It was a harvest festival, also known as the Feast of Weeks. The events we have come to associate with Pentecost are not what the day of Pentecost was originally about, but because they occurred on this well-known Jewish holy day, we call the events that occurred that day, ‘The Pentecost’. So on the seventh Sunday after Easter; we celebrate the Christian holy day of Pentecost.

Before Jesus ascended, he promised to return, which is what we celebrated and remembered last week on ascension Sunday, but he also made another promise. Jesus also promised that he would send the Spirit to us. In John’s gospel we are promised that the Spirit will be our advocate, but elsewhere we are told the Spirit is sent to guide and to give us the power needed to carry on God’s work here on Earth.

The day of Pentecost marks the day that the Church became the Church. Not only is it the day that the Spirit fills believers for the first time; but the events of this day result in the first post-resurrection converts to Christianity. This is the first time the disciples go out and share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people who had not previously followed Jesus while he was here on earth. The Church really truly becomes the Church when it is reaching out to the world around it and drawing others in.

The book of Act is a written record of the beginnings of the Church. Throughout the Easter Season we have looked at several of the beginnings found in Acts. The beginnings of the disciples going out beyond Jerusalem to share the truth of Jesus and the resurrection, the first Gentile Christians, the first Gentile Christian community, the first movements of the gospel into Europe which is representative of the Gospel moving beyond the Mediterranean and truly moving into all the world. But of all these beginnings, which are recorded throughout the book of Acts, begin with one event, which occurs on the day of Pentecost. This is the beginning of all the other beginnings we have studied these past few weeks.

Right before he ascended into Heaven, Jesus, tells the disciples to go to Jerusalem and to wait for him there. So they went to Jerusalem and waited. Waiting is not easy but sometimes we are called to wait. But they did not just wait. They did not just sit around and do nothing. Act tells us, following the Ascension; they went immediately to Jerusalem and devoted themselves to prayer. They waited and they prayed. But not only did they pray, but they also did the things they needed to do to make sure that they would have leaders among them. They elected from amongst themselves someone who would serve as an apostle in Judas’ stead.  They came together, prayed, waited and prepared themselves to be ready to receive the power Jesus promised. They did not sit around idle wondering when God would come. They did what they knew to do, while they waited. They prayed and prepared themselves, so they were ready when the Spirit came upon them. So when the day of Pentecost came when the Holy Spirit would give them, they were ready to receive the power Jesus had promised.

As they were gathered that day, they were waiting and they were praying and the wind came, and the tongues of fire alighted on them, they burst out of that room and flowed into the streets. And then a miracle occurred among them and through them. They were able to speak languages they did not know and people heard them speak in languages they were not speaking and everyone no matter what language they spoke or where they were from was able to hear the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that day.

Once they were ready, once they had prayed, once they had prepared themselves, the spirit came and every last one of them, who had been doing all these things, went out from that room. They came busting out from that room; they flooded into the streets and shared about Jesus.

They all went into the streets and shared the truth of the gospel, not just Peter; not just Peter, James and John; not just the 12; all of them, all 120 of them left that room, poured into the streets and began to share the love of Jesus Christ with the people who were there. All 120 of them, men and woman, everyone. Not just the ones who were good as speaking (and come on Peter never showed any speaking skills prior to this day). Not just the ones who were trained, not just the ones who were good at it, not just the ones who were “gifted” at evangelism, not just the extroverts, not just the young ones, not just the mature ones, not just . . . name a stipulation . . . not just those. All of them went into the streets and spoke to all who would hear.

And because they were praying, because they were ready, because they were prepared, when the spirit came, all of them went out, because all of them were filled, all of them were empowered, every last one of them. This was not a miracle for just one or two; just for the leaders, just for the best or the brightest, or the most spiritual, this was a miracle that came up on all of them.

Sometimes it is easier to think about God using a special person, a person who in themselves has somehow managed to harness the true power God can give, a prayer warrior, a deeply spiritual saint of the Church, a very pious priest, you know Mother Theresa, but this was not a miracle for Peter, or John or James, or Martha, or Mary, or Johanna, but it was a miracle for Peter and John, James and Martha and Mary and Johanna; for all of them. The Spirit came up each of them, everyone one of them. Each one was empowered so that the whole could be empowered. God came upon each one, and God came upon THEM, the whole of them, gave them the Holy Spirit. This was a miracle that came upon each of them AND this was a miracle that came up the group of them. God empowered the Church. They were gathered faithfully, they were worshiping and celebrating a festival God had called for God’s people to celebrate, they were praying, they were ready, they were prepared and the power of the Spirit came up THEM. This was a miracle for the whole Church, not part of it, all of it, not particular pieces of it, but entirety of it, the whole. God promises to empower not just individuals, not just special people, but the Church, all those who gather.

This means the Spirit empowers each of us; this means the Spirit empowers all of us, this means Spirit empowers US (together). We are the Church. I am not the church; you are not the church, at least not on our own. We are the Church together, the Spirit falls on the body of believers, all together, and it is together the real work of God happens in this world.

I have heard people tell me that, “I’m a Christian, I just don’t go to Church.” It is popular thinking to believe that you can be a lone Christian. You can believe in God. You can pray. You can do good things. But that you do not need to be a part of the gathered body of Christ, you don’t need to actually “go to” Church or be a part of a “church.” It is popular to believe that you go at this Christian thing alone. The fact of the matter is you cannot. There is no such thing as a rogue Christian, out there trekking through the world alone just you and Jesus against the world. God calls us to the Church, to be a body made of many members, made of all the different parts that it takes to be a body. God intends for us to function together. And this is most clearly and distinctly seen on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, we do not talk about John receiving the Spirit. We do not talk about the power James received. We do not celebrate how Peter was able to single handedly was able to speak and 3,000 people were added to their number that day because of what Peter did.

We celebrate what happen in and through the Church, the gathered body of Christ, the believers. We celebrate how the Spirit came up the Church. We do not celebrate a miracle performed by a disciple or even a small group of them.  We celebrate because the Spirit came upon the body of believers gathered in that room there in Jerusalem.

We celebrate the forming of the Church. People call Pentecost the birthday of the Church, because it was on Pentecost, when the Spirit came upon the gathered believers and they became the Church. When we celebrate Pentecost, we are celebrating that God called the Church into existence. We are celebrating that we are empowered to come together to do the work and the will of Christ in this world. We are celebrating that God does not call us to do this alone. We celebrating that we are called together. We are called to gather, we are called to worship, we are called to pray, we are called to prepare ourselves and do what we know to do to make ourselves ready because it is when we are together that God empowers us, all of us. Not just the best among us, not just the greatest among us, but all of us. That means none of us is left out. That means that we are in this together. God empowers all of us. God has called all of us; God has called us to work together, to live this Christian life together. God has empowered us to BE the Church; to work together, to do the work and the will of Christ in this world. Let us come together, let us be the people God is calling us to be, let us be the people God is empowering us to be together! Let the Holy Spirit come upon US!