19 May 2024 Day of Pentec
Acts 2.1-21; Psalm 104.26-36; Romans 8.22-27; John 15.26-27; 16.4b-15
This passage in John’s gospel finalises the ‘farewell discourse’ we have been exploring for the past few weeks, and hidden in it is, what I see, as a ‘catch 22’ of sorts. Jesus is talking to the disciples about the Advocate, he is speaking about the Holy Spirit, and telling them that after he leaves them, the Holy Spirit will come to them. And that is where we find this ‘catch 22’, ‘’ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.’. I am pretty sure that, given the choice between having Jesus stay with them (staying with the known) and having Jesus leave them and the Advocate coming (risking the unknown), the disciples may well have chosen to ‘stay with what we know’. And most of us usually prefer that also in times of upheaval and decision making. But that option was not open to them, and most of the time it is not open to us either.
The interesting thing for us reading this farewell discourse today is, we read it with the hindsight of the already resurrection. The disciples are being told Jesus is about to go, he will no longer be with them, and after to leaves, the Advocate, the comforter, the helper, will come and lead them and help them to testify to what they have seen and known. Well we, as ‘post resurrection’ people, still have the Advocate, the comforter, the helper, and we need her as much as the disciples did, we too are sent to testify to what we have seen and know.
Jesus tells the disciples that the Spirit has three ‘roles’. The Spirit will convince the world about sin, righteous and judgement. And Jesus’ explanation about sin reveals to us that sin is not a matter of ‘morality’ or ‘wrong actions’, it is whether and how we receive and believe in the Son as the one who has been sent into the world by God. Sin is unmasked in the instant that we have to decide between belief and unbelief. Jesus tells us that the Spirit’s role is to make Christ present for us and to face us with that decision between faith and unbelief.
And then Jesus says the Spirit convinces us about righteousness, which is about Jesus returning to the Father. And Jesus only returns to the Father after his ‘mission’ in the world is complete. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus completes or accomplishes all that the Father gave him to do. God’s love and sending of the Son reveals God’s righteousnesss, and the Spirit will continue to be present to convince people of this truth.
The Spirit also convinces us about judgement. And judgement that has to do with all those that would not believe that God, in the Son, is revealing God’s love and bringing abundant life to all whom the Son has chosen and for whom the Son gave his life as the good shepherd. “For God sent the Son into the world, not …[to stand] in judgement over the world, but in order that … the world might be saved”. And because that issue of judgement has been met, salvation has come in the fulfillment of the Son’s mission. Now the Spirit has come to make good on that promise and to continue to convince all who hear the witness of the Son that this is good news and the promise is true.
When the Spirit came, as we hear in our first reading, the disciples were empowered to witness to the salvation for the world that was achieved through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now we don’t know how it is that all who were there, and there would have been hundreds, if not thousands who had gathered for the Jewish festival of Pentecost; we don’t know how it was that everyone who heard the disciples speaking heard them speaking in their own native languages. Because it was not that the ‘Medes’ were over there, and the ‘Elamites’ were here, and the ‘Parthians’ were somewhere else and each of the disciples, individually were given the power to speak that specific language. This was a crowd, all mixed up and the disciples were speaking to them all, and each of those who heard understood what they were saying as if it were spoken in their own language. Because the miracle was not so much that the disciples were given the power to speak other languages but that those who heard were given the gift of understanding. When we witness to our faith, what we say is in our control but what others hear through our words is up to God. The Spirit gives us the gift of witness, and those who are willing to hear us are gifted with understanding. How many times have you had a conversation with someone and later they speak about what it was they heard, and you think – that’s not really what I said. It is not that they have heard you incorrectly or that what you said was the wrong thing, but your words have made sense to them and for them in ways that you are unaware, and God has used your words and witness to speak a ‘different language’ to the other person.
Luke, in this reading in Acts, tells us the crowd were confused when they heard the disciples speaking. But their confusion was not about the message the disciples were sharing, that came through very clearly. What the crowd were confused by was that God would condescend to speak to them in their own mother-tongues. That God would welcome them so intimately, using words and expressions from their own birthplaces, and childhoods, and cities and cultures of origin. They were confused by the idea that God was/could invite them into this Spirit-drenched place, this new Body of Christ, personally. That God could tell them they no longer had to feel like outsiders, because here, we speak your language too.
What would it be like if the Church allowed the Holy Spirit to transform it into a place of deep and implicit belonging – not just for a select few but for everyone. What would need to change in our ministries for those listening outside the doors to hear ‘Welcome’ in languages they comprehend. Let us hope and pray that this will become a reality soon.