THE FRESH AIR OF THE SPIRIT
Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost Sunday, Year A
Robin Lütjohann
1When 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 people 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, “Fellow Jews 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.’”
From Wikimedia Commons
“The Word who walked through the locked doors on Easter eve finds a way to speak to us as well, in a language even our shut ears and hearts can comprehend, by the paracletic mediation of the Spirit.”
DIAGNOSIS: The stuffy, hardened heart
Step 1: Initial Diagnosis (External Problem) – Sneer
Have you ever found yourself rolling your eyes at someone’s comments, or shaking your head at someone else’s embarrassing behavior, or making fun of a group whose beliefs differ from yours? Then you have found yourself in a similar head-and-heard-space as those people who heard the Spirit-filled disciples making a holy ruckus while speaking the Gospel in many tongues. Clearly, they misunderstood what was going on. But they couldn’t be bothered to find out more, so they just sneered: “They are filled with new wine” (v. 13). They’re out of their minds. They must be on something.
In our age of instant communication and misinformation, sneering is not only easier than ever, it is also more impactful. We could spend all day being bombarded with people and groups whose words and actions we despise, spending our precious time complaining and jeering at how awful they are. Meanwhile, we are making money for the companies that have aimed their algorithms to stuck up our annoyance.
Perhaps, if we are honest, this is especially true of folks like me and many others connected to Crossings, who pride themselves on having the “right” theology. Theologically “orthodox” spaces are some of the most poisonous and self-righteous of all.
Step 2: Advanced Diagnosis (Internal Problem) – Fear
But why do we sneer? Maybe because we fear. We treat with suspicion what we don’t understand. It’s alien to us, weird and offensive – threatening our worldview and our sense of identity. Something in us shuts down, not interested in conversation or investigation. “Ah,” we say, “I know what this is. I know this sort. I know what they’re about.” Case closed.
But what are we really afraid of? If our own beliefs and behaviors really are correct, then someone else’s cannot disprove them. Right? Maybe, deep down, there is an even deeper fear: that we could be wrong. That we could have backed the wrong horse. We shudder to think what this could mean, and so we shut down all doors that could let in polluting influences. We close ourselves down in our own righteousness, slamming shut the windows and shutting the blinds of our blinded hearts, sneering at those outside and complaining at the racket.
Step 3: Final Diagnosis (Ultimate Problem) – Veer
Yet the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true and Living God, is not subject to our rules or preferences, does not play for “our” team, and refuses to become our copyrighted property. God is free. God does whatever God damn well pleases and defies our attempts to control and police the work of the Spirit. And so, when we close our doors and windows to shut out those others out there – God has left the building too. We are locked into our own self-made cage of righteousness, and God is on the outside with the “heretics” making a terrible racket. “Keep it down out there!” we sneer. We don’t want to hear their noise. And so, too pure to mingle with the wrong sort, we have excommunicated ourselves from the Lover of sinners and idolaters. We have shut the door on him. We cannot hear him speaking any more.
PROGNOSIS: The Spirited freedom of new life
Step 4: Initial Prognosis (Ultimate Solution) – Hear
The Pentecost story is not, strictly speaking, a reversal of Babel. It’s precisely NOT the case that all the gathered suddenly hear God all together speaking in one united language. Rather, the God who loves not only all, but EACH, person deigns to speak to each in their own tongue.
So also to each of us sinners. Our hardened hearts and plugged up ears banished the voice of God. But the Word who walked through the locked doors on Easter eve finds a way to speak to us as well, in a language even our shut ears and hearts can comprehend, by the paracletic mediation of the Spirit.
This voice says two things to us: (1) In your huffing and blustering you made yourself every bit as ridiculous and silly as the objects of your scorn. The joke’s on you. (2) But it’s good news to be lumped in with the other losers and heretics – because Christ died and rose for exactly their kind. Your kind. So, rejoice, you joker, you! You were wrong, but Christ has made you right!
Step 5: Advanced Prognosis (Internal Solution) – Peer
Hearing this, we trust the promise-keeping Christ. But more than that, we peer through the curtains at the despised others outside and finally SEE them, beloved like us. We open the windows and let in this fresh air.
Step 6: Final Prognosis (External Solution) – Cheer
Now life is too precious to SNEER. Better to cheer! – Cheer God’s Holy Spirit for turning outward our caved/curved in hearts. And cheer our previously despised neighbors for everything they do get right (and there’s more than we could previously see).
Now, instead of toxic waste and bitter venom, “out of the believer’s heart flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:38) Yes, even among us always right confessional Lutherans!
