Following
his post-Resurrection appearances to the disciples, at the time of his
Ascension into heaven, Jesus tells his followers to remain in Jerusalem until
they receive the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1: 4-5). Then, Jesus explains: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
“Pentecost”
simply means the “fiftieth day." For Christians the 50 days refers to 50 days
following the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. Within Judaism, 50 days refers to 50 days following the high holy day of Passover, and it occasioned another high holy day, the festival known as the “Feast of Weeks”
(also known as Shavuot) which
celebrated the wheat harvest during this historical period. Shavuot was one of three pilgrimage
holy days, when diaspora Jews living in other countries made every attempt to
return to Jerusalem and worship in the Temple.
As a result, Jerusalem was filled with visitors at that time, literally representing every
nation in the ancient world.
The
disciples and other followers of Christ were also in Jerusalem,
all united together in one place. Then,
according to Acts 2: 1-4, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit:
“When the day of
Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound
like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were
sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire,
appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”
As he describes this event in his history of the “Acts
of the Apostles,” Luke (who was the writer of both the Gospel of Luke and Acts) wants to create a vivid impression of how significant
the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the first Christians was. So, Luke resorts to three familiar symbols
from the Hebrew Scriptures that were used to convey the Presence of the Divine: fire, sound, and speech.
Ø
Fire. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared
among them and an individual tongue rested on each of them.
Ø
Sound.
Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind,
which filled where they were.
Ø
Speech.
All of them began speaking in other languages to the great diversity of people
who gathered to see what was happening.
Since it was the time of the Shavuot, many people from different
countries, speaking different languages were in Jerusalem at that moment. When they gathered outside the house where
the Christians had been staying, they each heard someone telling them about
Jesus in their own, native language.
(Note that Luke does not describe the Holy Spirit
as a wind or fire. Instead, the sounds
of the event are described “as a fire” and “like the rush of a violent wind.”) When the assembled crowd saw what was
happening, they were perplexed and some tried to make a joke by claiming the
first Christians were all drunk from wine.
This prompted Peter to stand up and deliver the first Christian sermon;
see Acts 2: 14-40. As a result of Peter’s sermon, 3,000 of the
bystanders became Christians that day (Acts 2:41).
But,
what happened after the day of Pentecost was over?
In addition to
commemorating Pentecost this Sunday, I will also be continuing my series of
sermons, entitled: “Living as a
Resurrection People.” This sermon series
is grounded in the observation that the Resurrection of Christ represents a
tipping point in cosmic history for Christians.
With the Resurrection, God’s work of healing, redeeming, and
transforming the cosmos into a New Creation has been revealed. Yet, with the prevalence of sickness, pain,
injustice, hatred, conflict, skepticism, and death, God’s Reign has clearly not
yet been fully established. We live in something
of an interim period, between the revelation of the Resurrection and the
consummation of God’s Reign at the end time.
So, the series explores
what should be the characteristics, the attitudes, life-style, and core values
which define what it means to live as a Resurrection People in the
interim. Over the course of the series,
we will look at six attributes: (1) joy;
(2) hope; (3) community; (4) justice; (5) compassion; and (6) valuing the old
Creation while looking forward to its healing and redemption as a New Creation at the end-time.
This coming Sunday, I
will focus on the third attribute, community.
I will suggest that our thinking about the attribute of community should
be grounded by examining what happened after the day of Pentecost was over. At the end of Acts 2, Luke tells:
“All who believed were
together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and
goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together
in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and
generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number
those who were being saved.” (Acts
2: 44-47)
The model of community depicted at the end of Acts 2
is one defined by four core characteristics:
1. They took care of one another. Luke writes that they “had all things in
common…and distributed…to all, as any had need.”
Luke’s words focus more on how the first Christian took care of another’s
physical needs, such as having sufficient food, clothing, and shelter. However, it seems implicitly clear that the
first Christians cared for one another’s other dimensions as well; they cared
for each other spiritually, emotionally, and socially. In other words, they were fully focused on
caring for each other’s complete wellbeing.
2. They sought to worship God and grow
spiritually, together. Luke
records that the first Christians “spent much time together in the temple.” For the Jewish community, the temple was
the place to worship God, but it was also a place to engage in study of the Tanakh
(scriptures) and other sacred texts. So,
the first Christians spent much time worshipping God and seeking to grow in
their understanding of faith.
3. They shared friendship and fellowship
with one another. Luke observes that the first Christians shared common
meals and fellowship in each other’s homes, savoring this time together with
great joy and gratitude.
4. They helped non-Christians and shared
the good news about Christ. I’m
inferring that they helped even those who were not Christians because they
earned the goodwill of those around them.
They also shared the story—the Gospel—of Jesus Christ resulting in more
and more persons deciding to join their community and become Christians.
I will suggest that this example
of the first Christians in Jerusalem provides a model of the type of
communities which we are called to as Resurrection People in the twenty-first
century.
Come, join us this Sunday,
May 15th, at Christ United Methodist Church, as we celebrate Pentecost and
reflect on what it means to be a community of Christians, living in this
interim period between Christ’s Resurrection and the consummation of God’s
Reign in the New Creation. Christ United
Methodist Church is located at 4530 A Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our classic worship services are at 8:30 and
11:00 on Sunday mornings.
Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.
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