The Celebration of Pentecost
When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.”
Acts 2:1-11 (CSB)
Before Pentecost was a Christian holy day, it was a major Jewish holy festival where hundreds of thousands of Jews from all around the Roman Empire and beyond gathered together for this celebration (also known as the festival of Weeks). Pentecost means “50” – it was 50 days after another major festival –the Jewish Passover. If you had been a Jew living at the time of Christ and come to Jerusalem on Pentecost, part of what you would have observed and experienced in the celebration was the Jewish priest singing certain psalms, including the Psalms of Ascent – Psalms 114-136. Psalm 136 would have been the highlight. Here is a part of Psalm 136:
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His faithful love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever. …
4 He alone does great wonders. His faithful love endures forever. …
10 He struck the firstborn of the Egyptians. His faithful love endures forever. …
13 He divided the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever.
14 and led Israel through, His faithful love endures forever.
15 but hurled Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever.
Here is what you would have heard literally had you been there (though you would have heard it fluidly then for I do not speak Hebrew that often):
You don’t understand Hebrew? Well back in the days of Christ, not many Jews understood Hebrew either, even though it had been their official language for centuries. The most common languages at the time of Christ were Aramaic, Greek and Latin. Hebrew on the other hand was known and studied and read and spoken only by Jewish priests and other Jewish scholars for the most part. For many Jews, perhaps most of them, Hebrew had become a “dead language,” as we say.
Nevertheless, Hebrew was still used in the temple and would have been the language used on Pentecost when the psalms were sung. Psalm 136 would have been sung in Hebrew that day meaning many of the Jews would not have understood what was being sung about. They would not have understood this psalm was referring to “great wonders,” the great miracles of Exodus: the Ten Plagues, the sacrifice of the Passover lamb resulting in the death of the firstborn sons of the Egyptians and freeing God’s people from slavery, the parting of the Red Sea, the Israelites walking through the Red Sea on dry ground, the drowning of Pharoah and his entire army in the Red Sea, and Israel being miraculously led through the wilderness as God fed them and delivered them from enemies much stronger than them.
So, the celebration of Pentecost around the time of Christ for many if not most of the Jews would have lost some of its meaning because “the magnificent acts of God” by which he had delivered and saved the Jews would not have been clearly communicated to them.
We know how this is. When I am on the phone trying to get instructions or information and the person on the other end of the line is literally halfway around the world, I usually have a terrible time understanding him even though he is speaking English. The dialect throws me for a loop. Sometimes I pretend I understand him, but that only makes matters worse. It usually prolongs my attempt at getting instructions or information, and sometimes I just give up.
This was sort of the situation on Pentecost for many Jews. They were hearing, “Blah, blah, blah, blah” and just going through a religious exercise.
But the Pentecost recorded in Acts 2 is different.
Let’s review what took place. There were some very strange unexplainable things taking place. The Jews heard “a sound like that of a violent rushing wind that came from heaven.” Then the Jews saw on the disciples “tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one.” Then they heard the disciples beginning “to speak in different tongues,” different languages, languages they could understand for they were their own native languages that they knew very well and could easily understand. “You are speaking the Greek language I grew up with all these years in Egypt.” “Hey, your Aramaic dialect is exactly what I what I speak over in Mesopotamia.” “You are speaking fluent Latin that I and all the other Jews use who came from Rome?” “What’s going on here?” “How did you learn to speak these languages and dialects so quickly and so well? What’s going on? And not only do we hear you speaking so we can clearly understand what you are saying, you are also describing the magnificent acts of God – those great wonders – those miraculous events in Exodus by which God delivered and preserved our Jewish ancestors. What’s going on?”
Some wanted to put a worst construction on this: “They’re drunk on new wine.” But Peter explained, “No, it’s too early the day for that.” Peter goes on to say, “On the contrary, here’s what is going on: This is the beginning of the coming and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was spoken through the prophet Joel.” And then Peter quotes from Joel describing the coming and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which concludes with these words: “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
What Peter does next is fascinating. He connects all of this – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and being saved – with the man who had recently been among them, with Jesus Christ. He says, “Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know. Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death. … God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear. … “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Peter is telling these thousands of Jews, “God is communicating to you in a language you can clearly understand. He wants you to know that the magnificent acts and great wonders of God in the Old Testament by which he delivered and saved our people – the ten plagues, the Passover lamb, the killing of the firstborn sons of Egyptians forcing Pharoah to free God’s people, the parting of and walking through the Red Sea, and the other miracles that followed in the wilderness so God’s people were finally brought to the promised land flowing with milk and honey – these magnificent and mighty acts of God by which he saved his people in a temporal way were pointing ahead to the more magnificent and greater acts of God fulfilled in the work of Jesus of Nazareth, acts that save in a much greater way, acts that testify that Jesus is Lord and Messiah.” The dozens and dozens of miracles by Jesus, the plan of God to use the Jews and others to crucify this Jesus, making him the true Passover Lamb whose innocent suffering and death would free people from slavery to sin, his glorious resurrection on the third day witnessed by hundreds proving he was the Lord and the Messiah, and proving the reality of forgiveness of sins, followed by his exaltation – his ascension – to the right hand of God, so God’s people could finally be saved and brought to the eternal Promised Land.
The works of Jesus of Nazareth are the magnificent acts and great wonders of God.
But the magnificent acts of God do not end with Christ. They continue with the magnificent work of the Holy Spirit.
Again, Peter said to the Jews, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” “Obviously, we know Jesus performed all these miracles. Obviously, we participated in his crucifixion. Obviously, he was raised from the dead – there’s all these witnesses. Obviously, therefore he is the Lord and the Messiah, the one we had been waiting for. So, what should we terrible sinners do? What should we horrible sinners do?”
The answer is the work of the Holy Spirit, the magnificent work of the Holy Spirit. “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children.”
This magnificent work of the Holy Spirit is summarized for us beautifully in the Small Catechism: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; just as He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” Let’s break this apart. “The Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel” (the message of Christ that is the mighty power of God). He has “enlightened me with His gifts” (his Word and Sacraments so through them a light goes on, so I am brought to faith in Christ, so I clearly understand the message and meaning of the Christian faith). He has “sanctified me” (he has enabled me to live as I ought to live as a baptized and forgiven child of God). And he has “kept me in the true faith” (he sees me through to the end so I may remain in forgiveness and brought finally to the eternal promised land). This is the magnificent work of the Holy Spirit. It is why Jesus calls him the Counselor, the Comforter, our Helper. Without him the magnificent acts of Jesus would remain inaccessible and unavailable.
Have you ever witnessed a person in your presence coming to repentance and faith? I have had that honor several times. Most often though I would say it may not be all that observable and may take months or even years. But on the several occasions where it has happened right in front of me, you can see it in their eyes as they go from unrepentance and unbelief to repentance and faith in Christ. What I am observing in reality is the magnificent and mighty work of the Holy Spirit as he uses the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ. But remember the Holy Spirit does not stop his work when he has brought us to faith in Christ. His work continues – and we need his work to continue – to enlighten us, to sanctify us, to keep and preserve us in the one true faith. This is why we cannot and must not neglect the Word and Sacrament, for if we do, we neglect the magnificent work of the Holy Spirit. He was and remains our Counselor, Comforter, and Helper. For, again, as we say in the Small Catechism: “In this Christian Church, He daily and richly forgives me and all believers all our sins; and at the last day He will raise up me and all the dead, and will grant me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.”
Amen.
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