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Sermon for Pentecost Sunday – June 8, 2025
Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:14-17, John 14:8-17, 25-27
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit was sent by God the Father through the promise of Jesus the Son so that you would hear the Word of God. Just listen to what Jesus says about the Spirit in our gospel reading for today. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth who will teach us everything by reminding us of all Jesus has said to us. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s job is to keep what Jesus said in front of us. It is to keep the Word of God in our ears, so that we would hear it and receive it and trust it and live by it.
The Apostle Paul says much the same thing in our reading from Romans for today. Paul writes that the Holy Spirit was sent to bear witness – that is, to communicate, to speak to us. The Holy Spirit is sent to bear witness to us that we are children of God! The Holy Spirit is sent to us to communicate God’s Word to us, assuring us that because we are children of God, we are heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ, poised to inherit all that belongs to him – his righteousness, his glory, his eternal life.
The Holy Spirit was sent by God the Father through the promise of Jesus the Son so that you would hear the Word of God, and nowhere is this made clearer than in the Pentecost story we heard from the book of Acts.
Pentecost was already a holy day long before the event we heard about in this reading. It was a Jewish celebration long before it was a Christian one. It was originally something of a first fruits festival to celebrate the wheat harvest – not unlike our celebration of Thanksgiving. By Jesus time it had also become a commemoration of the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, but it retained the character of a day of thanksgiving. And like our Thanksgiving, it was a major holiday for travel. This festival drew Jews from all over the world back to their homeland to celebrate. And when then came home, they brought with them the different languages they now spoke, the different languages of the places they now lived.
As the disciples were celebrating the Jewish festival of Pentecost, suddenly there was a sound like the rush of a violent wind. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. And what happened when they were filled with the Holy Spirit? They began to speak! They began to speak in the wide variety of languages of those present. It is important to note that this was not some esoteric spiritual language. It was a miracle to be sure, but these were real, well-established human languages. Empowered by the Spirit, the disciples began to speak in the various languages of those gathered. Amazed and astonished, the crowd said, “How can this be? Aren’t these guys all locals? Aren’t they all from Galilee? But we hear them speaking to us in our own language about God’s deeds of power!
Some sneered, of course. Some thought they were drunk on new wine and speaking gibberish. But Peter stood up and said “No, no. That’s not it. We are not drunk,” offering up as compelling evidence that it was only nine o’clock in the morning. No, Peter explained, this is what the prophet Joel said would happen. The Spirit was being poured out upon all flesh so that God’s sons and daughters would prophecy, so that they would speak God’s Word, so that they would proclaim God’s deeds of power, so that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord would be saved.
This is just what Jesus said would happen. This is exactly what Jesus promised to his disciples in the Upper Room. Jesus promised he would send the Spirit of truth. Jesus promised that this Spirit would teach. Jesus promised that this Spirit would remind them of all he had said. That’s what was happening now as the Spirit empowered the disciples to speak, proclaiming God’s deeds of power.
There is a quote that floats around the church that is a pet peeve of mine. The quote is attributed to St. Francis, although no one can document that he actually said or wrote it. The quote is, “Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” I’ve seen this in so many places over the years. I know it is well meaning, but it is just wrong. It fails to see that words are the Holy Spirit’s primary tool! To be fair, there is a kernel of truth in it in that sometimes we need to earn people’s trust with our actions before we can speak the gospel to them. True enough. Sometimes we need people to know we care before they will care about what we know. Fine. Point taken. But ultimately the gospel demands to be spoken! Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Ultimately, using words is necessary! Words are what the Spirit uses to create faith!
This is what we celebrate on Pentecost Sunday. We celebrate that the Spirit has come to empower the church to speak of God’s deeds of power, so that faith would come through hearing, so that everyone can hear what God has done for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, so that everyone can call on the name of the Lord and be saved. God sends the Spirit to speak that Word to us, to stoke fire of our faith so that we would continue to believe. God also sends the Spirit to speak that Word through us, so that others would hear and come to believe too.
God continues to work across language barriers to make his deeds of power known. A couple Sundays ago we celebrated the First Communion of one of our young people who is bilingual. She is fluent in both English and the Peruvian dialect of Spanish. I had her in my office with her parents as we reviewed the Bible stories I’d instructed them to learn together. And while this young student understood me, there were times when her mother spoke to her in Spanish to help clarify things, and when her mother spoke to her of God’s deeds of power, it landed differently. This was the voice and language this young girl had been hearing from the womb. This was the voice and the language she heard singing her lullabies as a baby. This was the voice and the language which blessed her at bedtime and prayed over her. When her mother spoke to her of God’s deeds of power, teaching her, reminding her of the stories they had learned from God’s Word, she seemed to hear it more deeply.
This reminded me of two things. First, it reminded me of Luther’s insight that parents are the primary pastors in their children’s lives, and how important it is for parents to be sharing God’s Word with their children. But second, as this mother tenderly put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder and spoke to her in this voice and language of the heart, it occurred to me that this was a beautiful image of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s work. The Holy Spirit was sent by God the Father through the promise of the Son to help us hear God’s Word more deeply, more intimately, so that it lands in our hearts in a way that creates faith.
The wind and fire of Pentecost seem to be the stars of the show, but they are merely there to get our attention. They are there to point us to what is called a theophany, a dramatic inbreaking of God’s presence. The real event of Pentecost is simply people talking about God’s deeds of power. The real event of Pentecost is the preaching of the gospel, using words.
And so Pentecost has never really ended. Pentecost is more than a once-a-year festival. Pentecost marks the birth of the holy Christian church, in which the Holy Spirit continues to speak of God’s deeds of power, proclaiming what God has done for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Just as a mother tenderly spoke the Word to her daughter in the language of her heart, so too does the Spirit gather you in close in order to speak to you, in order to teach you, sharing God’s Word with you. The Spirit of truth draws you in close in order to remind you of all Jesus has said, to remind you of all he has done for you.
So hear it once again: because of God’s deeds of power in Jesus Christ you are forgiven. Because of his death and resurrection, you have been redeemed. By his grace you have been made a beloved child of God. You have been given a new life guided by the Spirit, and you have a future inheritance in store for you in his eternal kingdom.
Pentecost continues this very day, this very moment, as the Holy Spirit is sent by God the Father through the promise of the Son to put this Good News in your ears once again.
May this Good News be in our mouths too, so that others would hear and believe.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church