Sunday, May 19, 2024, The Day of Pentecost
“That I Articulate”
Psalm 139:1-12; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
Divine Service IV with Holy Communion
Hymns: #905 “Come, Thou Almighty King”; #913 “O Holy Spirit, Enter In”; #650 “Holy Spirit, Ever Dwelling”
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Do you remember Charlotte’s Web? There’s a part in the animated movie where Wilbur the Pig realizes that he’s been given the ability to talk. And he sings, “Isn’t it great that I articulate? Isn’t it grand that you can understand? I don't grunt, I don't oink, I don't even squeak or squawk; when I wanna say a something, I just open up and talk.”
On the Day of Pentecost, a band of mostly uneducated fishermen, who’d never set foot in a college or a seminary, were given the gift of articulating the Good News about Jesus in words that everyone there could understand.
What does it mean to “articulate?” The dictionary definition of “articulate” is: 1) to give clear and effective utterance to: to put into words; 2) to utter distinctly; 3) to give shape or expression to something, such as a theme or concept; and 4) to form or fit into a systematic whole. The word ‘articulate’ comes from the Latin word articulus, which means “to join together” or “to set a bone” - which is a wonderful tie-in to our reading from Ezekiel 37, where God brings the bones and bones and dry bones together and brings them to life again.
What God desires of His Church, and what God desires of every Christian, is that we be able, when we’re called upon, to articulate the basic truths about our faith. To put the bones together, to make it make sense. If you have faith in Jesus, that’s good. Now, can you articulate your faith, and put it into words that will help someone else to understand?
Part of this, of course, is being filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, as Peter and those first apostles were. The Holy Spirit certainly will give you the right words to say when you need them, and help you to articulate them, as Jesus has promised. But part of being able to articulate your faith is having the words that define your faith in your head in the first place. That means coming to worship and listening to sermons, and coming to Bible study to gather around the Word with your fellow Christians, to learn and be taught. And it means reading and studying your Bible at home, both alone and with your family. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly,” as St. Paul says.
We’re blessed to be a creedal Church, a Church that believes and confesses the ancient creeds of the Church. The Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed, if you know them well and understand them, are a wonderful outline, a template, for articulating and explaining your faith. If you haven’t opened your Small Catechism for a while, the practice is highly recommended. In this world we’re living in, where our governments and institutions and people in general are becoming more and more hostile and opposed to our message, it’s more important than ever that all of us are able to “give a reason for the hope that we have.” You don’t have to be a pastor, or a theological scholar, or have a college degree, to be able to articulate your faith. All you need is to have the Word in your head, and faith in your heart, and a willingness to listen to the Spirit and say what the Spirit leads you to say. Isn’t it great that I articulate? Isn’t in grand that you can understand?
The Pentecost account in Acts 2 begins, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” So what in the world is a “Pentecost?” Let me articulate! The name Pentecost means “fifty days.” Pentecost is one of the three great “pilgrim feasts” on the Hebrew calendar. One is Sukkot, the Feast of Booths or Shelters; one is the Pesach, the Passover celebration; and Pentecost is Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks or Firstfruits, which happens fifty days after Passover. At the pilgrim feasts, all Jewish men who were able were required to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. So at Pentecost, the city would have been crowded with visitors. And wouldn’t that be just a perfect time for God’s Word to be “articulated” to as many people as possible, and for the Good News to “go out from Jerusalem” and into the world? God’s good timing is a wonderful thing!
So, the Day of Pentecost came, and “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” The Scripture doesn’t day there was an actual violent wind, like a hurricane or a tornado or something; only that there was the sound of one. The house was filled with the great sound; and the sound was the whole point, because the sound is what drew the people to see what in the world was happening. God’s intent in making the noise was to draw a crowd.
“And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” Literally, “There appeared to them dividing tongues of fire.” Again, there wasn’t an actual fire; there was only what appeared to those present to look like fire. It didn’t burn anyone or set their hair on fire. There’s no real way to tell what those “dividing tongues” were. Enough just to call it a manifestation of the Spirit, and to take the miracle for what it is. God doesn’t have to explain everything to us.
“And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Jesus had promised to send His disciples the Holy Spirit; and the purpose of the Spirit being sent was to give them the ability to articulate the Good News. That is, to speak in other languages. There’s no confusion here, no unintelligible babbling, no words that didn’t mean anything; there’s only the gift of being able to speak clearly and plainly in words that everyone there could understand.
“Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.” The men who were drawn to the sound of the wind were respectable citizens. They were devout, God-fearing Jewish men; not men who were crazy or foolish or easily swayed, but sane and rational men of good standing (which makes for good witnesses). This wasn’t a random, purposeless demonstration, or God unscrambling languages just because He could; it was a necessary thing, given the nature of the crowd and what God intended to do. (God always has a purpose in what He does; all the miracles Jesus did were done for a purpose). People from many different nations and languages were present there, and they all needed to hear the Good News, so they could take it to heart, and take it back to the places they’d come from, in order to tell about it and articulate it there.
“When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? … We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" “What does this mean?” is the great question, a question asked by all kinds of confused and perplexed people when it comes to the miracles God does and the things God says in His Word. Remember the Ethiopian eunuch in the chariot, who asked Philip, “How can I know what it means unless someone explains it to me?” It’s at the point of the “What does this mean?” question that all of us Christians need to be able “to give a reason for the hope that we have.” No obfuscating, no being obtuse, no talking around the question. We were told by a Seminary professor once, “If someone asks you a question in Bible class that you can’t answer, make up a 15-letter theological-sounding word, and tell them you’ll get back to them next week.” (I think he was kidding, but it was hard to tell!) How can they hear and understand, if you and I are unable to articulate our faith?
“Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’” Articulating our faith also calls for courage and thick skin on our part, because often times the truth is the last thing people really want to hear. We’re called to articulate God’s truth not only to those who are willing to hear it, but also to the doubters and mockers and skeptics and enemies of Christ - as evidenced by the doubters and mockers who accused the Pentecost disciples of being morning drunks.
“Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ‘Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!’” Some questions at this point: What language was Peter speaking? And what language or languages was the crowd hearing? Was is that Peter was speaking his native Hebrew, or Aramaic or Greek, and the crowds were simply hearing it in their own language when it reached their ears? Or was Peter miraculously speaking in languages he’d never learned or known or before? I don’t know. Miracles are like that. But again, the point, and the whole point, is that when he spoke, the people understood.
Another question: Where did Simon Peter, that rough cob of a Galilean fisherman, acquire the ability get up and speak to a crowd in such a compelling and convincing way? He wasn’t a trained public speaker, trained in rhetoric and speechifying and such. (If you’d told me fifty years ago that my life would include standing in a pulpit talking to all of you, I’d have been terrified at the thought). Jesus had promised His disciples, “When the time comes, the Spirit will give you the words to say.” The courage and willingness to speak, as well as the ability to make the words understood, is a gift from God.
And another question: Where did Peter acquire his “off the cuff” knowledge of Scripture? He hadn’t been to college or seminary or one of the Pharisee’s religious schools. Remember how the Pharisees complained that Jesus’ disciples were unschooled, uneducated men? How was old Simon Peter able, off the top of his head, to pull out that wonderful and appropriate passage from prophet Joel?
Peter had a great Teacher. He’d spent three years as a disciple of the Son of God Himself. Three years of intimate conversation while walking from place to place. Three years of talking about the “deep things of God” around evening campfires. Three years of listening as Jesus talked to the crowds, and watching Him do miracles. Peter might not have been to college, but he’d attended the best open-air seminary there could ever be. That passage from Joel didn’t come to him from nowhere; the Spirit brought to mind what Jesus had already put in his head and in his heart. (It will work like that for us, too).
“No,” says Peter, “this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days… and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'”
Peter goes on, in the rest of his Pentecost sermon in the Book of Acts, to tell the crowd about Jesus, and about who He was and what He did, and about how He’d been crucified for the sake of their sins, and how He’d been raised from the dead. He put the whole story together, he articulated it, bone on bone. And he concluded by saying (in whatever language he was given to say it): “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” “And when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" That was the point of the exercise; the point of the wind, and the fire, and the words that everyone could understand – to cut to the heart, to reach into the soul, to cut to the quick with God’s truth.
Peter’s answer to them is the only answer there is for sinners who’ve been cut to the heart by their sin and are looking for hope: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call." That’s the only answer God’s Church has ever had for sinners, and the only answer we have for people today.
What gift of “languages and tongues” are available to God’s people today? Probably not rushing winds and tongues of fire (although you never know!) We’re not likely to break out in “spontaneous tongues” on any given Sunday. But, if you have a particular gift for tongues or languages, or for learning other languages, don’t neglect the gift you’ve been given. The Church needs you. Our Church needs pastors who can learn the Greek and Hebrew and tell the people what it means. We need missionaries who can learn the language of the people they’re sent to. We need Bible translators who can do the work of putting God’s Word into native languages, so people can have a Bible in their hands that they can read.
And if that isn’t your thing, or your gift, let me ask you this: Have you ever had a conversation with someone who wasn’t raised in the language of the Church? Someone who, if you use words like sanctification or justification or redemption, or “Sacraments,” will look at you like you’re speaking in Greek? By the grace of God, we need people like you who are willing and able to explain their faith in a clear and simple way, and do it with love and care and kindness. The Holy Spirit is here to help you do that, if you’ll open your Bible and open your heart and listen to what the Spirit has to say.
Articulation has always been the mission of God’s Church on earth, and it’s still our mission now. May we all be able to articulate our faith in Jesus, so that those to whom we bear witness can understand it and come to believe it, and the miracle of faith can happen. “Isn’t it great that I articulate? And isn’t it grand that you can understand?” In Jesus’ name; Amen.