The Day of Pentecost

The Day of Pentecost

May 19, 2024

Text: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

            Why does our Lord Jesus Christ send us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of His Father, the Spirit of truth?  He sends Him to bear witness to Himself, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior.  And to guide us into all truth.  He sends Him to speak whatever He hears in the divine council of Father and Son.  He sends Him to glorify Jesus, to take the things of Jesus, which are the things of the Father, and declare them unto us, to give them to us, all the gifts of grace, and to bring us into them.  Which is to say, He sends the Spirit, as Dr. Luther tells us, to call us by the Gospel, to enlighten us with His gifts, to sanctify us, and to keep us with Jesus Christ in the one true faith, even as He does for the whole Christian Church on earth (Small Catechism II:III).  Jesus sends the Spirit, because that was His Promise to His disciples on the night in which He was betrayed.  And Jesus does not lie.  He cannot.  Jesus always keeps His Promises.

            And so it was, that as the disciples were gathered together (congregated) in one place, in the City of Jerusalem, for the great Feast of Pentecost, there was, all at once, the sound of a mighty, rushing wind.  Now, “spirit,” “wind,” and “breath,” as you know, are all the same word in Greek (πνεῦμα), and in Hebrew for that matter (רוּחַ), and so, what is going on here?  The mighty, rushing wind is the Spirit.  And that means this is an act of New Creation.  God is redoing Genesis, breathing anew into Man the Spirit/wind/breath of life.  The Lord Jesus breathed His last, yielded… gave up… His Spirit in His death on the cross (Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; Matt. 27:50; John 19:30).  And after three days, the risen Jesus appeared in the midst of His disciples and breathed on them (resurrection breath), and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22; ESV).  And gave them, now, and henceforward, to breathe Him forth into others in the forgiveness of sins (v. 23). 

            So, here comes the mighty, rushing Spirit, filling the House where they are congregated, filling the Church, and there are the divided tongues as of fire resting on each one of them (fire, the symbol of the Holy Spirit… the pillar of fire by night, fire on Mt. Sinai, the fire of God upon the altar in the Tabernacle, the fire consuming Elijah’s sacrifice, and so forth, and so on).  And filled, now, with the Holy Spirit, they begin to speak in other tongues, languages (note this, known human languages, not ecstatic gibberish).  That is, they speak the very Word of God, and in such a way that the people can hear, and comprehend.  Whereupon we get the first recorded Apostolic sermon… Peter preaches.  He preaches the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Father’s only Son, for sinners.  And the Spirit blows forth in that preaching, so that the people are convicted, and ask what they should do to be saved.  And Peter declares (and unfortunately we don’t get this part of the reading today): “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.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:38-39).  And there it is, the whole doctrine of Pentecost in one, short summation. 

            This is what Jesus does for you and me.  He sends His Spirit.  Baptized, you and your children, for the forgiveness of sins, and in this way, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We saw it with little Paul Gerhardt last week.  Gathered into the House, the Congregation, where the Spirit blows through in preaching.  A life of repentance and forgiveness.  And confession, as Elsa will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, confess her Savior this afternoon in the Rite of Confirmation, and receive His blessing for her strengthening.  In fact, the Spirit molds our lives into the pattern received by the Apostolic Church in the wake of Peter’s sermon: “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching,” as we do, as we hear the Scriptures and preaching, “and the fellowship,” the koinonia, the unity and communion, the conversation and consolation of the brethren that happens here; “to the breaking of bread,” the Holy Supper of our Lord’s true body and blood, “and the prayers,” Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of the Church, the liturgy, and our individual and family prayers that flow forth from them.  Another way to say it is, Word and Sacrament, the Divine Service.  The Spirit brings us into the ongoing Feast, where heaven comes down, and the Lord is Present, bodily, with His Church.  And here you are.  He does it for you.  And it is gift.  All gift.  Do not refuse it.  Do not resist it.  Come, with great rejoicing, as the Spirit calls you. 

            And now, what the Spirit does for you, He would do for the whole world.  So He says through the Prophet Ezekiel, “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ez. 33:11).  And so the Spirit blows through the whole world in His Gospel, working faith when and where He pleases in those who hear the Gospel (AC V; John 3).  Now, to be sure, here we run into the mystery of Divine Election, which, for the purpose of time, we’ll have to do on another occasion.  Suffice it to say, we do not understand how God can both will the salvation of everyone (many are called), and yet so many are lost (few are chosen).  But we do know this: Every last person who hears the Gospel is faced with the Spirit’s conviction… conviction of sin, conviction of righteousness, conviction of judgment.  Conviction of sin, because, apart from Spirit-given faith in Christ, they cannot be freed from their guilt.  Conviction of righteousness, because Christ alone is righteous, as evidenced by His resurrection and exaltation, and He alone is the righteousness, the justification, of sinners before God.  And conviction of judgment, because everything the world worships, including the very devil (the ruler of this world) is judged… by the Lord Jesus Christ.

            That is the preaching.  Law and Gospel.  The Spirit blows through in preaching, convicting by His holy Law, thus bringing forth repentance, enlivening and enkindling faith by His saving Gospel of forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus.  A mighty, rushing wind blows forth from the mouth of Christ… through the mouths of His ministers… filling the whole House… filling our ears, our minds, our hearts… resting on each one of us… who then go out into the world and blow forth the Spirit in our vocations, as we confess and embody Christ to the people around us.  See, the Pentecost miracle has not ended.  It is happening now.  The Spirit still blows, the Church is still gathered, the Apostles still preach, the people still hear and believe and repent and are baptized.  God open our eyes.  When He opens our eyes, we cannot help but rejoice, as our hearts burn within us.  “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.  Alleluia” (Introit).

            That is what I pray in those moments before the sermon, as we sing the final lines of the hymn.  Lord, grant that Your Holy Spirit blow through and fill us all in the preaching of His Word, as we know He will.  And never forget, we have Jesus’ unconditional Promise: The Father will not fail to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13).  So, the Spirit blows through on the breath of His Word, and behold, a rattling.  Dry bones in the valley of the shadow, now joined, bone to its bone, clothed with sinews and flesh and skin, enlivened by the very breath of God.  Israel, spirited by the Spirit, raised from the dead.  The Church of God.  Jews and Gentiles.  You.  Here.  Now.  Pentecost. 

            Why does Jesus send the Spirit?  For that.  For that.  The Holy Spirit.  The Third Person of the Holy Trinity.  Proceeding from the Father.  Given by the Son, and so, yes, the Filioque, the “and the Son” of the Creed.  The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.  Who, together, are worshiped and glorified, one God, living and reigning, world without end.  More on that next week.  For now, simply bask in the Spirit who has been poured out on you, who rests on you, who possesses you.  Live in Him.  Pray in Him.  Rest in Him.  And confess His Word.  It is a marvelous thing to be in this House as the mighty, rushing Spirit blows through.  Glory be to Jesus, who gives us this reality by His death and resurrection for us.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.