Open the door, I feel a breeze

Acts 2:1-21 New International Version (NIV)

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

14 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. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘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. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Happy Shavuot! “What’s Shavuot?” you may be asking. No, it is not a reference to an old Johnny Paycheck song. Shavuot is the Hebrew celebration of the spring harvest, the first fruits of the growing season. The Israelites were instructed in Exodus 34 to bring the best of their early harvest to the tabernacle or the later temple of God as an offering. Today we might bring our radishes, spinach, and other greens as the first fruits of our gardening season. And if it seems a little late for the first fruits of your garden, remember that Shavuot is based on the Hebrew calendar. This year, Shavuot is almost as late as is possible, as it can fall anywhere from May 15 to June 14.

Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage holidays in the Hebrew tradition, where the Torah commands all healthy men over a certain age to travel to the temple to offer their sacrifices. Shavuot has a double meaning in the Hebrew tradition. This is the day when the Israelites celebrate God giving the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Today, it is common for a Jewish person to stay awake the entire first night of Shavuot studying the Torah.

While “Shavuot” sounds pretty foreign to us (pun intended), you may know this holiday better by the English translation, “Festival of Weeks.” But Festival of Weeks may also sound a bit strange. Especially when you find out it is only celebrated for 48 hours. Maybe it should be called the Festival of Days? It isn’t called the Festival of Weeks because of its duration. Rather, it is the Festival of Weeks because of when it is observed. We find these instructions in Leviticus 23:15-16: “From the day after the [Passover]… count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.”

Seven full weeks after the Passover celebration, plus one day. Seven times seven, plus one equals 50 days. Or maybe you know this holiday better by its Greek name: Pentecost.

I know that some of us get a little uneasy when we hear the word Pentecost. Sometimes we associate that with handling snakes and rolling around on the floor. The Pentecostal movement, which began over 100 years ago, differs from what happened in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. While I often see the people of certain Pentecostal traditions using their gifts for a personal experience between them and God, what happened on Pentecost around the year 30 was about expanding God’s kingdom, flinging the doors wide open for all to come to the Lord.

I’m calling this sermon “Open the door, I feel a breeze.” Hopefully, that will make sense shortly.

Acts 2:1 tells us that it was Pentecost, Shavuot, and “they” were gathered together in one place. We don’t know if the “they” is a reference to the disciples, or perhaps the 120 believers mentioned in the previous chapter. I don’t think it matters so much who all was there, as much as what we find in verse five matters: “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.”

So we have a group of believers gathered together in one location, but more important is the fact that every male Jew from every nation was in the city. People had come from far and near for the Shavuot celebration. And their primary language would have been specific to wherever they lived. We get an idea in verses 9-11 just how diverse these people are and how far these people have traveled: “Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs.”

For sure, every Jew in the first century was at least somewhat familiar with the Hebrew language, but it would be a stretch to call them fluent. They probably had the same level of confidence in their Hebrew that I have in my high school Spanish. If I was in Mexico, I could get a glass of water and find a bathroom if I needed to. But to have a conversation would be a challenge.

So let’s revisit the context. Jerusalem is bursting at the seams because of all these people who have traveled for Shavuot. I personally think that it is the disciples, the original 11 plus Matthias, who are gathered together in one place. It is nine in the morning. All at once, without warning, they hear a violent wind blowing through the city. We read later that everyone heard this wind go through the town, so they run out of their houses to see what just happened. You know how it is, you hear a big boom, a crash, or a scream while you are in your home, you’re going to run out to see what is going on. Verse 2 tells us that this wind blows right into the house where the disciples were sitting.

While everyone heard the wind, they didn’t see what the disciples saw. Verse 3 tells us, “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” I don’t have any idea what that looks like, but I did a Google Images search, and they often show a little squiggly red line above each disciple’s head. So I guess it kind of looks like that. 🙂

It doesn’t matter what it looked like. The disciples saw it, but the others only heard the wind. They didn’t know what had happened. But this wasn’t just any wind, or pneuma in the Greek. This was the Hagias Pneuma, the Holy Wind. Or, as we usually refer to it, the Holy Spirit.

Verse four tells us that instantly, those who were in the room were able to speak other languages. And when the people who came running to see what happened arrived, they heard the disciples speaking in their own native languages. We don’t know if the miracle was in the speaking of different languages or in the hearing of other languages. I can’t imagine the scene, but it must have been confusing. Verse 12 tells us that “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’”

What this means is that this new religion is about to break open. Now, all can hear about Jesus in their native language.

We’ve discussed a bit about the advantages and disadvantages of having churches that minister to certain minority groups in our community. For instance, the last two Mennonite churches that have been planted in Augusta County were a deaf church and a Spanish-speaking church. The disadvantage of having churches that are specifically ministering to these groups is that we continue to be separated. We have no native Spanish speakers in our congregation, nor do we have any deaf people here on a Sunday morning. And we could have interpreters in place. But let me just say that isn’t the same thing.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak to Signs of Life Fellowship on a number of occasions. And because my experience with American Sign Language (ASL) is quite limited, I always have an interpreter. One of the challenges that I run into is that I tend to talk too fast, sometimes even making it difficult for native English speakers to understand what I’m trying to communicate. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen smoke coming off the hands of my ASL interpreters in the past.

I’ve also been around when a hearing person is signing for a group of deaf people and another person is interpreting for them into spoken English. It is amazing how often the person being interpreted will stop their interpreter and say something like, “That’s not the word I would use,” or “That’s not what I was going for.”

If you have never learned a foreign language, you might think that translating is simply a process of taking one word out and replacing it with its equivalent in another language. But it isn’t always that easy. Words carry different meaning in other languages. There are things we have to deal with like slang or idioms.

An example that I like to use is if I walk up to you, I may ask, “What’s up?” You know how to reply to this question. You tell me about your day, where you’ve been, what is new in your life. But if a non-native English speaker was asked, “What’s up?” they may say, “The ceiling?” Or as my high school physics teacher like to say, “The opposite of the force of gravity.”

This is why I like to look at our scriptures in their original languages. How has the meaning changed over the years and what did it mean in its original context? Even words we think we understand can have new meaning when we look closely at them. Words like “lord,” “faith,” and “salvation” can take on deeper meanings.

So why do I support a deaf church and a Spanish-speaking church in our community, when I would value the diversity that they would bring to our church? For the same reason the Holy Spirit showed up on Pentecost: this is too important not to get right.

Jews from every nation could now hear the gospel message. And not a translation of the gospel message through an interpreter. They could hear the gospel message in their own language because this is too important not to get right.

Not only is the gospel too important not to get right, when the Holy Spirit enabled everyone to hear the message in their own language, it was a way of saying that all people matter. Oh, you don’t speak the same language as me? Guess what, you still matter. You are still a beloved child of God!

When I hear people complaining about “foreigners” in the US who need to learn to speak the language, I recall the message of Pentecost. You matter, so I’m going to learn your language. Or, as a friend at Signs of Life once shared when he first met a deaf person, “I realized that he couldn’t learn my language, so I decided to learn his.”

You matter. You are a beloved child of God. And this is too important not to get right.

Like I said earlier, Pentecost is a time when the doors of the Kingdom of God get flung wide open. When we think of the Christian movement in the New Testament, we see that it began with a group of twelve men from a specific place: the region of Galilee. It started as a good old boys’ club. It was a group of tightly-knit men from the same little town. A few weeks ago we looked at Acts 15 and 16 where the doors are opened even wider, inviting Gentiles to the party as well. Today’s passage is an important part of that process.

After the Holy Spirit comes and begins translating languages, Peter stands up and addresses the crowd. And, of course, when you have the opportunity to stand before a confused crowd on a holiday, you do what Peter did. You quote some obscure prophet. Peter quotes the prophet Joel. In verses 17-18, Peter says, “‘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 they will prophesy.’”

Pentecost isn’t the first time we have seen the Holy Spirit. No, from the very beginning we see the spirit of God hovering over the waters in the creation narrative of Genesis 1. In Genesis 2, God breathes his very life-giving, animating spirit into the nostrils of Adam. The Spirit of the Lord fell upon the prophets of the Old Testament, people like Isaiah and Jeremiah. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism. And in John’s gospel, the resurrected Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit upon his disciples as they are huddled together in the Upper Room. This isn’t the first time Holy Spirit has made its presence known.

But this is the first time the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all people.

By “all people,” the text isn’t suggesting that every person has received the same outpouring of the Spirit. But all kinds of people have. Male, female, black, white, Jew, Gentile, slave and free.

Before this, the Holy Spirit was reserved for men, like the disciples. No longer is this a good old boys club. Now your sons and daughters will prophesy. Even the servants, or more literally in the Greek, the slaves will receive the Holy Spirit. And when I think of dreamers, I tend to think of idealistic young men and women, perhaps sitting around the quad or in the ivory towers of the university. But now, the old men are dreaming dreams and the young are receiving visions. Pentecost is a role-reversing, boundary-destroying, door-flung-wide-open event. The Holy Spirit has come to invite all people to follow the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Not to force them. No, they still have free will. But the door is open for them to walk through.

We sometimes note that Pentecost is an undoing of what happens in Genesis 11. In Genesis 11 we find God confusing the language of the people when they attempt to build the Tower of Babel. And indeed, Pentecost can be seen as an undoing of Genesis 11. But I think even more so, Pentecost is the fulfillment of Genesis 12. Specifically, Genesis 12:2-3, where God tells Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Open the door, I feel a breeze.

The Spirit of God is moving among us. We can stay shut inside where it is safe, or we can open up a door, or window, or even go right outside and take advantage of the breeze.