Acts chapter 2
(Sermon Preached in Brecon Presbyterian Church on Sunday 31 May 2009)
Today is Pentecost Sunday – although I don’t ever recall it being called that when I was a child in Park End Church, Cardiff. I can’t remember it being called anything but Whit Sunday. In those days Whitsun was a bank holiday and Whit Monday was always the day for the Whitsun Treat. I remember us as children clambering onto a lorry with Sunday school benches roped to it. We clung on to those benches for dear life as the lorry climbed the steep hill out of Cardiff, up to some farmer’s field, where we had games and a picnic. There didn’t seem to be any Health and Safety regulations in those days!
I think, to most of us, the the religious significance of Whitsun was completely lost. We must have been taught about it in Sunday School but I don’t ever recall hearing about the coming of the Holy Spirit. For children today it probably has even less significance. It’s not even called Whitsun now, it’s the Late Spring Bank Holiday, and it doesn’t always happen on Whit weekend.
By the way, if you’re wondering about the origin of the phrase Whit Sunday, it comes from the time when confirmations were always held at Pentecost. The candidates for confirmation all wore white robes and dresses: hence White or Whit Sunday.
Rumours
But how can we get back to the true meaning of Whitsun? It helps a bit, I think, to call it Pentecost because that reminds us of the events we read about in Acts Chapter two. On the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, when Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims from everywhere Jews lived, the Holy Spirit came. He came upon an obscure group of Galilean fishermen and ex tax-collectors who were followers of Jesus of Nazareth - Jesus who had been crucified seven weeks previously. On that day, Good Friday, the Sun had been darkened, there had been an earthquake and the heavy curtain in the Temple had been torn in two – momentous and apocalyptic events.
A week later there were rumours going around that Jesus had risen from the dead and had been seen by his disciples. His tomb was empty and his body gone – the Jewish and Roman authorities didn’t know what to make of it.
And still the rumours kept coming. More and more people said they had met with the risen Jesus – on a mountaintop, by Lake Galilee, in Jerusalem behind locked doors, in the village of Emmaus. Jesus kept popping up everywhere! But despite these appearances of the risen Lord his followers seemed to be pretty intimidated. They were scared of the authorities. They didn’t want to risk facing jail and crucifixion, so they met in secret. No doubt the authorities hoped all this religious enthusiasm would die down. After a while surely people would realise Jesus was dead. And then his followers would disperse – going back to their old lives as fishermen, etc. That’s what the authorities hoped, but how wrong they were!
About six weeks after the Passover there were more rumours rumours going round. This time it was claimed that Jesus had gone back to heaven. Some of his followers even claimed to have been at his ascension. It all seemed too ridiculous to be true to the authorities, but his followers continued to believe in him. They started holding daily prayer meetings in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem. They were waiting for something to happen – the coming of that mysterious power Jesus had promised them.
“Do not leave Jerusalem,” he had said, “but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4)
And that’s what they were waiting for.
A storm of spiritual power
Then, ten days after the Ascension, it happened. On the Day of Pentecost there was a sound like a rushing wind, something that looked like tongues of flame resting on each follower of Jesus. Every one was filled with the Holy Spirit, They felt a new joy and peace and love, a new power. They started praising God in strange tongues. It all happened at once. That quiet little upper room in Jerusalem suddenly became the centre of a veritable storm of spiritual power. People outside heard the noise and came running. And the disciples spilled out into the street proclaiming God’s glory in a variety of languages. And so the Christian Church was born.
Imagine a news report of the time might have looked (if they had had them).
AMAZING EVENTS IN JERUSALEM AS RELIGIOUS HYSTERIA HITS THE CITY
Yesterday a tremendous wave of messianic fervour hit the Metropolis as crowds of followers of the prophet Jesus rampaged though the streets. Jesus of Nazareth was a messianic pretender who was crucified by the Romans seven weeks ago, during the Passover festival. Now his followers claim he is alive again. They have been seen in the streets shouting out in many different languages that Jesus is the Messiah and praising him as the Son of God.
Why do the authorities tolerate such blasphemy? Why don’t they just produce the body of the imposter Jesus and put paid to these claims? And how did these ignorant men become proficient in so many different languages – Parthian, Elamite, Phrygian and Egyptian among others?
In an astonishing further development it appears that about 300 people publicly joined themselves to the new Jesus sect yesterday.
The man Peter seems to be the ringleader of the group. Yesterday he harangued the crowd and publicly accused them of responsibility for the death of Jesus. Then, in an unprecedented turn of events, instead of lynching him, the crowd asked how they too could become followers of the so-called Messiah! Will this madness never end? Will it take over the whole world? Can the authorities do nothing?
Well, we know it didn’t stop there – and it is still taking over the world. Here, in the West, we get despondent when we see the decline of Christianity in our society, as well as the increase in other religions such as Islam. And yet the Gospel is spreading like wildfire in many parts of the world. Even in the Muslim heartlands of North Africa thousands of people are turning to Christ.
Here in Wales – formerly known as “the Land of Revivals” – we have a situation which makes us feel despondent. Our clinging to outworn traditions and basking in our knowledge about the great revivals of the past have made us complacent. We somehow think revival will come automatically, like the ebb and flow of the tide.
- But will it come if we don’t pray?
- Will it come if we don’t spread the Gospel?
- Will it come if we don’t repent of all evil in our lives?
- Will it come if we don’t seek reconciliation with our brothers and sisters?
- Will it come if we don’t open our hearts to the work of the blessed Holy Spirit.
(close with prayer)
