Come Violent Wind, Come Breath of Life

Pentecost May 11, 2008 (John 7:37-39; Acts 2:1-21)

Before the Pentecost event that we just heard read and before Jesus ascended into

heaven the disciples gathered around him. It says that he had been teaching them about

the Kingdom of God for forty days after the resurrection. Now he tells them not to leave

Jerusalem but to wait for the gift that God the Father had promised. He reminds them

that they have been baptized with water by John the Baptist but in a few days they will be

baptized with the Holy Spirit. How do the disciples respond to this command? What do

they think this ‘gift’ will usher in? They ask, “Are you at this time going to restore the

kingdom to Israel.” There is no notion in their psyche that the coming of the Holy Spirit

would usher in ecstatic spiritual experiences or miraculous powers. Much deeper than

this is a promise that has abided with the Jewish people from their inception. It began

most clearly in the act of trust that Abraham showed in relationship with God. God said

to Abraham that all people of the world will be blessed through his descendents. This

promise remained with the people of Israel. When God called Moses to Mt. Sinai it was

to reveal to him how he could order the people to be kingdom of priests. The entire

people were called to the priestly task of sharing God’s presence to all people and to all

places. In Deuteronomy it says that God’s instructions were given so that the people of

the world would see a wise and righteous example of living. Then with God choosing

David to be king over Israel God gives him this promise saying, “Your house and your

kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” Over

time it is the prophets who carry the vision of God’s promise to Israel. Isaiah casts the

vision of God’s mountain ascending above all others calling out to the nations to learn

peace and justice. Through slavery, famine, wealth, war, and exile this group did not

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shake the conviction that they were called to share a hope to all nations. This reality of

God’s call to the Jewish people became a part of the identity and DNA of each person.

To what other end could Jesus, their Messiah, be leading them than the restoration of

Israel? And so they ask of Jesus, “Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to

Israel?” Jesus says, “It is not for you to know the times and the seasons the Father has set

by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and

you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of

the earth.”

And that was all. With those words it says that Jesus was taken up before their

very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. Jesus left us with two images that we

still wrestle with. What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and what is our call to be

witnesses to the ends of the earth? I am not sure that we in the Mennonite church have

any history with the phrase baptism of the Holy Spirit. My only experience with this

phrase has to do with the modern expression of speaking in tongues of having

experiences where you talk about being moved by the Spirit to act in any number of

ways. I have mixed feelings about some of these expressions, though as we will see I do

think there is something to be said about speaking in new tongues. But when I look to

the context of the Pentecost I begin to wonder if there is something we are missing. Can

talk, and perhaps more importantly, can there be an experience and expression of the

baptism, of the gift, of the Holy Spirit that can gain new traction today?

It is helpful to start with an understanding of how the coming of the Holy Spirit is

framed earlier in the gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke emphasize the relationship

between Jesus and the Holy Spirit from the beginning of their gospels.

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Matthew and Mark show how John the Baptist interpreted or witnessed Jesus relationship

with the Holy Spirit. In Mark the scene is simple John the Baptist is acknowledged as the

one spoken of in Isaiah where it says that a messenger will be sent to make straight the

paths preparing the way of the Lord. John baptizes Jesus and it says that, “as Jesus was

coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on

him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven [saying] ‘You are my Son, whom I love;

with you I am well pleased.” Here the Holy Spirit comes as a sign of intimate and

committed relationship. We will explore the implications of this sign of the Spirit

shortly.

In the book of Matthew we have a powerful image that comes in the midst of one

of John the Baptist’s tirades aimed that the religious leaders. The leaders seem to be

claiming that their authority is established through their lineage to Abraham. Bah! John

blurts out. God can raise the children of Abraham up from these stones. No, he says

(perhaps becoming more somber), the ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree

that does not produce fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Using the language

that Jesus will pick up later he goes on to clarify saying, “I baptize you with water for

repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I. He will baptize

you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Here the coming of the Holy Spirit is connected

with the severing of our faith from the dead roots of local tradition or status. To say that I

have the Driedger name or the Mennonite heritage as my foundation is to have John the

Baptist’s words placed as an ax to the root of my existence. Here the Holy Spirit comes

to name and tear down the powers that establish themselves by human standards

achievements.

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 In the book of Luke Jesus is baptized and then enters the wilderness for 40 days

where he is tempted by Satan. After this period it says that “he returned to Galilee in the

power of the Spirit.” He went to his hometown and entered the synagogue and read from

the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He read,

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

After reading this he stood up and with all eyes watching him he said, “Today this

scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus in power to

offer freedom and healing.

I hope that a new image of the coming of the Holy Spirit or the baptism of the

Holy Spirit is beginning to take shape. We could of course look to the Gospel of John as

well and see that early on Jesus uses language of the Spirit to introduce new realities of

faithfulness. Jesus encourages Nicodemus to look beyond the limitations of religious law

by speaking of being born of the Spirit and allowing the Spirit to blow where it will.

Jesus overcomes gender, cultural and religious differences in his encounter with the

Samaritan woman were he declares to her that a time is coming when the faithful will not

be concerned with deciding where or what form worship should take but he says that

“true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” The gift of the Holy Spirit

is not a magic wand for miracles and the Spirit is not an ecstatic high to be used for

private consumption. The Spirit transforms individuals in order to shape communities of

God.

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 If these images of the Spirit from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry can be used to

help us understand what we might expect as a church then I would suggest that there

three essential works of the Holy Spirit. One expression is how the Holy Spirit comes to

form our identity. The image of Jesus’ own baptism offers a powerful claim on who we

are called to be. We don’t have to peel back very many layers of our proverbial onion to

find that our identity is all too often shaped by basic fears. We are motivated and driven

to compensate for our fears whether it is a fear of failure or of being exposed and

humiliated or being abandoned or alone. These fears shape our relationships, thoughts,

and actions and in so doing they ultimately shape our identity.

The image of Jesus’ baptism offers a different story than the one based on fear.

Jesus’ identity is established here in affirmation. God calls out from the heavens, “This is

my child, the one I love. In him I am well pleased.” This scene is pure affirmation of

how God made us. Jesus emerges from the waters as though in new birth. Any claims by

the fears of the world are washed from him and the voice of God’s love and affirmation

can be heard clearly without the competing claims of the world. And it is the Holy Spirit

descending as a dove on Jesus’ head that imparts this presence and power of love in the

life of Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to form our identity in affirmation and love.

We see also that the Holy Spirit comes to name and tear down false idols. If you

want to know what your idols are then be aware what you turn to when you feel some

sort of threat. What is it that we use to try to stabilize, secure and defend ourselves? The

idols can range from unhealthy food to lethal force. We see that when the religious

leaders were threatened by John the Baptist’s criticisms they looked to their history and

their religious institution. And John warned them that the ax is at the root. No matter

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how big the tree, how big the institution or structure it can be brought down by a small

and well sharpened ax. Bob Marley wrote a song called Small Ax which encouraged the

Jamaican people to know that the response of people even when apparently powerless

against an unjust government can be like a small sharp ax able to chop down a big tree.

The Holy Spirit comes clear the forest of false idols. The Spirit offers us the ability to

discern and name the idols in and around us and then calls us to pick up our small and

sharp axes to tear them down.

The Holy Spirit comes not only to tear down but to build up, to release and to

heal. It needs to be emphasized that this act of the Spirit is public, it is social. It is by the

Spirit that new realities can be born and shaped. Jesus proclaimed in Luke that the Spirit

was upon him to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. This refers to the year of Jubilee

proscribed for the Israelites by Moses. This is a year of release and restoration

economically, environmentally and socially. It is a year of trusting in the presence and

provision of God. This image is much different than that of miracle-worker who is able

to cure a few different individuals.

I have recently become aware of a movement in 18th century of groups called the

Levelers and Diggers. This group was reacting against the privatization of British land

and the Atlantic waters. It was language of the Spirit that shaped a communal

consciousness that affirmed equality across race, nationality and gender. In what was

perhaps the most interesting insight from this movement was how this group was

characterized at sea. In their rejection of the injustice of the trading and manufacturing

ships, which were based on privilege, wealth and production, it was often many of the

levelers and diggers that came to be known as pirates. One historian notes that it was

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actually on some pirate ships that the most democratic and egalitarian spaces in the

western hemisphere at the time. It was language of the Spirit who tears down and builds

up that enabled groups to create new social realities. The Spirit came upon Jesus to heal

and restore ourselves and our world. The disciples were not far off in asking if Jesus

would now restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus did not reveal the time of that fulfillment

but shared the gift of the Spirit which was the power to witness to and shape that

kingdom throughout the world.

And so the Spirit came at Pentecost on the disciples as they gathered together.

The sound of a strong wind came from heaven and filled the house. Then they saw what

looked like tongues of fire resting on each of them. John the Baptist had told them that

there is one coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The Holy

Spirit fills them and enables them to speak all sorts of different languages. Now the

expression of speaking in tongues can be a controversial issue at best among

denominations but the context of these diverse tongues or languages is clear. When the

Spirit broke in among the disciples it was not without attracting attention. People

gathered to see what happened and to their amazement each one of them heard their own

language being spoken, and what’s more all these languages were coming from these

small town Galileans. The text is nearly exhaustive in listing who was present to witness

this event. It says that there “there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from

every nation under heaven. . . . 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.” As Jesus said before leaving the Spirit will enable you to

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be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Jesus remains faithful to the promise made to

Abraham and to the line of David and to the vision of prophets that God has in store one

kingdom of blessing and of justice. This global village that has gathered is first thrown

into chaos as to what is going it says that they were amazed, bewildered perplexed. The

Spirit comes and disarms, dismantles our concepts of truth and reality. It takes a small

sharp axe to the inflexible tree of ideas that shapes our world.

But the Spirit also comes to build up, to proclaim to God’s kingdom. Peter stands

up in the midst of this confusion and says to the crowd that what they are witnessing is

what was spoken of by the prophet Joel. Peter goes on to quote a beautiful refrain

outlining the work of the Spirit. It goes as follows,

In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
I will be indiscriminate and foolishly generous. No one will be able to lay claim to
special privileges or access to truth, love and power of my Spirit. No it will pour out on
all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

God’s Spirit will not be confined by the differences of gender. Male and female are both
in God’s image and prophetic truth will flow from both their mouths.

your young men will see visions,

God’s Spirit is not the possession of the aged. You do not earn the authority of the Spirit
simply because you are older.

your old men will dream dreams.

But neither are the old discounted. To silence those you think are no longer productive or
relevant is to risk silencing the Spirit.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
The voice of God’s Spirit will not be bound even in those bearing the yoke of oppression
and slavery. Those who are abused will receive God’s Spirit and speak God’s Truth.

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I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

The order of the world will be shaken. The whole world is the arena of God’s Spirit and
submits to no other.

And the final word from Joel calls out,

And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.
All who raise their voices above the clamor and competing claims of our idols; all who
break the silence demanded by the machinery of fear and control; all who call out to the
name of the Lord, the one whose name is love and peace and hope and justice; all who
call out on the name of the Lord will be saved; all of these will be saved.

For too many of us and in too much of our lives the machinery of fear and control

has grown roots deep into our culture and our identity. We have lost what it means to see

visions, dream dreams, and prophesy. We have lost the language of calling out to the

Lord. At Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit enabled the church to speak these truths to

all people. We must enroll in the school of the Spirit. Have we set aside time to take

lessons in the vocabulary of value and justice? We need to know the clear and simple

words for the value of human life and for our creation. These words are not called on to

be productive, efficient or powerful. They name simply the truth of our existence. These

words descend on us as dove with the divine words, you are my child, my beloved, in you

I am well pleased.

But we must also know the words that name the injustices around us. For many

of us the word justice has lost too much meaning. We feel overwhelmed by all the causes

calling out for this one word and find that its meaning is coming under tremendous strain.

Some of us begin to feel like all of our actions are linked to some injustice in the world.

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The word justice to us begins to sound like hopelessness. We must offer new words to

support the broad shoulders of the word justice. These words will be taken up as small

and sharp axes laid to the tree bears fear, greed and compulsion. Ask the Spirit to offer

meaning and power to the words simplicity, forgiveness, care, repentance, graciousness,

hospitality, beauty, brotherhood and sisterhood. These are the Spirit’s words and they are

prepared for the task.

With these words we ask the Spirit to teach us the grammar of love to shape our

world. With these words the Spirit can inspire us to tell the stories, write the poems, sing

the songs and lead the protests for God’s kingdom. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost

and enabled the people to speak in many tongues so that all people could hear of Jesus

who came and of his kingdom.

Pray for the Spirit who tears down, who lays ax to root. Know that by definition

it will mean loss of power, of status and of security. Be aware of where you turn when

you are threatened and by aware of where our culture and nation turn when they are

threatened. Pray for the words that tear down these idols and create new spaces where

the kingdom will grow. And in these spaces pray for the Spirit who builds up, who heals

and releases. Pray that we might live with our neighbour as our brother and sister.

Pray that the Spirit would descend like a dove on us, our church, our children, our

friends and our neighbours that all would know the love and affirmation of being a child

of God.

There is a shift now in our church year. We have looked to Christ. We have

anticipated his birth, observed his life and watched over his death. We have celebrated

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his resurrection and observed his ascension. Christ now looks to us as his body and sends

his Spirit as our strength.

Come Holy Spirit. Come violent wind. Come breathe of life. Amen.

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