ANOTHER KIND OF PENTECOST

Sermon Presented to St. Paul's Church

Pentecost Sunday, Acts 2:1-21, John 20:19-23, Year A
June 8, 2014 Thack Dyson

If the balloons and red attire haven't given it away, today is Pentecost Sunday.

This is the day we hear from the Acts of the Apostles about the coming of the Holy Spirit

with fire and people speaking in tongues. The Spirit arrives with a bang and it's

reasonable to assume the gathered disciples and believers felt a myriad of emotions from

fear to joy. This is the birthday of the Church and we are reminded about God's presence

with us through the third person of the Trinity.

Most of us are familiar with Luke's version of the story that we read from Acts

this morning. However, we heard another reading today that gave us a different view of

the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Can you remember which one I am talking about?

I am obviously referring to our reading from the 20th Chapter of John's Gospel

when Jesus made his first post-resurrection appearance to his disciples. And what a stark

contrast between this story and the one from our reading from Acts!

Rather than a cacophony of noise, wind, flames, and people speaking in different

languages, we have Jesus appearing to the huddled disciples in the Upper Room and

saying, "Peace be with you." (John 20:19). He later breathes on them and said to them,

"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you

retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20:23).

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 Honestly, that's more like an Episcopalian version of Pentecost! Everything done

with dignity and good order. However, what is Jesus saying in John's version of

Pentecost? What are we to make of this story? You certainly can't decorate the nave with

red balloons and serve cake to this narrative? Or, maybe you can. Before I explain, I

would like to tell you an interesting and true story.

You historians know that V-J Day stands for Victory over Japan Day -- August

15, 1945. The fighting ended the day before on August 14 when the Japanese agreed to

unconditionally surrender.

The surrender was formalized on September 2, 1945 aboard the battleship U.S.S.

Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Acting by command of and in behalf of the Emperor of Japan,

the Japanese Empire admitted defeat and surrendered to the allied forces. After V-J Day,

the most devastating war in human history was finally over.

Even though Japan had been defeated, one Japanese soldier continued fighting.

According to an article in Newsweek Magazine, on March 10, 1974, Lt. Hiroo Onoda was

the last World War II Japanese soldier to surrender.1

Onoda had been left on the island of Lubang in the Philippines on December 25,

1944, with the command to "carry on the mission even if Japan surrenders." He was also

told by his commanding officer, Maj. Yoshimi Taniguchi, that "he was to continue the

fight until he personally rescinded the order." Onoda and three other Japanese soldiers

were left on the island as Japan evacuated Lubang. One soldier surrendered in 1950.

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Kermit Lansner, Newsweek Magazine, March 25, 1974.

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Another was killed in a skirmish with the local police in 1954. Another was killed in

1972. Despite these losses, Onoda continued his war alone.

All efforts to convince him to surrender or to capture him failed. He ignored

messages from loudspeakers announcing Japan's surrender and that Japan was now an

ally of the United States. Leaflets were dropped over the jungle begging him to surrender

so he could return to Japan. He refused to believe or surrender.

Over the years he lived off the land and raided the fields and gardens of local

citizens. He was responsible for killing at least 30 Filipinos over the next twenty-nine

years. Almost a half million dollars was spent trying to locate and convince him to

surrender. It is estimated 13,000 troops and police were used to try to locate him.

The turning point came on Feb. 20, 1974, when he met a young globe-trotter,

Norio Suzuki, who went to Lubang in pursuit of Onoda. Suzuki quietly pitched camp in

various clearings on the island in hopes of making contact with Onoda. Surprisingly, he

did connect with Onoda after only four days on the island. He tried to convince Onoda to

surrender and go home. Onoda refused, citing the authority of his commanding officer’s

order not to surrender unless he personally countermanded the order.

Suzuki returned to Japan and contacted the government, which located Onoda’s

superior, Maj. Yoshimi Taniguchi, and flew him to Lubang to deliver his surrender order

in person. Maj. Taniguchi met with Onoda and read the terms of the cease-fire order and

directed Onoda to surrender. He said to Onoda the four words that brought to an end his

29 years of combat. He said to Onoda, "The war is over."

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 Finally, on March 10, 1974, almost 30 years after World War II ended, Onoda

surrendered his rusty sword to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos officially

"pardoned" Onoda for his post-war activities, including the deaths of the Filipino citizens.

Finally, the war was over for Onoda.

Onoda returned to Japan a hero and something of a sensation. He was offered his

back pay for his 29 years of service and given a royalty check for $160,000.00 for the

right to publish his story.

Onoda was reportedly unhappy being the subject of so much attention and

troubled by what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. In April 1975, he

followed the example of his elder brother Tadao and left Japan for Brazil, where he raised

cattle. He married in 1976 and assumed a leading role in Colônia Jamic (Jamic Colony),

the Japanese community in Terenos, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. However, after reading

about a Japanese teenager who had murdered his parents in 1980, Onoda returned to

Japan in 1984 and established the Onoda Shizen Juku ("Onoda Nature School"). It was

educational camp for troubled young people, held at various locations in Japan. He and

his wife then spent the next twenty-five years working with at risk youth. Onoda died

from heart failure this past January in a Tokyo Hospital. He was 91 years old.

Think of what Onoda missed during the 29 years he continued fighting. He had

missed the restoration of Japan as a world power. He had missed births and deaths,

weddings and anniversaries. Ironically, he also missed his country becoming staunch

allies with the very people he was still fighting against. His fighting on was a major loss

for him. He missed the peace.

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 It’s a fascinating and sad story, isn’t it? It's sad because he spent the better part of

his life fighting a war that was already over. In the process he killed and wounded many

innocent people and was indirectly responsible for the deaths of two of his soldiers. All

because he refused to believe that the war was over.

While Onoda's story may seem unusual and tragic, I think many of us could

probably play the starring role in the movie version of Onoda’s saga. Aren’t many of us

still fighting wars we don’t need to be fighting? You know, the wars we have with each

other. The wars we have with ourselves.

How many of us continue to wage war against those who hurt us? How many of

us continue to nurse old wounds and in the process relive a painful experience from our

distant past? How many of us continue to wage war on ourselves, wallowing in

unnecessary guilt, fear and regret over past and largely forgotten mistakes? While many

of us may try to deny it, the truth is we have spent much of our lives like Lt. Onoda---

living in distrust, living in hiding, living in anger and fear.

When will we realize the war is over? Four simple words. I’m not saying that life

isn’t hard; it can be terribly hard; some of us know that all too well. And I’m not saying

that there are not battles to be fought – for justice, for honor, and for freedom. I am

saying that we must choose our battles very carefully or we risk wasting our lives in

conflicts that we have no business being in or fighting.

Jesus understood this human tendency to wage emotional wars with each other

and with ourselves, and knew this tendency could corrode one's soul. When he appeared

in the Upper Room after the resurrection, the first thing he said to the disciples was

"Peace be with you." He knew that if the disciples had conflicted hearts they would never

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be able to be effective apostles and carry on his mission. That's why he breathed on them

and said "Receive the Holy Spirit." They could have this peace by receiving the Holy

Spirit. They had to be at peace with themselves and each other in order to build the

Church.

Are you missing God’s peace? Are you still fighting battles that only rob you of

joy? If you are, then listen to the words of Jesus. Jesus is telling us this Pentecost, just as

he told the disciples, that the war is over. Receive the Holy Spirit and lay down your arms

of anger, bitterness, guilt, and an unforgiving spirit. The Holy Spirit is inviting you to

surrender. If you do, you will actually win.

AMEN