Yesterday, on the final day of Elizabeth II’s Plantinum Jubilee celebrations, I led matins for the first time. The Book of Common Prayer morning prayer service is Queen Elizabeth’s favourite service.
More importantly, it was the feast of Pentecost, and I had the privilege of preaching the following sermon. The audio will be linked to when it is available.
Today I’m going to invite you on a journey of your imagination, first as someone in the Jerusalem crowd, and then as a disciple who had been waiting for, and received the Holy Spirit.
Imagine you are a Jew from Parthia, come to stay in Jerusalem for the Festival of Weeks. Your friend has been
telling you about the events of the Passover, including the crucifixion of a man from Nazareth whom you saw do deeds of power, signs and wonders, last time you were here. Then, you’d wondered whether He could be the Messiah. Now, there were rumours that he’d risen from the dead, and the soldiers guarded his tomb had been executed. But those were just rumours. How could you know if they were true?
You step out, early in the morning, to go to the market. What can you smell?
The city is busy, full of people from all over the Roman Empire, What can you hear?
Suddenly, the noise around you increases. There’s a great crowd of people gathering, bewildered, nearby, you wonder what’s going on. You find some Galileans, speaking in all sorts of languages! Suddenly you hear one speaking in your native languages, Aramaic and Parthian.
Someone is shouting over the noise, telling you about how God has raised someone from the dead, healed the sick, forgiven sins!
What are you thinking? What are you feeling?
One of the men who had been speaking in many languages,
starts speaking in the common language, Greek. “These people can’t be drunk – it’s only 9 in the morning!”. He explains that this is what prophet Joel had spoken about, of the coming of the Lord’s day. He reminds you about Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, the man you remembered, wasn’t just any man. He was God’s man, the Holy One, the Messiah. Jesus is the one that has been raised from the dead, the rumours are true! He reminds the crowd that it was them that crucified this Lord, the Messiah.
What are you thinking? What are you feeling?
Perhaps you feel weighed down by the things you have done wrong, or perhaps you are wondering how anyone could be raised from the dead. Perhaps you feel desperate for God to do something in your life, or in the lives of those you love. Could that be possible?
Then the reassurance comes. You can receive God’s gift, your sins can be forgiven. You can receive power from God, like these people had!
You can’t just walk away. You will be forever changed.
It was only 10 days ago that Jesus had taken us out of the city, and we’d asked him whether he was going to restore the kingdom of Israel. He’d told us we couldn’t know the times that the Father sets, that we needed to focus on telling the whole earth about who He was, what He had done, all that we had seen. Jesus had told us that we needed to wait for a promised gift from God, when power would come upon us.
With that task, we’d certainly need it! It still felt like a long
time though, I’d never been good at waiting!
We returned to the house, and devoted ourselves to prayer,
settling in to wait, but I confess, I was starting to feel a bit
fidgety! Then… on the day of Pentecost, we thought we’d
heard a violent wind, filling the entire house. Little whisps,
tongues, of what looked like fire, rested on those around me,
and I knew by the way the others looked at me, that one
rested on me too. I felt this sense of power, and then I began
to speak. Well, I say speak, but I have no idea what I was
saying! We were all compelled to go out into the streets, and
words which we didn’t understand flooded out of our
mouths. Somehow, I knew that we were doing what Jesus
had told us to – speaking about all of the wonders of God. A
crowd started to gather around us with lots of muttering.
Some were wondering what it was all about, but others were
laughing at us and saying we were drunk.
Peter spoke up. I’m not quite sure how he knew what was
going on, it must have been the new power we’d received
from God. He spoke of prophecy, of dreams and visions, and
the coming day of the Lord. He spoke of Jesus of Nazareth,
who He was, what He did, and what God had done in raising
Him from the dead. He told the crowd that Jesus had been
“freed from death, because it was impossible for him to be
held in its power.” Peter understood that this was the
promise of God, not just for us, but for all who believed in
Jesus! This gift, poured out for others to see and hear, so that they might believe. He urged the crowd to repent, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. He said that by repenting and being baptised, their sins would be forgiven, and they, too, would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This promise is for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to
Him. That day, God added 3000 people to our number, and
somehow, we weren’t surprised. It was like it was meant to
be, as soon as we received the power of God in that house.
I’m going to read a few portions of the part of Peter’s sermon
that we didn’t have read earlier.
As I read them, let the words sink into your heart, and open yourselves up to what God wants to do in you and through you.
“… listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him… This man was handed over to you
by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you, with
the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to
the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him
from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death
to keep its hold on him.”
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
“Repent and be baptised, 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. The promise is for you and your children and all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
If you have never come to Christ or received the Holy Spirit, I invite you to say this prayer in your head with me, and then
we will hold a couple of minutes of silence before we sing the
next hymn. You may find it helpful to hold your hands out in
front of you as you pray.
“Father God, I repent of my sins. I turn around and choose to
follow you and your ways today, in the name of Jesus Christ,
who was crucified, and whom you have raised from the dead.
I need your Holy Spirit to give me your power to live life your way. Come, Holy Spirit.“
repairerofwalls 