WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.600 The Acts reading, but I empathize with every uh Pentecost. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:10.240 As we have all the readings and all the languages that nobody understands, and you have priests throwing rose petals up into the air. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:12.640 You do wonder what they had with breakfast. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:23.839 Today is the Feast of Pentecost, and it's one of my favorite feasts of the year, because it's one of the feasts I get to throw things at you, which always elevates the feast for me. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:27.280 But it's a special day. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:37.759 According to Moses, our teacher, and the law, there are three pilgrimage festivals on which the people of Israel must present themselves to the Lord. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.719 And today is one of those days. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:47.679 This is the feast of Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of Weeks. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.320 In Greek, that last one is called Pentecost. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:57.600 And so we keep the Feast of Pentecost, just as the apostles kept the Feast of Pentecost. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:01.759 Moses tells us to count 50 days after the Passover. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:04.319 And then God will lead us somewhere. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:09.519 And so we have counted 50 days after the Passover, after Easter, our Passover. 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:11.680 And God has led us somewhere. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:15.120 He has led us to Jerusalem, the holy city. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:22.319 Now, when Moses led us 50 days after Passover, where did he take us in the law? 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:23.760 Who recalls? 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:30.400 It's a big mountain. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:31.439 Sinai. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:32.719 Sinai. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:34.560 Good job. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:37.519 And what is given to us at Sinai? 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:38.239 The law. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:39.519 The law. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:44.239 The law of Moses was given at Sinai on Pentecost. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:44.959 Shaw. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:50.400 The law is delivered to us by an angel and by the hands of his servant Moses on Pentecost. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:54.640 And in the church, the law has now been written on our hearts. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:02.000 There's all kinds of biblical typology in the scriptures about Pentecost, and I'll ramble off a couple because I talk about the law. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:07.840 One, the Holy Scriptures tell us that water always presupposes that it will be met with fire. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:17.199 When water flooded the earth in the days of Noah, we are told that it will never again be flooded, but the earth will be judged, the living and the dead, by fire. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:23.199 The prophet Elijah pours water over the sacrifice and it is consumed by fire. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:30.000 We are led through the waters of the Red Sea, and Moses takes us up to the mountain where the law is delivered to us in fire. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:33.520 This is what the psalmist is referencing in the Psalms that we read this morning. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:37.280 He says, if he even touches the mountains, they smoke. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:42.400 The law was delivered to us in fire and smoke because it is when God came down. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:48.479 And the psalmist remembers if he even touches the mountains, they give way to smoke. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:54.479 And so those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, this water presupposes another. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:54.960 St. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:56.800 John the Baptist tells us this. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:01.599 I will baptize you with water, but there is another who will baptize you with fire. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:04.879 And so water was always meant to give way to fire. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:13.520 And so the apostles and their followers in Christ's holy church, we who have been united to our Lord by holy baptism, await the fire. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:18.960 Just as the apostles awaited the fire in that upper room with the Blessed Virgin Mary. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:22.319 And the Spirit descended and came down. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:30.639 Another thing we need to know about Pentecost is that it is the undoing of our third, our second fall. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:35.120 In the book of Genesis, we see this ever-fracturing narrative. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:37.039 I talk about this a lot, but pay attention. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:42.719 In the book of Genesis, there's this ever-facturing that sin causes. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:46.159 Separation between God and man produces what? 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.120 Separation between man and man. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:51.599 Separation between man and man, which produces what? 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:53.680 Separation between man and nature. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:54.960 Man and nature. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:00.240 Think of our first parents, Adam and Eve, they sin against God, and immediately they turn on each other. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:01.280 Immediately. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:02.800 It's the woman you gave them. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:07.680 And so this rift between man and God now leads to a rift between man and man. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:11.280 And immediately the earth rises up against them. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:18.000 The trees and the bushes begin to produce thorns and thistles, and Adam, our father, works by the sweat of his brow. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:19.439 Think of Cain and Abel. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:23.439 Cain sins against God, immediately kills Abel. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:25.279 An overreaction. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:27.839 But immediately kills Abel. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.040 And the earth resists him and cries out against him. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:32.639 The blood of Abel in the earth. 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:35.839 And the punishment of Cain is that he'll be separated from the earth. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:38.560 He will never find rest anywhere. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:43.680 The earth itself resists him, and there will never be a place for him that is his. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:45.920 He is separated from the earth. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:48.800 Same with the Tower of Babel, we sin against God. 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:51.920 We say, we will build this tower and we will take heaven by force. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:56.560 Never again will God flood the earth, because my tower is too big. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:02.480 And this produces the separation of man and man, the division of our languages. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:07.439 And then we are scattered across the face of the earth, once again removed from the land. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:14.959 Separation between man and God produces separation between man and man produces separation between man and nature, existence itself. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:22.240 And we can feel that separation in ourselves, or we even begin to feel that tension or that dissonance in our very being. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:25.360 The separation from self, from self. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:34.560 We see the restoration between God and man and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:39.759 Man and God are unified forever in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.199 This is the incarnation. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:42.240 This is Easter. 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:43.439 This is the ascension. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.480 Never again can God ask, where are you? 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:50.480 Because man is forever with God and God with man. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:52.319 Pentecost. 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:57.759 Pentecost is the healing of that separation between man and man. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:04.160 Where the languages are divided at Babel, they're united here in Pentecost. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:10.160 Where everyone hears the glories of God declared to them in their own languages. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:13.920 And once again there is restoration and healing. 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:15.759 Now we often stop there. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:20.959 Many priests, myself included, get really fixated on Babel for good reason. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:23.279 But I mentioned other rifts. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:27.839 Pentecost is not just the healing or restoration of Babel. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:34.000 Pentecost is also the initiation or the restoration of Christian marriage. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:41.360 That rift between our first parents, Adam and Eve, now restored in Pentecost, and they're truly one flesh with each other. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:47.360 The division between brother and brother experienced by Cain and Abel, later Jacob and Esau. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:51.600 Not until Ephraim and Manasseh do you have two brothers who get along with each other. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:58.480 There's a lot of the Bible from beginning to the Ephraim and Manasseh, where brothers do not get along with brother. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:03.360 And we still feel that tension, not just in the scriptures, but in our own lives. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:06.319 It is healed here at Pentecost. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:13.040 Where once again true fraternity, true brotherhood is restored to mankind. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:18.399 To the point where even we can lay down our lives for each other as our Lord speaks of them. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:21.519 Greater love hath no man than he laid down his life for his friend. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:25.040 This is true brotherhood, true fraternity. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:34.399 The scriptures say surely someone might lay down their life for a good person, but a bad person, this is restored to us at Pentecost. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:39.680 Pentecost, the breath of God, which has been breathed into his church. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:48.480 Once again, reconstituting, remaking it, and humanity is restored finally in the image of God. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.399 Think back to the Exodus. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:51.680 We are saved from a people. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:55.360 The Lord took us out of Egypt, and we are restored from Egypt. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:57.600 But are we a people yet? 00:07:58.240 --> 00:07:58.560 No. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:03.759 The text tells us explicitly that it was a mixed multitude that came out of Egypt. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.680 It was an amalgamation of peoples fleeing from Pharaoh. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.000 But they are not one unit. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:12.399 They are not one family. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:18.319 We do not have the twelve tribes as we come to find them in the rest of the Torah, in the rest of the law. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:24.800 It is not until Pentecost when that mixed multitude is reconstituted into a new people. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.560 But now we are a people. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:35.360 Because Pentecost, the law, unifying. 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:45.919 Once again, this mixed multitude coming together in Jerusalem, the Acts of the Apostles, they tell us explicitly, the Persians and Medes, and even some of those visitors from Rome. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:49.279 We have people from all over the face of the earth. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:50.960 But they are different. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:52.559 And they are separated. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:59.039 And this separation will continue to be felt in the Acts of the Apostles, to the institution of the diaconate. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:07.120 But we have this separation by linguistic and genetic lines until Pentecost. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:12.960 Where now we are one people because the breath of God has been returned to mankind. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:17.440 This is the recreation of the new man. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:22.960 Remember, God forms us with his hands in the beginning, Garden of Eden. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:28.320 God scoops together mud and whatever else happens to be lying in Eden. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:34.399 And then he breathes his life into this man, and he becomes a living beer. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:39.120 Well, now the breath of God has returned to mankind. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:45.919 Remember in Genesis, after the days of Noah, God Himself says, I will not contend with man forever. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.519 And there is a greater separation of the Spirit of God from man. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:56.320 Here we have the returning of God to man, where he will contend with us. 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:59.120 And not begrudgingly, but thanks be to God. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:00.639 He will rest with us. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:12.480 And so now we are the church, the new Adam, the very body and blood of Christ, a new being, a new people, a new organism which has not been seen since the days of Eden. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:17.120 This is the restoration of that second fall. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:21.360 And it is the return of God to creation. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:26.159 Adam and Eve, when God comes to judge them, Adam and Eve have sinned. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.159 They recognize their nakedness. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.240 They sew together fig leaves. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:33.360 And uh-oh, they hear something. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:35.919 God comes back to Eden. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:38.399 He's checking up on the house. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.759 It says that God comes to them at a particular time of day. 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:43.120 What time of day? 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:45.600 The cool of the day. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.159 Is this the best translation of that word? 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:48.960 Yeah. 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:52.080 Asking leading questions. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:55.039 How else can this be translated? 00:10:57.919 --> 00:10:58.320 Evening. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:00.960 It actually means the winds of the day. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:04.159 We translate it as cool because it's blustery. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:08.000 But it says that God has come into Eden in the winds of the day. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:15.279 This rush of the whirlwind of the presence of God, coming back into his temple and finding sinners waiting for him. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:17.679 Who have abandoned his covenant. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:24.559 So it's now God returns in that upper room with the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles, and the followers of Christ Jesus. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.039 I believe the text tells us about 120. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:29.279 It was very special to me. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:30.960 That's about how many people we have in St. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:31.679 Mark's. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:43.919 And in the cool of the day, in the winds of the day, the rushing whirlwind in the presence of God returns to the temple of God. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:46.639 But it does not find sinners. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:53.440 It finds those who have been sanctified and washed clean by the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:59.679 And so that breath of God re-enlivens us and fills us. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:05.120 And all hear the glories of God declared to them in their own language. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:09.919 And thanks be to God, this declaration has never ceased in the church. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:14.720 Now, we just had nine readings from the Bible. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:16.879 You all did admirably. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:22.799 And we had three readings of the same two texts. 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:34.320 We were only able to accomplish this because those passages of Holy Scripture had already been translated into those languages. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:49.519 This is the continuation of Pentecost, where the glories of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are still calling others to him, are still going out to the four corners of the earth. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:13:02.960 And instead of this dispersion, which took place when we were cast out of Eden, when we were cast away from Babel, when Cain was cast away from the land of Abel, now there is a calling back. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:13.279 And all people are being guided into this unique organism, which is the church, the very body of Christ, the new man. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:22.480 We believe that we are made Imago Dei, which means we are remade Imago Christi, which means what? 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:23.279 Image of Christ. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:24.559 Image of Christ. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:31.679 And so the Holy Spirit is also called the breath of Christ because it is his breath in our lungs which enlivens us. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:42.000 And it is for this reason that we have these scandalous assertions made by our Lord in the Gospels that we will do greater things than he will do. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:50.399 That the church will continue to move in strange, sometimes drunken ways, it seems. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:58.879 Because the breath is the breath of Christ, who enlivens his church and gives efficacy and life to that church. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:01.440 And so the church, thanks be to God, is still here. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:04.159 2,000 years ago we were made at Pentecost. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:07.759 Pentecost is often called the birthday of the church for this very reason. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:09.840 Is it really the birthday of the church? 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:10.240 No. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:11.679 Ask me after the service. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:12.799 That's a really fun question. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.120 When did the church start? 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:16.960 Pentecostal service. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.000 Ask me after the service. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:25.120 We're going to get a second sermon, and nobody needs this. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:26.879 We've already had enough readings. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:34.399 The church, this organism of Christ, has continued and continues to do the work of Christ. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:45.919 Namely, unifying all those who have been severed from Adam and severed from themselves, now reconstituted by the church, by her sacraments, by her word. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:52.639 Wherever you go around the world, you can find the liturgy of Christ Church spoken in the language of the people around the world. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:52.960 Why? 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:54.159 Because of Pentecost. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:58.559 Wherever you go around the world, you will find the Holy Scriptures spoken in native languages. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:14:58.879 Why? 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:00.080 Because of Pentecost. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:16.480 This is the work of God, the Holy Spirit, using ordinary people, fishermen, even, as scandalous and strange and unlikely as that is, tradesmen to bring the saving power of God to every facet of creation. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:18.320 We concluded this. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:28.000 The psalmist tells us, the psalm that we sang this morning, that the breath of God will blow upon the earth, restoring it. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:35.759 We've seen the inauguration of that restoration today on Pentecost. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.919 I have a fun set of words for all of you. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:43.600 We as Christians believe in an inaugurated eschaton. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:45.759 Everybody say inaugurated eschaton. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:49.200 What does that mean? 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:54.480 The beginning of the end. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.320 The end has started. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:01.440 What was the feast of Pentecost used for in the law? 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:04.159 Some of you guys have been to Bible school. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.080 You should be really embarrassed. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:10.159 What was Pentecost for? 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.440 The beginning of the harvest. 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:22.720 Pentecost is the first day that you can offer the first fruits. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:24.559 You cannot do it before Pentecost. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:26.879 Pentecost is the beginning of the wheat harvest. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:28.559 You cannot do it before Pentecost. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:33.039 Pentecost is the beginning of the in-gathering. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:34.240 This is why St. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:37.360 Paul can say that we are a kind of first fruits. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:38.159 Why? 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:39.759 Because of Pentecost. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.240 Now that harvest does terminate. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:52.080 It ends, it concludes in tabernacles, which the scriptures tell us is this picture of heaven, this picture of Zion, the holy city of God, is described as this place of tabernacles. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:53.200 That's the end of the harvest. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:54.799 We know what we're looking forward to. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:59.360 But Pentecost tells us that the harvest has started now. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:03.600 The end, the eschaton, has been inaugurated now. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:23.279 And so the labors of that great farmer, that Lord of the harvest, Jesus Christ, are going throughout his vineyard and his crops and his stocks of grain and bringing all not into the mill, not into the storehouses. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:25.519 Where are the first fruits brought? 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:28.720 Into the temple. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:31.200 Up to the very altar of God. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:35.279 And this is the work of the church because of Pentecost. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:43.920 To go out to gather and to bring into Christ's temple and to present them before the altar, which we will do very soon. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:48.160 Last bit of housekeeping. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:59.599 Pentecost, with all the readings and as many languages as we can, there's a tradition that the Our Father is said in whatever your native language is. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:02.480 So after the that's the end of the sermon, by the way. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:03.519 Sermon ended. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:13.519 As we move into the Holy Communion, when we get to the Lord's Prayer, we will not sing it, we will say it, and please say it in your native language. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:16.880 Or your favorite language, I suppose.