Pentecost Sunday Sermon | May 19, 2024

It’s Pentecost! Today, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the formation of the Church. This sermon explores both Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit to be an Advocate for the disciples after he is no longer physically with them, and the fulfillment of that promise in Acts 2. 

Each year we celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the Church because nearly 2,000 years later, the Holy Spirit is still at work among us, enabling us to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world. The Holy Spirit comes to the apostles, reinvigorating them after Jesus’ ascension and sending them out into the world. May we listen to the Holy Spirit at work in, on, and through us this week as we seek to faithfully follow Jesus together!

Today’s Scripture readings are Romans 8:22-27, John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15, and Acts 2:1-21. Much of the first half of this sermon is adapted from my 2021 Pentecost Sunday sermon. Here’s the sermon podcast audio and the livestream from Living Hope.

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Grace to you and peace from the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

I know it feels like summer is here, but there’s still a couple more weeks of school left, so I have a new vocabulary word for you this morning. I think I’ve only mentioned this word once in a sermon here before. Ready?

Here it is: Today’s church word of the day is “paraclete” from the Greek, Par-ah-kleh-tos.

Any idea what paraclete means? It’s the word Jesus uses in our Gospel reading today for the Holy Spirit. In our version, it’s translated as “advocate,” meaning someone who’s on your side. Paraclete is almost like a lawyer, but it’s much more than that. It’s a helper, a teacher, a guide.

Today’s Gospel reading from John comes from the conversation Jesus has with his disciples towards the end of his life, at the last supper, less than 24 hours before he is going to be crucified. We already talked about how in this little time he has left with them, he commands them to love one another as they have been loved.

And then, Jesus gives them this promise of the Holy Spirit. He promises them that even though he won’t physically be with them anymore, they will not be left alone.

Instead, God’s presence will be with them in a new way. Jesus will send them an advocate, the Paraclete. Some translations say a “comforter.” Literally, paraclete means “one who walks alongside you, accompanies you, goes with you.” God’s Spirit, the spirit of truth, the person of the Trinity we call the “Holy Spirit” will be with them, to guide them into the truth, to keep them connected to God, connected to their creator.

In today’s reading from Acts, we hear the fulfillment of that promise. The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, shows up. It’s dramatic—there’s sounds of rushing wind, it looks like bits of fire resting on them, and they start speaking in different languages.

You might have noticed I flipped the readings for today and gave Ron and Ralph the gospel reading instead of Acts 1. I have this fear sometimes on Pentecost that whoever is assigned that reading from Acts with all those names might never want to read again, and I think it’s fun to get the tongue-twister of “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia” and all the rest. They sound so foreign, so strange. They’re places we’re not familiar with, people who are different than we are.

It helps a little bit to put it in modern language. Listen to what this story sounds like with the same places, but with modern names.

“There were faithful Jewish people from around the world who were in Jerusalem at the time, to celebrate the festival of Pentecost, and when they heard the great WHOOSH a crowd gathered at the house where the apostles were, and they were confused as they listened to the apostles speak, because each person heard the apostles speaking in their own native language.

Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Aren’t all of these people from the same place in Galilee? How can they be talking in so many languages at once? We are from Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, Iran and Iraq, Israel and Palestine and many parts of Turkey, including near Istanbul and Ankara; some of us are from Egypt and northern Libya, or visiting from Rome in Italy, from the island of Crete or from Saudi Arabia. But still we all hear the apostles speaking about God’s deeds of power in our own languages!” All of them were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another ‘What does this mean?’”

This is not some fairy tale with made up words. The events of the Bible happened a long time ago, but they’re not in a galaxy far, far away—they’re here in our world. I think sometimes we forget we can actually go to the places these people are from. We can go to where these stories took place. Maybe not the safest parts of the world, but it is possible.

But the point of Pentecost is that when the Holy Spirit enters our world, there is no longer any us or them. The Holy Spirit is speaking everyone’s native language. No one is an outsider. This is a preview of God’s kingdom.

Not only has Jesus kept his promise to the disciples to send them a comforter, an advocate, to not leave them alone, the whole world is going to be included in this promise!

Last week as we looked at the story of Jesus ascending into heaven, we talked about how part of that story’s meaning is that Jesus’ presence is no longer limited to an earthly body. Jesus’ earthly ministry is complete; Pentecost is about what comes next.

God is still going to be working in the world, but it’s going to look different. Without getting into the complexities of Trinitarian theology, it’s not that Jesus did his part and now he’s gone, but Jesus’ presence is now expanding beyond just one time and place. The ministry continues in the church, the body of Christ. Now Jesus—the One who is God with us—is present everywhere, in the places we least expect to find God’s presence.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is God. God is still with us. And not with us only, but with people all over the world. Pentecost is about God’s presence showing up in unexpected ways and unexpected places.

As a way to help you remember this—you might have noticed when you got here this morning—the Lighthouse youth who spent the night here on Friday for their lock-in spread little Jesus figures throughout the building. (This idea came from this TikTok video from Pastor Brian Trent.)

It’s hard to come up with a representation of the Holy Spirit, which is part of the point, right? Little plastic flames? Doves? The Spirit is hard to define. But the work of the Holy Spirit is to point us to Jesus, to remind us of God’s presence. Obviously, God is not limited to a piece of plastic, or even to the physical man from Nazareth whom the pieces of plastic represent. But Jesus is the one who revealed God to us. God chose to enter this world, to be born in the person of Jesus Christ.

Take it home, and put it where where you’ll see it. Maybe not somewhere obvious, but perhaps somewhere where you’ll stumble upon it as a reminder that God is present with you. God’s spirit is with you, not limited to within the church building, but wherever you go. In your heart, but not just as some kind of sentimental memory, but because you are part of the body of Christ.

You are God’s hands and feet in this world. The point of Pentecost is that through the Holy Spirit, God is dwelling in you, in the whole Church. In baptism, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ. You are Christ’s body in this world. God is working through you.

Nearly 500 years ago, St. Teresa of Avila put it like this:

“Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

If you travel to Istanbul or Turkmenistan, to the home of the Elamites or the Cappadocians, to Rome or Cyrene or Milwaukee or Madison or even Minnesota, God goes with you. And God is already there.

When you have times you feel alone, when you wonder if God is present with you, the Holy Spirit is the One working to reassure you, to comfort you, to draw you back to God.

Paul has that wonderful reminder that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” When we don’t know what to pray, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to form the words, to lead and guide us. The Spirit is the One interceding for us, the Paraclete, God working on our behalf.

How does the Spirit work? Luther talks about the Spirit leading us to faith, stirring up faith within us. When someone comes to mind and you take a moment to pray for them, to thank God for them and ask God to help them, perhaps that’s a nudge from the Holy Spirit.

When you see something broken in the world, or you see someone in need, and you feel the urge to help, that’s the Holy Spirit working on you, in you, through you. The Spirit calls us together as the church and sends us out to share the good news. Pass on that little plastic Jesus to someone as a symbol of that good news of Jesus.

On your way out today, you’re also going to get a sheet of Bible verses, suggestions to look up and read when you’re feeling doubtful, sick, thankful, all sorts of ways. The Holy Spirit works through those Scripture readings, reminding you of God’s presence with you.

Jesus uses Paraclete to describe what the Holy Spirit does, but the actual word used in Acts to identify the Holy Spirit is “pneuma,” which means wind, breath, air. Think of a pneumatic device, something that runs on air pressure.

The Holy Spirit is blowing through the church, blowing through the world. God breathes through you as the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is connecting you to your Creator.

As the disciples discover, the path is not always easy, but the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, is accompanying you on your journey, guiding, calling, drawing you to the right path, back to your Creator, stirring up faith, and reminding you of Jesus, of the grace God has shown to you.

Trust that God is accompanying you on the way, and may the Holy Spirit fill you today and always. Amen