John 20: 19–23
Genesis 11: 1–10
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Come Holy Spirit. Come in your power. Open our ears to
listen. Amen.
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You and I serve a God who is always on the move, always going somewhere
we don’t expect him to go, always reaching out to people we
hardly expect Him to reach out to. In fact, on the Day of
Resurrection — to their astonishment – his disciples learned
that not even death could stop him, not even death could hold him still
and lifeless in that tomb. So, it should hardly come as a surprise
that he expects those who follow him to be willing to move,
willing to venture out to others, just as he does. Well, maybe it
shouldn’t surprise us, but it always does. And it
always has.
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Even in the pre–history days of the Book of Genesis — the
days after Noah and his family survived the Flood but before Abraham had
come on the scene — the Lord God expected the people he’d
created to keep moving and reach out to others, as they populated the
earth. But – surprise, surprise — God’s people
already had their own ideas.
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In those days, the author of Genesis tells us, everyone on Earth spoke
the same language, so moving about and meeting new people should not
have been difficult. But as one group reached a plain in the land
of Shinar, they decided to settle down there. And not only settle
down briefly but build for themselves permanent structures of
brick and mortar. They were tired, you see, of moving. They
were tired of meeting new people. So they didn’t just build
themselves permanent dwelling places; they built themselves a
fortress where no one else could get in, a fortress whose turrets
reached up to the heavens. For their concern was for
themselves – and not anyone else’s. And the Lord God,
looking down from the heavens, realized what they were up to. He
saw he had a rebellion on his hands. So he scrambled their
language. He garbled their speech so they could no longer
cooperate with one another to defy him. And then he scattered
them all over the earth – just as he’d told them to do on
their own. But – oh, that wasn’t the end of
it. Not by a long shot.
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Fast forward now to another group of people the Lord has entrusted with
special instructions, privileged information. Focus on the small
group of disciples on the night of the Resurrection, gathered together
in a house in Jerusalem. On the last night Jesus spent with them,
he had asked them to love and serve others as he had loved and served
them. Those were his final instructions to them. But this
evening, only three nights later, his disciples aren’t thinking
of loving and serving others at all. Just like those people on
the ancient plain of Shinar, they want to defend themselves
against others. For fear of the Jews, Luke says, they have locked
all the doors and shuttered the windows in that house – to keep
others out. But once again, the Lord has another idea entirely,
and it’s a lot more expansive than the disciples can imagine.
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Suddenly — they are not quite sure how — Jesus is right
there in their midst. And as he comes in, he says to them,
“Peace be with you.” Now, granted, in that day this
was a conventional Jewish greeting. But on the lips of Jesus, it
is more than that. It is a powerful word that redefines
reality for those disciples – because Jesus is their peace, and
in his presence they can feel that peace calming their fears,
saturating every fiber of their being.
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As I believe I’ve told you before, that word ‘peace’
[eirene in Greek] comes from an ancient Greek verb
[eirw] that means, “to knit together.” To feel
peace, then, is to feel put together, connected, secure. So that
evening when Jesus says to the frightened disciples, “Peace be
with you,” he is saying, in effect, “Let me put you
together. Let me knit you together – with me — not in
fear any longer, but in love. Let new life begin – my
life joined with your lives — right here, right now.” And
then, as good as his word, he seals the deal in the same way his heavenly
Father sealed the deal as he created Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden. That is, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit onto the
disciples – just as God the Father breathed new life – his
own life – into Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
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The Book of Genesis tells us that the Lord God created Adam and Eve in
his own image. Some people, hearing that, imagine that we, then,
must look like God. But of course, to be created in His image
means more than that. It means, when we are being our truest
selves, we will behave as He does – with steadfast
love . . . and
mercy . . . and compassion towards
others. So on that evening, by breathing his own life into that
handful of frightened disciples gathered in Jerusalem, Jesus is giving
them the new life, the fresh courage and energy they will need to
live a different kind of life — his kind of life. It is a
whole new beginning for them – not to satisfy their desires,
but to carry out God’s plan. And what was God’s
plan? You got it; it was to move out to others and
minister in love to them. Just as He had intended his people to
do from the very beginning.
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And then, as if there was any doubt about all this, Jesus says to them,
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He
wasn’t blessing them with peace, you see, simply to relieve their
fear and anxiety. He was blessing them for mission – his own
mission to the world as they went out to be the Body of Christ. It
would take a few more days – 50 days, to be exact – for
that mission to catch fire. But what Jesus did that evening was
the beginning of the birth of the Church.
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This is what we celebrate every year on Pentecost. In some churches
someone will wave a long silken banner on the end of a pole to
simulate the mighty rushing wind that people heard on that day. Other
churches read the Gospel story in different languages to demonstrate the
wide diversity of people who would now hear the Good News of Jesus Christ
in their own languages. And some churches — just as
we’e done this morning — will ask everyone to wear red or
orange or yellow – some color of the flame to symbolize those
tongues — as of fire — that suddenly appeared above each
disciple’s head. But I think there’s another way we
can celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. And
it is simply to do what he has commanded us to do – which
is to reach out beyond ourselves to others – with the love of
Jesus — and feel the blessing of Jesus’ presence,
Jesus’ joy and peace within us. And you never know when
that little celebration might begin.
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It happened for me this week at Ingles Supermarket in Madison. You
know how you are always trying to find the shortest check–out
line, behind people who have just a few packages in their cart? Well,
last Tuesday I thought I’d spied that ideal check–out line,
because the diminutive Black woman ahead of me had only three pork
roasts in her cart. But when she went to pay for them, she came up
short of money to pay for the last package.
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“I doṉt know what I’m going to do,” she said to
the cashier. “My husband and I have a little ministry in
our neighborhood, preparing food for people we know are having trouble
making ends meet. And since the pork roasts were on sale this
week, I thought they’d be perfect.”
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Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit tapping you on the
shoulder? I sure felt that nudge in that moment.
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“How much are you short?” I asked. “I’ll
pay for that roast.”
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Her jaw dropped. “You will?” she
asked. “Really? O my Goodness, you’re my
angel!”
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“No, Ma’am,” I said. “You and your husband
are the angels in your neighborhood. You two are doing the
work. I’m just playing a small part.”
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And I don’t know who was happier, who had the greater joy in that
little transaction – her or me. Because we both were
blessed. We both walked out of that supermarket
rejoicing. And when I got out to the parking lot, there she was,
telling her whole family – all waiting in the car for
her — “There she is! There’s my
angel!” And they were all smiling, all waving to
me. By the grace of God, just for a moment, we had bridged an
ethnic divide. And we were all rejoicing.
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That was my Pentecost celebration this week. And by God’s
grace, I trust the Holy Spirit will offer you your own very soon
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Amen
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