Pentecost_Untamed Grace
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Acts 2:1-13
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
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The Tower of Babel
Today is Pentecost. Today is the day that we Christians remember the descent of the holy spirit on the disciples of Jesus. The spirit appeared as tongues of flame above the heads of the disciples, and gifted them with the ability to “speak in tongues.”
Now, I place the phrase “speak in tongues” in quotations for a reason. What we mean when we use this phrase today is something a little bit different from what we’re told in Acts. This is not simply “ecstatic speech,” an ancient tradition of being moved by the god(s) to speak.
We’re told in verse 8 that everyone in the gathered crowd heard “in their native language.” And again in verse 11 “we hear them declare the wonders of God in our own tongues.” So, PENTECOST IS ABOUT LANGUAGE. It’s about God using humans to use language.
Is there another story in the Bible about language? A story about mankind sharing a common language? A story in which humans sought to build a tower to the actual heavens? For me, Pentecost represents the reversing of the Old Testament story about the Tower of Babel.
The story of the Tower of Babel can be found in Genesis, 11:1-9:
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”
In this story, God saw the activities of humans trying to build a tower “that reaches to the heavens.” We’re told that humanity was doing this so that they “could make a name for themselves” and gather themselves together in one place.
God took exception to their hubris. God destroyed the tower, scattered mankind, and made them speak different languages. The word “Babel” is the Hebrew word for “confusion,” but in the ancient Akkadian language of that part of the world, it meant “Gateway to god.”
The prophet Isaiah wrote something that sheds light on the motivation for building this tower. The passage can be found in Isaiah 14:12-14:
“How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.”
You see, the story of the Tower of Babel and this passage from Isaiah are both about DOING GOD’S JOB INSTEAD OF DOING GOD’S WORK. Isaiah tells us “YOU said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne about the stars of God.”
When we start to rely on our own ego to solve problems, we start to Edge God Out. EGO: Edging God Out. Sometimes, humans think they want to BE GOD. That they CAN BE GOD. That they are ALL-KNOWING.
EGO, Edging God Out, misses the fundamental point of our faith. As Christians, we simply try to get our EGOs out of the way, so that we can pass along the bountiful grace of God. We try to be EGO-less whenever possible.
Because when we get our EGOs out of the way, we can be a channel of God’s grace, and become useful to God. WE CHRISTIANS LIVE IN HUMILITY. We have to. We know that we don’t have all the answers. And we know there is something more, beyond our understanding.
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We Build Such Marvelous Towers
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories.
LHC lies in a tunnel 17 miles in circumference, at a depth of about 500 feet, beneath the France–Switzerland border near Geneva. In it, all sorts of crazy things happen. Beams of different atomic materials are smashed into each other at unbelievable speeds.
The LHC's goal is to allow scientists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics. The ultimate goal of this is to develop what’s called a Grand Unified Theory of the cosmos. GUT: Grand Unified Theory.
I think there is a healthy thing at work at the LHC: curiosity. Curiosity is Doubt done in Faith. Curiosity is about following questions, and getting some answers. But those answers only lead to more questions. And on and on.
This is the essence of why curiosity as a form of doubt is healthy for our faith. You see, curiosity is all about humility. We don’t know, and that’s the starting point of curiosity. We’re coming from a place of being radically open.
When we’re curious, it’s because we don’t know something – but we also know that we don’t know, and we’re open to the answer. This is Doubt in Faith. Because as people of faith, we are convinced that there is an entire cosmos behind the one we see and feel and touch.
As people of faith, we are convinced that there is something more out there, something beyond ourselves. If that doesn’t make you curious, I don’t know what will! We are more than encouraged to be curious. We’re allowed to have Doubt, when done in Faith.
You see, science describes facts, out of curiosity, and that is in no way a bad thing. The trouble comes in with the projection of facts into theories. Sir Peter Brian Medawar, who won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, once famously said “THEORIES DESTROY FACTS.”
What did Medawar mean by this? What does it mean to say “theories destroy facts?” To me, this means “we see things here locally, as humans on Earth, and we project those observations out into infinity…” This is where the trouble lies.
THEORIES DESTROY FACTS BECAUSE THEORIES GENERALIZE SPECIFIC OBSERVATIONS INTO HYPOTHETICAL PROJECTIONS. Often, these theories make perfect sense given the set of observations that underlie them. But where to stop projecting?
The tricky part of a theory comes in understanding where the theory has its limits. Does evolution describe the process of natural selection by which creates come to change over time based on their ecosystem? Of course. There is plenty of observation to back this up.
But can the theory of evolution tell us HOW LIFE CAME TO BE IN THE FIRST PLACE? Not really. Currently, our best guess is that the 4 nucleotides that make up our DNA (and 1 additional one used in RNA) were created deep in outer space.
How these 5 nucleotides reached Earth, organized themselves into DNA and RNA, and then further organized themselves into self-replicating stands that could power life – all of this is currently left unexplained by biology.
Similarly, the work being done at the LHC on this Grand Unified Theory – a “theory of everything,” as it’s often called – is observing all sorts of useful facts about the cosmos. And this is done out of curiosity, which is built on humility, and not at all a bad thing.
But right now, nothing in the theories of the hundreds of thousand of scientists currently at work in physics or biology can tell me why we’re able to be kind to someone when we don’t really feel like it. Or why we’re able to love someone who doesn’t first love us. Why we forgive.
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Our Kingdom Requires Connection
The Holy Spirit descends on Pentecost to fulfill a promise Jesus makes in Acts, Chapter 1. This is a promise about how the disciples will receive the power they need from God after Jesus has ascended. The story can be found in Acts 1:6-9:
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”
What do we find in this passage? The promise of Pentecost, the promise of the Holy Spirit that will come. But what is this promise in response to? JESUS PROMISES THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL COME TO HELP RESTORE THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL.
THIS NEW KINGDOM IS BUILT FROM THE POWER OF WITNESS. Jesus says “you will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,” and “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalm, and to the ends of the Earth.” It is the final teaching Jesus leaves us with before his Ascension.
Jesus’ final teaching for us is like this. “I have to be going now. But you will have help. That help will come from the Holy Spirit. When it comes, the Holy Spirit will help you restore the kingdom of Israel.”
When that Holy Spirit comes in the passage of Acts Chapter 2 – the passage describing Pentecost, which we read today – HOW DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT ANNOUNCE THIS ESTABLISHING OF THE “NEW KINGDOM OF ISRAEL?”
Does the Holy Spirit come and make soldiers out of men, to conquer the Roman Empire that’s been keeping them down? Does it bring super-human physical strength? Does it make men into something other than human – does it make them MORE THAN HUMAN?
Yes! And no. PENTECOST IS OF COURSE A MIRACLE. BUT IT IS NOT A MIRACLE OF PHYSICAL STRENGTH. BECAUSE THE “NEW KINGDOM OF ISRAEL” IS NOT A KINGDOM BUILT FROM EARTHLY POWER IN THE TRADITIONAL SENSE OF THE WORD.
YOU SEE, LANGUAGE IS POWER. Creative power. Often called “the logos.” Our ability to create is centered around our ability to communicate. Communication occurs bodily through our mouths and ears, but it is a spiritual act at it’s heart. It is communion with others.
At Pentecost, that ability to commune with others was returned. PENTECOST IS A REVERSAL OF THE STORY OF THE TOWER OF BABEL. The gift took the form of a flaming tongue. In mythology, flames tend to represent spirit, consciousness, and awakening.
Our own ability to awake, to achieve true consciousness is dependant on our ability to communicate. Remember, John tells us Jesus is “the Word made flesh.” From John Chapter 1:
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Jesus is the logos made flesh. He is the “light that shines in the darkness.” And that light is the Word. THERE IS POWER IN THE WORD, BECAUSE THERE IS POWER IN CONNECTION. THERE IS POWER IN WITNESS.
IN FACT, JESUS TELLS US WITNESS WILL BRING ABOUT A NEW KINGDOM. In a nutshell, this is the story we’re told in the Book of Acts. It is a story of witness. Of people on the ground, spreading the Word, person-to-person.
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Meet People Where They Are
To embody the logos properly, we must talk with others. We must commune with others. This means we must become mindful of others. TO ESTABLISH THE KINGDOM, WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT MOVES US TO WITNESS, TO CONNECT.
When we do this, our ideas are tested. Our point-of-views are brought into question. When we question ourselves, when we test our beliefs, and rid ourselves of that which holds us back, we gain the potential to transcend. To self-actualize.
Remember: “theories destroy facts.” TO WITNESS TO OTHERS, WE MUST SET ASIDE OUR “THEORIES” OF OTHERS, AND SEE SIMPLY THE FACTS OF OTHER HUMANS, STRUGGLING, AFRAID, LOST. IN NEED. JUST LIKE WE OURSELVES ARE.
Have you ever heard the phrase “actions speak louder than words?” St. Francis wrote “It is no use walking anywhere to preach, unless our walking is our preaching.” In other words, unless I am living the upside-down kingdom of God, it is simply absurd to go around talking about it.
THE SIMPLE GESTURE OF TAKING THAT FIRST STEP TOWARDS ANOTHER PERSON IS TO LIVE OUT THE PROMISE OF PENTECOST. THE PHRASE “SPEAKING SOMEONE ELSE’S LANGUAGE” COMES TO MIND. WE ARE CALLED TO MEET OTHERS WHERE THEY ARE.
We can’t expect the world to come to us. We are called to meet people where they are. If you can make disciples, you will build a church. Not the other way around. Going to church doesn’t make you a follower of Jesus.
It’s an important step – for many people, the most important step. But it’s a first step. It’s a beginning. We come to church to help understand God’s WORD, but we have to be willing to follow Jesus and do God’s WORK outside these walls.
We have to ask God to channel His love through us. to recognize the godliness of another individual. Everyone was made by God, in God’s own image. Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image.”
We’re all created in God’s image. We all have something Holy inside us. We are called to follow the example of Jesus, to recognize the fundamental sanctity of all people. We must recognize the fundamental sanctity of ALL people.
Not only people who attend church like we do. Not just people who agree with us politically, or who work respectably hard at what we think are respectable jobs. ALL people. Remember: SNAKES, “Sanctity-Nullifying Activities that Kill Enthusiasm for Service.”
SNAKES are bad. Let’s break down why. “Sanctity-Nullifying.” Sanctity, meaning “the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly.” Nullifying, meaning “negating.” “Sanctity-Nullifying Activities:” stop doing things that reduce your ability to see the holiness in other people.
Why are Sanctity-Nullifying Activities bad? Because they Kill your Enthusiasm for Service. HOW CAN WE FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS, AND BE KIND, OR LOVE, OR FORGIVE, IF WE THINK THERE ARE GROUPS OF PEOPLE WHO DON’T DESERVE SUCH GRACE?
WE HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO OPTIONS OF HOW TO LIVE. We can allow our theories about others to divide us into groups. We can think to ourselves “Trump voters are like this” or “people who voted for Biden generally do this.”
SO OPTION ONE IS WE CAN LET OUR THEORIES ABOUT OTHERS DESTROT THE FACT OF THEIR FUNDAMENTAL SANCTITY, THE FACT THAT, LIKE US, THEY ARE CREATED IN GOD’S IMAGE AND, LIKE US, THEY ARE LOVED BY GOD.
If we follow this model of life, we can allow ourselves to live a fractured state. Option one is to live like the people in the tower of Babel story, where we imagine ourselves at the center of the universe. We can imagine that nothing is beyond our knowledge, or our control.
We can allow ourselves to imagine that our theories about others – our divisions – do, in fact, kill the fact that Jesus died for EVERYTONE EQUALLY. WE CAN ALLOW OURSELVES TO BELIEVE THE THEORY THAT CHURCH PEOPLE ARE BETTER THAN OTHER PEOPLE.
We use our EGOs to Edge God Out. Or, we can choose option two. We can choose to live a more balanced life, where we recognize the fundamental sanctity of EVERYONE. OPTION TWO IS CONSTANTLY SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND OTHERS, TO CONNECT, TO COMMUNICATE.
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Translators, Not Interpreters
Option two lives out of the promise of Pentecost. Option two sows understanding, and empathy. How can we establish the “new kingdom” without such connection? WE ARE CALLED TO BE TRANSLATORS OF THE WORD, NOT INTERPRETERS.
Have you ever thought about the difference between translating and interpreting? Often, the difference between the two is confused. So I looked up a degree program for a Master’s Degree in Translation to understand how these two things differ from one another.
The main difference between the two is that interpretation deals with spoken language in real time, while translation focuses on written content. Translators are able to sit with a text, and use all sorts of tools to get the meaning just right. Interpreters have to do it on the spot.
Translation happens over a period of time with extensive access to external resources, compared to interpretation which occurs on the spot during a live scenario. Interpreters focus more on paraphrasing the content that the speaker is trying to convey.
We are called to LIVE OUT THE WORD IN ACTION, in our daily lives. WE ARE CALLED TO TRANSLATE THE WORD INTO OURSELVES, AND BE THE LIVING WORD FOR THOSE AROUND US.
How can we possibly do this without first trying to MEET PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE? Taking that first step towards another person with radical openness and genuine curiosity requires radical honesty.
Even without the introduction of a different language, people who speak the same language are often confused. WORDS LIKE “FREEDOM,” OR “PATRIOT,” “RIGHTEOUS, RACE, OR SINNER.” These all mean very different things among people who speak the same language.
To me, the confusion at Babel was not to punish the people’s common language, but to punish the disconnect of people’s values. Perhaps the dispersion of the people was a result of their own unwillingness to move past common words toward a greater common understanding.
IN OUR COMMUNITIES TODAY, COMMON LANGUAGE IS NOT THE PROBLEM. THE PROBLEM IS A FAILURE TO SEE ONE ANOTHER’S VALUE. The problem is failure to listen past common language in order to recognize echoes of common ideals.
“LORD, WHEN WILL WE SEE THE NEW KINGDOM?” THE DISCIPLES ASK IN ACTS 1. “YOU WILL HAVE HELP WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES,” JESUS ANSWERS. AND WHAT DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT DO? TEACHES US TO WITNESS. TO CONNECT.
We are called to be radically honest with ourselves – and our theories – and radically willing to change them. We have all sorts of tools at our disposal. We have the Word itself. We have the example of Jesus. And we have the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts and actions in the world.
