May 19, 2024 - Pentecost Sunday
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
The Paraclete
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Today is Pentecost Sunday. We mark this as the day that the Holy Spirit of God filled and inspired the early church. That same Spirit is with us still today.
Jesus had instructed his disciples to remain in Jerusalem after he departed from them. In a little while, they’d be empowered “from on high,” he told them. Our reading today from Acts describes that moment. The Holy Spirit filled the room where they were gathered and breathed something new into them. It was so powerful that it drove them outside, spilling into the streets of Jerusalem. They bore testimony to the renewing life that flowed from God’s throne to Jesus’ cross and now into the world.
This Holy Spirit is the one Jesus promised his disciples would come to them. He referred to it by the name “Paraclete.” In our English Bibles, we translate that in various ways: as counselor, helper, or advocate. All of them are appropriate. The literal meaning of the Greek term is “one called to be alongside you.” This spirit of God will be with us always. It will be closer to us than our own breath. This is Jesus’ promise to us.
Jesus tells his disciples that it’s for their own good that he’ll leave them. This Advocate will come only after he departs. Jesus they’ve known in the flesh. He walks by their side. But this Advocate will be with them in Spirit, it will be with them through all things, in all situations.
After Jesus’ resurrection and after he ascended into heaven, his dear friends now find themselves in a liminal space. Jesus is no longer with them, but this new Spirit has not been made known yet. They’re stuck in this period between two realms.
Transitional periods are challenging. When we’re in a situation like that, it can cause us to look backwards with longing at what used to be. We pine for “the good old days.” We risk becoming fixed to a reality that no longer exists. It’s a trap that frequently snares the Church. We remember when our churches were so full, when the Church seemed to be so much more engrained into the fabric of our culture than it is now.
But that’s not what the disciples do. They don’t stay in their private enclosure, clinging to the memory of their days with Jesus. When the Holy Spirit descends among them, it drives them outwards. They spill into the streets of Jerusalem. And from that moment onwards, they lean into the future with hope.
It’s important for us to remember that the Christian church didn’t invent the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God has a long tradition within Judaism. It was there on page one of the Bible, when the Spirit of God moved over the surface of the deep. It was this same Spirit that goaded and directed the Hebrews along their path from slavery into freedom. It went before them as a pillar of fire and cloud. And the Holy Spirit filled and inspired the judges and the kings of Israel. It directed their steps and filled them with courage. The Hebrew scriptures tell us that the Spirit also filled the artisans who created the holy objects and decorations of their holy tabernacle. The Spirit inspired the musicians and psalmists. The creativity of the creating Spirit filled them, too. And the prophets, as well, were guided by the Spirit. It directed their tongues with equal measures of comfort and challenge.
This same Holy Spirit now calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the Christian church. And its presence is ever-sustaining, ever faithful. This Paraclete has been called to journey alongside us.
Our text from Acts today demonstrates one way that the Paraclete called and empowered the church. It was through utterance, with words. The disciples are inspired and enlivened in their testimony. As the Spirit is poured out on them, they pour out into Jerusalem. The tongues of fire above them have loosened their own tongues.
But when they speak, they don’t do so in their own language. The Spirit empowers them to testify in languages unknown to them but known by the visitors in Jerusalem. Luke gives a long list of the various languages. It’s the text that every Sunday Bible reader dreads getting! And this year, Carol pulled the short straw! How do you pronounce Medes and Elamites, Phrygia and Pamphylia? The list goes on and on, all of these exotic tongues not native to Israel!
And so we see that, right from the very start, the Holy Spirit is directing and moving the church OUTWARDS. It leads us into a diverse fellowship. We are not called to be a club of the like-minded; we’re not a community of clones. The church of Jesus Christ is called into a fullness found only in the rich variety of all the earth’s people. This message is simply for all!
The presence of others who are vastly different from ourselves may lead us out of our comfort zones. But the Spirit moved the disciples out from the safe zone of their upper room and into the streets of Jerusalem. It moved Philip to speak to the Ethiopian eunuch. It led Paul to the man from Macedonia, it led Thomas to India and Peter to Rome. And that same Holy Spirit continues to lead us into the places and spaces and to embrace people we would never dream of. But in that Spirit, our young men see visions of something new, and our old men dream dreams of ventures yet unseen. The Spirit calls us into a newness that can only be navigated from above.
The Holy Spirit leads us into utterance, into proclaiming a word of promise, into singing a hymn of praise. But the Spirit also leads us into other utterances. These are beyond words. Perhaps they’re more base and primitive – or maybe just the opposite, maybe they’re more mystical and transcendent. In the Spirit’s urging, we are led to utter sighs and groans. Paul tells us that this is the Spirit interceding for us with sighs too deep for words.
Sometimes, there just are no words. There are moments of awe in nature, when we see some aspect of nature so magnificent that we’re lost in its brilliance.
And then there are other times, moments of profound reflection, when someone we love shares their deepest truth. And together you sit in silence and treasure these things in your heart.
And there are still other times, times of hardship and suffering, when it seems like the walls are caving in on you, when all that you love and hold dear are held in the balance. This, too, is a place beyond words, when there’s only a big sigh, or a moan of despair.
Paul tells us that it’s in these moments when the Holy Spirit may be the closest of all. It’s interceding on our behalf.
Last week, we considered Jesus’ prayer of intercession for his church. Today we discover that the Holy Spirit is also interceding on our behalf. It’s our helper in weakness.
As the church of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, it’s our sacred duty to intercede on behalf of the world, just as the Spirit intercedes for us. And so the Spirit leads our prayers, whether they be with or without words.
In our rite of baptism, there comes a moment after the baptism when we pray over the individual. The pastor lays their hands on their head, and the prayer is one calling upon the Holy Spirit. We pray for the Holy Spirit to sustain this soul. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in God’s presence.
It’s the prayer for a lifetime of faith. We call upon the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the one who is called to walk alongside us. And that is exactly what the Paraclete does. Come, Holy Spirit.
