The Paraclete

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!