Sermon delivered Sunday, May 19, 2013 (The Day of Pentecost) at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Franklin, TN (Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:14-17, John 14:8-17, 25-27)
On this Day of Pentecost, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the church in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit is the continuing presence of God in Christ with us, dwelling inside every baptized Christian and guiding the church to continue God’s work in the world.
Before his crucifixion, Jesus promised his followers that God would send them another Advocate after Jesus was no longer physically present with them. We heard this promise in today’s Gospel reading. In chapter 14 of John’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking to his disciples the night before his death and he says to them,
“…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you… the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:16-17, 25-27).
The Greek word translated as “Advocate” is parakletos, which can also be translated as “counselor,” “comforter,” and “intercessor.” The original Greek term had legal connotations – a parakletos is something like a defense attorney – one who advocates for you by arguing your case in front of another. The literal meaning of the word parakletos is “one who is called in” – more specifically, one who is called in to assist someone in trouble. When Jesus promises the disciples that the Holy Spirit will be a parakletos for them, it is a word of reassurance. “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid,” he says (John 14:27). In verse 18, which our lectionary leaves out, Jesus says that he will not leave his followers orphaned after he leaves this earth. He reassures the disciples that although they may fear his departure, God will not abandon them. The Holy Spirit will be with them, to assist them when they are in need, to defend them to anyone who may accuse them, to guide and teach them. They need not fear, because the very presence of God will dwell in them, a constant inner companion and guide.
The promise Jesus made to the first disciples he also makes to us. As Christians, we too have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Although the biblical accounts differ as to when and how the Holy Spirit comes to people, it is in most cases connected closely with baptism. In some cases, the Holy Spirit comes upon people before they are baptized, as in Acts 10, when the Holy Spirit falls upon the Gentiles while Peter preaches to them, causing Peter to ask, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (Acts 10:47). At other places in the book of Acts, Peter and the other disciples promise their new converts that they will receive the Holy Spirit when they are baptized (Acts 2:38), but there are at least a few cases where the Holy Spirit comes to people after their baptism. In Acts 8, the people Philip baptizes in Samaria do not receive the Holy Spirit at their baptism, but only after Peter and John visit and lay hands on them (Acts 8:9-17).
The lack of consistency in the biblical accounts about when and how the Spirit comes to people is testimony to the fact that we cannot know exactly how and when the Spirit will move, nor can we control it. Jesus himself acknowledges this unpredictability of the Spirit, when he says to Nicodemus in chapter 3 of John’s Gospel, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The Spirit’s dynamic, unconstrained activity breaks down any boundaries we might draw about when and where God is present and pushes us to acknowledge the mystery of God’s movement in the world.
But even if we can’t define exactly how one receives the Holy Spirit, the scriptures testify that all who are baptized do have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. When we baptize(d) Amelia Anne Suit, Nina Mae Harder, and James Thomas Sullivan (at the 8:45 service this morning), we will say (said) to them that they are “sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever” (BCP 308). The Holy Spirit is the gift of all baptized Christians, living in you and in me and in these newest three members of Christ’s church.
So what does it mean to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us? First, it means we are – or have the ability to become – holy. Traditionally, the work of the Holy Spirit has been associated with sanctification, the process of making something holy. When the Holy Spirit enters us and lives in us, it begins to transform us in the process that the Eastern Church calls theosis – becoming one with God. As the Holy Spirit unites our lives with the life of Christ in our baptism, in some mysterious way we actually participate in the life of the Trinity. Through the Holy Spirit’s work in us, we too become holy, as God in Christ is holy.
Secondly, having the Holy Spirit dwell in us means that we are capable of amazing things. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact, will do greater works than these” (John 14:12). Say what? Jesus’s followers will do greater works that Jesus himself? How is that possible? Greater works than healing the sick? Than walking on water? Than raising the dead? We modern people often think of these miraculous acts as unique to Jesus, but the Gospels and the Book of Acts tell us that the disciples also did miraculous works like these. Remember the story of Peter walking out to Jesus on the water? Jesus invites him to come to him on the water, and Peter does so – but about halfway out, he gets scared and starts to sink. When his focus is on Jesus, Peter is indeed able to do the works that Jesus does, but when he is distracted by the strong winds and fear creeps in, his faith falters – and with it, his ability to do miraculous works.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus is constantly reminding his followers of the power of faith – “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” he says, “you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). So it’s not surprising that as he prepares to leave them for the last time, he reminds them of this once again: “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and, in fact, will do greater works than these” (John 14:12). Through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, nothing will be impossible for us.
Even though we as a culture tend to be skeptical about miracles, most of us probably can think of “Spirit-filled” experiences that either we have had ourselves or we have heard about through others that defy rational explanation. It might be a healing that mystified the medical professionals. Or a strong, uncanny sense that we should call someone, only to find out that they too had been feeling a strong draw toward us at that moment. Or it might be the experience of mystical creativity – a song or a poem or a painting that we are sure we did not create, but that “came to us” through the inspiration of the Spirit. Whatever these miraculous, Spirit-filled experiences might be, our faith invites us to embrace them, not to explain them away. And it also invites us to consider what else might be possible if we let go of our fear and opened ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. Now, I’m not suggesting that you all go out and try walking on water – at least not without a life jacket! – but I am suggesting that you seriously consider where and how the Spirit is moving you to act, even if it seems crazy and impossible, and to stop pushing those proddings aside. Trust the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in you, and remember the words of Jesus and of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary – that nothing is impossible with God. (Matthew 17:20, Luke 1:37).
On this Day of Pentecost, as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, as we welcome three new members of Christ’s Church, as we are reminded of the vast realm of possibility which lies open to us through the power of the Spirit, we say with the writer of Ephesians, “Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3:20, BCP translation).
