SERMON 19th May 2024 

Pentecost Sunday 

By Rev. Dr. Fei Taule’ale’ausumai 

“Did it happen to you?” 

When you have been travelling long haul for over twenty hours and you arrive at your destination with your luggage on a trolley to a sea of faces you do not know and language you do not speak or understand it can be very bewildering.  You look around you for familiarity; perhaps just perhaps I might see someone I know???? Yeah right, dreams are free.  I remembeR at Auckland airport an old Spanish woman was desperately trying to find anyone who could speak Spanish to help her out, gosh I wish I could help her out, but I didn’t understand her in her panic state.  Most of my international trips to Germany or Switzerland, France or Holland have required me to learn some basic words just to be able to catch a bus or taxi.  Sometimes, when the drive from the airport to the meeting place was long and the driver didn’t speak English, we both had to find ways to communicate and we would look for familiar words from other languages in the hope that we might find familiarity.  The driver was trying to tell me in German that a friend now had a baby, ‘bambino” he says, ahhh I reply, finally understanding each other.    

Imagine, arriving in a foreign country and everyone is speaking your language, oh my gosh, there would be no bewilderment just total disbelief and amazement.  Can you imagine everyone in Holland speaking Samoan?  Difficult concept to grasp, but this is what it must have felt like on the day of Pentecost.  Can you imagine what it would be like if I preached to you in Samoan today?  You would be dumbfounded, amazed surprised that you actually understood everything I was saying.   

Pentecost get its name from the Greek number 50th, it represents the 50 days or seven weeks after Passover.  It is also called the Feast of Weeks, an occasion to celebrate the gathering in of the harvest.  It also became a time to celebrate the coming of the divine Law on Sinai.  Legend has it that on that occasion a flame came down from heaven and divided into 70 tongues of fire, one for each nation of the world.  All could understand, but only one nation promised to keep the Law, Israel.   

Such symbolism has shaped our story.  Perhaps it also lies under the influence of the Tower of Babel story in which human ambition resulted in the collapse of the tower and the breakdown of communication:  the legend to explain why people speak different languages and cannot understand one another.   

Pentecost has often been called Babel in reverse. Because obviously the major point of contact between the Genesis story and Luke’s description of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost, is the diversity of language.  

In Genesis the diversity of language was an attempt to illustrate the confusion that results when human beings attempt to go their own way without God. However, God put a stop to things by giving them different languages to speak so that they couldn’t understand each other, this is where we get the word Babel from.  When we struggle to find the words or speak non-stop almost sounding incoherent people often say, “stop babbling and talk some sense”.   

In Acts, while the focus is still on the diversity of language the difference is the emphasis on the unity brought by the Holy Spirit. Although God’s gift of the Holy Spirit in power at Pentecost does not make all people speak the same language there is a unity created in the midst of diversity in as much as God enables the disciples to become witnesses of God’s grace.  Communication is restored, not only between humanity and God, but also between peoples of many languages.  

The events of the day of Pentecost, God’s breaking into the world of human affairs with wind and fire, is both surprising and expected. Expected because throughout the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit intervenes supernaturally on major occasions . It was expected; also, the disciples know that the coming of the Spirit is promised, Yet at the same time this coming is surprising. Bystanders are amazed to hear a multitude of languages being spoken by Galileans (notorious for being monolingual). If the disciples needed any more convincing (see 1:6) that their mission had a scope beyond their group and nation, this proved it. 

Acts here narrates the gift of God’s Spirit on Pentecost as the gift that fashions a new covenant community, the Body of Christ. Verbal descriptions of this day inevitably fall short of the stunning reality. Acts can only speak of Pentecost’s phenomena as “like” the wind and “as of” fire. 

The gathered crowd marvels as they hear the gospel in their native languages. Explanations (or replications) of how that might have occurred pale in comparison to what those words convey. What does it mean, then and now, to hear the gospel in one’s own language? When we hear, then we cannot ignore the Pentecost truth that God comes in Spirit to each one of us.  

An international assembly hears witness to God’s acts. Acts lists an intriguing variety of peoples that made up the crowd on that day. 

The conclusion to this story of Pentecost remains open. All hear about God’s deeds of power. Some wonder what the words of testimony mean. Even the Spirit does not guarantee agreement. In Hebrew, the word for “hear” also means, “obey.” The Pentecost gift of hearing aims ultimately to unleash the Spirit’s power in the disciples’ faithful living. 

The day of Pentecost became for the disciples a new beginning; it gave them a new hope.  Jesus said as part of his departing speech to his disciples, in a little while I will be gone, but I will send you a an advocate, the comforter to be with you.  The Parousia, the Holy Spirit.  The disciples and many of the followers of Christ didn’t really understand at the time what he was talking about.  Some of them believed that he would go and then return again shortly after, particularly when he said, “in a little while”.  There was not much action after Jesus left, people got complacent, even some of the law as laid down on the sermon of the mount didn’t need to be understood because Jesus wouldn’t be gone long, he would be back in a little while.  But when he didn’t return, when this second coming didn’t happen the disciples began to internalise Christ within.  The coming of the Holy Spirit is the delayed Parousia, the coming of Christ as the helper and comforter as promised.  It is the promise of God to Moses out of the burning bush, I will be with you.  Emmanuel God with us. 

Pentecost is about the spirit saying: “Stop!”  Pentecost is about the Spirit saying, “Remember why we are here!”  What do you believe about faith?  How does God work in your life?  What are the mighty acts of God you have seen?  What would you say about them in your language?  What is your experience of Jesus? How is your life changed by being in touch with God through this church or through your life outside this church?  

Pentecost is about the Spirit saying to us here, today, that if we really do believe this stuff, if we are aware that God is present in our lives, if we believe others could live happier, more giving, more peaceful lives by being connected to God, then we need to become witnesses like those who experienced the Holy Spirit in the second chapter of Acts.  All they did was tell people about their experience of Jesus and what they thought it meant.  They spoke of how knowing Jesus and hearing his words and seeing him heal and speak truth had changed their lives and they thought had changed the world.   

50 years ago, the Rev. Margaret Reid Martin was the first woman to be ordained in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.  May 13 1974.    The Holy Spirit does not make a distinction on whom to descend upon, like a dove or a butterfly they don’t choose people because of their skin colour or gender, when the Holy Spirit moves in the lives of people it is totally inclusive and available to everyone. 

The Power of the Holy Spirit has been the catalyst of change over the centuries within the church that has challenged people to think justly and love mercy.  It is that same power that holds us all together here this morning but not just as a congregation, but as “witnesses” to those in our community who are suffering and struggling, to those in our community who need to hear of our experience of Pentecost.  This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Amen. 

Audio of selected readings and reflections

Audio of the complete service