Sunday May 23, 2010 Pentecost

Greetings, what a beautiful day and week. Sunday is Pentecost and the text comes from John 14:8-17. As I read through this text it doesn’t talk about Pentecost so I am going to diverge from the lectionary to talk about the significance of Pentecost.

In the Old Testament there was a festival called the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. This festival was celebrated fifty days after Passover. Pentecost means fifty. God had rescued the Israelites from Egyptian bondage (when the angel of death passed over the homes with the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, hence Passover) and directed them to the foot of Mt. Sinai. They arrived at Sinai and fifty days after that exodus (rescue event) from Egypt God made a covenant with them, giving them the law. God descended on Mt. Sinai in a cloud with fire, thunder and great wind to talk with Moses. God chose them as his people to act as priests, drawing people to God. They were to be a light to the rest of the world. They were directed to enter the land and populate it but they hesitated, disobeying God, so he made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years. All of that time God took up residence with them and led them in the wilderness.

In the gospels Jesus has come as God’s son (God’s representative) to take up residence with his people but the leaders have rejected him and sentenced him to die. Jesus died at Passover. While Israel celebrated Passover as an exodus (rescue) from Egypt, Jesus was completing a new exodus (rescue) from Satan and the demonic on the cross. After his death and resurrection, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was on the Earth 40 days appearing to his disciples and others.

The prophet Jeremiah had spoken of a new covenant that God would make with his people. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 the prophet speaks of a day when God will make a new covenant with his people. It would not be like the old covenant when he took them by the hand and rescued them from Egypt – a covenant that they broke. This new covenant will not be words on stone but God would put the law within them. He would write it on their hearts. No longer shall they teach one another or tell each other to know the Lord for they will know Me from their hearts and I will dwell in each of them. This new covenant will not be a repeat of the old one; there would be a clean break with the past and a new beginning between God and His people.

In the book of Acts, Acts 1:3, Jesus has been on the Earth for 40 days appearing to people. He then ascends into the presence of God (the cloud) but before transforming his presence he instructs the disciples to remain in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father (God). He instructs them that as John baptized Israel with water, the new Israel (those who believe in Jesus) will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The disciples return to the upper room to wait for this event. In the mean time they pray and replace Judas Iscariot with another disciple to have 12 disciples representing the 12 original tribes. When the day of the Festival of Weeks or Pentecost arrives they are together praying in the Temple at about 9 AM. From Heaven came the sound of a violent wind and tongues of fire appeared with a tongue of fire resting on each of them. Remember at Sinai God appeared as a great wind and fire. God is appearing in the Temple. All of the Jews present with the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. God, as a tongue of fire, sent the Holy Spirit into each one’s heart just as the prophet Jeremiah had told he would. This was the new covenant written on their hearts with God dwelling in each as the presence of the Holy Spirit. The New Israel is being formed just as God had formed the Old Israel at Mt. Sinai. As they were filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak in other languages that devout Jews from other nations could understand. (Acts 2:4) This was not the speaking in tongues that Paul talks about later in his letters but recognizable, actual languages understood by those present. (Acts 2:6) At Babel God had confused their languages to prevent them from building a tower high enough to reach him. Now God restores their languages to form his New Israel with the new covenant.

The author Alfred Edersheim describes in his book “The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah” that the rabbis viewed the past as the prototype for the future. The covenant at Sinai (the old Pentecost and giving of the law) was the prototype for the new covenant with God, in the form of the Holy Spirit dwelling in each ones heart, with his New Israel – the ones who believed his Son, Jesus. The definition of the new Pentecost has replaced the old Pentecost.

We need to note here that this was the new Pentecost of the Jewish people. Acts 2 doesn’t mention any Gentiles being in the Temple because they weren’t allowed there. The Gentile Pentecost (ours) happened in Acts 10:1-48 when a Roman Centurion, who believed in God, had a vision to request Peter to visit him. Peter did visit, following the direction of God, and in verse 44 the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and all in his house listening to the word.

As we worship on Sunday, no matter what the sermon is, think about this new Pentecost. God doesn’t dwell in a building (temple) anymore. He dwells in each of our hearts. He has taken up residence in us and each of us is a “stone” building the new temple. We form a “living” temple not an inanimate building, with Jesus as our cornerstone. The cornerstone is the first stone laid when building and forms the blueprint for the rest of the building. The old magnificent, beautiful temple was destroyed in 70 AD and was the prototype for us, the living temple, which far exceeds the old one in beauty.