Reader’s Digest once carried a wonderful story of a mother retelling her family’s visit as tourists to Wales. She was describing her six-year-old son’s reaction the first time he heard the Welsh language being spoken. “Mom,” he said, “it sounds like they’re scribbling with their tongues.”
That is how the disciples may have sounded when the Spirit came upon them, like they were scribbling with their tongues, but they were not speaking gibberish. They were speaking known languages that people who overheard them could understand. (King Duncan Sermons.com)
Today we heard the scripture read in five different languages simultaneously by people who understand. But if you are like me, I did not comprehend what was being read for two reasons. First many voices speaking at the same time. But more importantly, I do not understand Swedish, or German. I do not have xenolalia which is the ability to speak in many real languages. Xeno means foreign and lalia means language. Bob Carlisle is the only one I know who demonstrates that ability. He did that so well he worked as a translator for the state department. Because understanding a foreign language has powerful implications.
Have you ever been confounded by language? I don’t mean 10th grade French class. You traveled to another country only to hit a barrier, a language barrier that kept you in the dark. You might have resorted to hand signals or spoke louder or tried your pocket language guide. Not being able to communicate can be frustrating and isolating. Without shared language learning, communication, vision, hope and are thwarted. A simple thing like getting food can be a challenge. I remember how grateful I was to find plastic food displays in the window of restaurants in Japan so that I could point to something that looked appetizing. Otherwise I had no idea what I was ordering. I certainly could not read the menu or ask the waiter questions.
But imagine how hard it would be to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people who did not speak your language. This wasn’t about food, this was about spiritual nourishment, sharing the love of God, transforming lives with the gospel. That is a problem on a much larger scale.
Let’s start with the expansion of language at Babel. Remember the Genesis story of the Tower of Babel, that time when the original “one language and few words” of humanity was disrupted forever by the profusion of languages and speech? (Gen.11:1-9) Some believe that this Pentecost story is meant to signify a gracious reversal of Babel.
Pentecost occurred during the Feast of Weeks one of the three great holy days of the Jewish year. Thousands of the faithful had gathered in Jerusalem from all over the known world to celebrate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, fifty days after the Passover, hence the name Pentecost.
“There is a rabbinic tradition that says that when the law was given at Sinai, the Ten Commandments were given with a single sound, yet when the voice went forth it was divided into seven voices and then seventy tongues, so that every people received the law in their own language” (Feasting on the Word, B3, p.4).
Now fast forward to Acts, the disciples plus 100 people are gathered in Jerusalem. They had been praying together for ten solid days and now were enjoying an ecstatic religious experience. They were creating such a commotion that their noise began to draw a crowd. Some thought it was just a drunken party.
But others listened more carefully to what was going on. And miraculously, each one hearing understood. It made no difference what their native tongue might have been. As they listened, they heard the story of what God had done in that group and was prepared to do in all who would believe. The result? Scripture says that 3,000 people responded to the invitation of Peter that day to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” Day when language was translated, when dark cloud of misunderstanding lifted.
Mutual understanding emerged,
Mutual understanding creates disciples,
mutual understanding brings new life,
mutual understanding unites us as God’s children ready to share the gospel.
The Holy Spirit descended, tearing down the language barrier. Each disciple was filled with the Holy Spirit which gave them the ability to speak in other languages; to hear in their own language. God through the Holy Spirit transcended the language barrier to plant the gospel within every tongue, making the good news accessible to all. Think about that for a moment, without this divine act, without God intervening, much of the world would not know of Jesus, would not have shared in the love story of Jesus coming into the world to save us from sin. The fire and Spirit ignited a passion for the truth of Jesus that could not be bound by the constraints of language.
Our job is to translate the Holy Spirit in our lives into understand for others – What they heard that day in every language imaginable were the great deeds of God. The wonderful works of our heavenly creator. Your job on Pentecost is to sort out the great things God has done in your life so you can share them. So you can translate Gods love and power into real life god stories and share them with whoever will listen.
Now we are centuries past the moment of wind and holy power, but we are not past the time of mutual understanding. That is what we as Christians are called to foster. We are to rise above the chaos of our day, the political discord, the us and them mentality, the “my way or the highway” thoughts. We rise above the chaos, much like the chaos of chorus of clanging voices, to bear witness to God revealed in Jesus Christ. The question of us today is, “What do people understand about Jesus from your life?” What are you translating to them? Does the way you live your life transcend words, surpass language barriers, to demonstrate God’s love through his precious Son? We may not have the gift of xenolalia, but our kindness and actions can speak volumes to the sacrificial love Jesus came to share.
Yesterday at the royal wedding the American Bishop Michael Curry reminded the world of the power of love and the powerful way that love is changing the world. In a fiery sermon he quoted MLK, a gospel hymn, and power of fire in changing the world but his message was “There’s power in love, don’t underestimate it.” The very wedding transcended the traditional royal language-precision and set rules, and merged it with both American and gospel flavor. Shifting the formal and precise tradition to one of welcome and inclusion is an act of the Spirit moving, transcending one language of pomp and circumstance into the language of proper as well as inviting.
As Christians we have a similar task. To see how our traditional faith filled worship, with liturgy and hymns we love, can be given new life filled with the Spirit, blessed by God to be inviting and welcoming to the people of today. Can we expand our comfort zone so that we include more people and share God’s transforming light? That is the task of the Pentecost. To communicate God’s love in spirit filled ways so that we foster mutual understanding today. Mutual understanding of God’s love, Jesus’ call and the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives.
For us to be the agent of change, then the power of the Spirit must ignite in us this day. We get to catch the fire of the Holy Spirit so that we can translate mutual understanding!
The poet William Blake wrote a poem about Pentecost. Part of the poem says:
Unless the eye catch fire, God will not be seen.
Unless the ear catch fire, God will not be heard.
Unless the tongue catch fire, God will not be named.
Unless the heart catch fire, God will not be loved.
Unless the mind catch fire, God will not be known.
May we be aflame with our passion for God, may our words catch fire so that others may know God thru Christ. May we be filled with the power of the Spirit creating mutual understanding of God and God’s love. Amen.
