This past Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. Most of my tribe does not celebrate Pentecost, primarily because I think we fear the mysterious nature of the Holy Spirit and also do not want to have anything to do with speaking in tongues. Also, we do not follow the Christian calendar, so we never really deal with it.
Pentecost is the reversal of the story in Genesis 11 of the tower of babble. In that story, the people were scared. The fear in their hearts motivated them to settle, not scatter. There is an emphasis in that story on settling and scattering. Scattering would lead to the break up of their family and cause them to enter into the mysterious nature of life as it was a journey into the unknown. They were seeking security.
They were scared to scatter so they settled, hoping that in settling they could grow into a great city-state, and making a name for themselves. In constructing this city-state, they wanted to build a tower that would give them access to God, access that would come on their terms. As God looked down on this, he was saddened. His attitude was “If they think they can do this, there is nothing they won’t try.” So he stopped it by inhibiting the people’s ability to understand each other. The lack of a similar language divided families, and as a result, the people gathered by the ability to understand and scattered to their own lands.
When we find the disciples and apostles gathered in a room in Acts 2, we begin to see the impact of Pentecost. The Spirit arrives and it appears these Christ-followers are able to speak in many languages and dialects. They are able to speak so that anyone who is present is able to understand in their own specific dialect. Was the event a miracle of speaking or hearing? Both. The text makes it clear that the apostles spoke in other languages. But it also makes it clear that the people heard in their own language and dialect. It’s all a matter of perspective. For the masses, they were able to hear-to-understand in their own dialect.
Here was a diverse group of people from different lands speaking and hearing in different languages. But they all understood what was spoken because of the language of God. The language of God was universal. The language of God was the Holy Spirit.
The sermon that followed and brought by Peter was a call to embrace the mysterious:
17 ‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike—
and they will prophesy.
19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below—
blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will become dark,
and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.
21 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.’
All that would happen meant that the mysterious would become the new normal. Insecurity would become the new security. Spirit-led and Spirit language would be normal.
It is also important to note that the language of God always pointed them to Jesus. The language of God was not the Gospel. The language of God was not the scriptures. The language of God was the Holy Spirit, and He always pointed people to Jesus. He used the scriptures. He used the gospel. They were used to point people to Jesus. But the language of God was the Spirit.
And it is that Jesus who leads us to God. He is the only way to God.
