The Feast of Pentecost
Verses: John 14:8-27 HOLY TEACHER John 14:8-27 English Standard Version, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers]
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
9 Jesus spricht zu ihm: So lange Zeit bin ich bei euch, und du hast mich noch nicht erkannt, Philippus? Wer mich gesehen hat, der hat den Vater gesehen. Wie kannst du da sagen: Zeige uns den Vater? 10 Glaubst du nicht, dass ich im Vater bin und der Vater in mir ist? Die Worte, die ich zu euch rede, rede ich nicht aus mir selbst; und der Vater, der in mir wohnt, der tut die Werke. 11 Glaubt mir, dass ich im Vater bin und der Vater in mir ist; wenn nicht, so glaubt mir doch um der Werke willen! 12 Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch: Wer an mich glaubt, der wird die Werke auch tun, die ich tue, und wird größere als diese tun, weil ich zu meinem Vater gehe. 13 Und alles, was ihr bitten werdet in meinem Namen, das will ich tun, damit der Vater verherrlicht wird in dem Sohn. 14 Wenn ihr etwas bitten werdet in meinem Namen, so werde ich es tun. 15 Liebt ihr mich, so haltet meine Gebote! 16 Und ich will den Vater bitten, und er wird euch einen anderen Beistand geben, dass er bei euch bleibt in Ewigkeit, 17 den Geist der Wahrheit, den die Welt nicht empfangen kann, denn sie beachtet ihn nicht und erkennt ihn nicht; ihr aber erkennt ihn, denn er bleibt bei euch und wird in euch sein. 18 Ich lasse euch nicht als Waisen zurück; ich komme zu euch. 19 Noch eine kleine Weile, und die Welt sieht mich nicht mehr; ihr aber seht mich; weil ich lebe, sollt auch ihr leben! 20 An jenem Tag werdet ihr erkennen, dass ich in meinem Vater bin und ihr in mir und ich in euch. 21 Wer meine Gebote festhält und sie befolgt, der ist es, der mich liebt; wer aber mich liebt, der wird von meinem Vater geliebt werden, und ich werde ihn lieben und mich ihm offenbaren. 22 Da spricht Judas — nicht der Ischariot — zu ihm: Herr, wie kommt es, dass du dich uns offenbaren willst und nicht der Welt? 23 Jesus antwortete und sprach zu ihm: Wenn jemand mich liebt, so wird er mein Wort befolgen, und mein Vater wird ihn lieben, und wir werden zu ihm kommen und Wohnung bei ihm machen. 24 Wer mich nicht liebt, der befolgt meine Worte nicht; und das Wort, das ihr hört, ist nicht mein, sondern des Vaters, der mich gesandt hat. 25 Dies habe ich zu euch gesprochen, während ich noch bei euch bin; 26 der Beistand aber, der Heilige Geist, den der Vater senden wird in meinem Namen, der wird euch alles lehren und euch an alles erinnern, was ich euch gesagt habe. 27 Frieden hinterlasse ich euch; meinen Frieden gebe ich euch. Nicht wie die Welt gibt, gebe ich euch; euer Herz erschrecke nicht und verzage nicht!” Das Evangelium des Herrn. (Schlachter 2000) Copyright © 2000 by Société Biblique de Genève
HOLY TEACHER
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Taize, France is the home of an ecumenical community of Christian brothers devoted to the unity of Christ’s Church. Each day the brothers pray together at morning, noon, and evening. They celebrate the Eucharist and gather for evening prayer on Sundays. Every summer youth from all over the world are drawn to Taize where they camp out and join in worship with the brothers, who are well known for their simple hymns, most of which are composed in Latin in order to have a common language.
Each year on Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, our choir chants one of those lovely Taize hymns, “Veni Sanctae Spiritus,” (Come, Holy Spirit) as our youth are confirmed. Let’s hear how this hymn sounds. (The organist plays the hymn.) Now, let’s repeat “Veni Sanctae Spiritus” three times. (The congregation repeats the refrain).
As we celebrate the birthday of Christ’s Church, we pray again for the gift of our Holy Teacher: “Veni Sanctae Spiritus” (sung three times).
THE WORLD’S SEDUCTIONS
Unlike the Taize brothers who gather daily around God’s Word for prayer and worship, the world that God made and loves is hostile to God. Open hostility to God is relatively rare. Much commoner are the powerful attractions the world uses to seduce us away from God and from His Church.
Most parents want our children to have a good work ethic. We want you to know how to handle money, and so we are happy when you get a job. Invariably, a conflict arises between worship and work. This is one of the reasons we schedule four worship services each weekend. But the need for and, yes, the seduction of money often keeps children and parents away from worship. It might well be possible to worship at least once each week, but many say, “I’m too tired or too busy to worship.”
Most parents want our children to be well-rounded. We want you to develop your God-given talents and abilities. We teach and coach you. We offer you private lessons. And so we are happy when you become active in team sports and other extracurricular activities. Then, we find these activities take up more and more time. They encroach upon our weekends. Soon, as with work, many say “I’m too tired or too busy to worship.”
Growing bodies really do need rest. After all effort that goes into school, activities, and even work, young growing bodies need lots of rest. Parents often say, “I’m going to let my child sleep in.” Or young people say, “I’m so tired. Just let me stay home today.” Of course, it’s amazing how there is always energy for texting or gaming or hanging out with friends. Powerful attractions always try to seduce us away from God.
Pastors hear all the same rational lies over and over from adults, too. “My parents made me go to church when I was a kid, so now I don’t go.” “I went to parochial school and had to go to chapel every day or every week, so now I don’t.” “I had all that religion stuff crammed down my throat, and I’m not going to do that to my kids.” Such statements sound so rational. That’s why they are such seductive lies.
Now substitute “sleep” or “eat” or “go to school” or “brush teeth” or “go to the doctor” or “study” or “curfews” or “laws” for church or worship or religion, and that kind of logic sounds absurd. Good parents attend to their children’s well-being, and it’s not a democracy. It’s called attending to your child’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual development. We used to understand that in our culture, but now we’re awash in illogical idiocy.
When I was in college, the late comedian George Carlin used to make angry jokes about his Roman Catholic upbringing. Later it was former Pentecostal preacher the late Sam Kinison who screamed his angry jokes in the style of his religious past. Their anger at God found an audience with many American young adults, because, after all, they provided a convenient script for why I get to be in the center instead of God. Having known my share of alcoholics and drug addicts, including in my own family, I eventually recognized that all addicts, including George Carlin and Sam Kinison, love their drug of choice more than God or anyone else. The world seduces them away from God with the promise of comfort in a bottle of booze or pills or name another addictive comforter.
I’ll never forget the big city vice cop who would never come to worship with his wife, because he said he had busted too many small town preachers for soliciting. I asked him if there were bad cops. He said, “Yes.” I said, “Well, there are bad pastors, too, so now stop making excuses and come to worship with your wife.” He did, but not often, because he had been seduced by the world that he loved more than his wife or God.
The problem with being seduced by the world is it’s addictive. If the world placed warning labels on every substitute for God, “warning this may destroy your soul,” more of us might recognize we are on a trajectory away from God and might even turn back. It’s much easier to say, “I can worship God anywhere,” than to say, “The god I fear, love, and trust is the person who stares back at me from my mirror.” That god cannot save you!
As we celebrate the birthday of Christ’s Church, we pray again for the gift of our Holy Teacher: “Veni Sanctae Spiritus” (sung three times).
ADOPTED AND TAUGHT
In Holy Baptism, our gracious heavenly Father liberates us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He adopts us as sons for the sake of His beloved Son who was perfectly obedient to His Father’s will even to giving His life on the cross for the sins of the world. By water and the Holy Spirit, we, who were born children of a fallen humanity, are made members of His Church, which is the body of Christ. The Father gives His Church the Holy Spirit to be our Holy Teacher.
The Holy Spirit does not dream up new doctrines or teach us new things. Rather the Holy Spirit works through Word and Sacraments in the Church to remind us all that Jesus has said and done for us and to empower us to follow Jesus in humble service. And there’s the catch! The one God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) makes His home with us as we gather faithfully around Word and Sacraments. Remember: the Greek word we translate “church” (“ekklesia”) means those called out of the world to assemble around the Word and Sacraments. So, if we are going to be taught by our Holy Teacher, then the Church needs to assemble at what Martin Luther called “a hospital for sinners.”
When children are sick, good parents take them to the doctor so that they can get well. When adults are sick, wise people go to the doctor in order to get well. All of us are born sin sick which means self-absorbed, and we live in a world hostile to God. So if we are going to have the care of souls and the medicine of immortality, we need to see Jesus, our Great Physician, at the hospital for sinners. And more than that, we need the spiritual wellness instruction of the Holy Spirit so that we can receive preventative spiritual care!
As we celebrate the birthday of Christ’s Church, we pray again for the gift of our Holy Teacher: “Veni Sanctae Spiritus” (sung three times).
CHOOSING FAITHFULNESS
We can’t be reminded too often that “agape,” the word Jesus uses for “love,” means to make a conscious choice to be faithful to the Father’s will. That’s what Jesus does. He shows us how to love the Father by giving our lives away in humble service to the world that’s hostile to God. Those who love Jesus and His Father do what Jesus did.
We live in a world that is hostile to God, but we don’t take the easy road by willfully surrendering ourselves to its seductions. Faithful living looks like praying daily, worshiping weekly, reading the Bible, serving at and beyond this congregation, being in relationship to encourage spiritual growth in others, and to give of time, talent, and resources. To love the Father like Jesus is to be faithful like Jesus. And we need the Holy Teacher’s help to fight against the world’s seductions. The best defense is a good offense. We practice the faith so that it will be there when we need it! God is trying to help us.
Choosing faithfulness on the big days, like this weekend, is relatively easy. But next weekend, all those summer weekends, and all those other weekends when the world pulls out all its big guns disguised as work or family or fun, we will be much more susceptible to being seduced away from God. That’s when loving the Father is tougher! That’s when assembling with Jesus to be fed by Him and being gathered by the Holy Spirit to be taught by Him is so much tougher! Choose faithfulness, dear ones!
As we celebrate the birthday of Christ’s Church, we pray again for the gift of our Holy Teacher: “Veni Sanctae Spiritus” (sung three times).
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
©Samuel D. Zumwalt, STS
szumwalt@bellsouth.net
www.societyholytrinity.org
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA
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