Text: Numbers 11:24-30; Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23
Introduction
I’m sure you
have heard the saying, “Don’t put God in a box,” or something like it, perhaps
many times in your experience. We all understand what that means and its intent
– that God is present and works beyond our small understandings and
expectations of how God is supposed to be and act. But it is much more
difficult for us to take that saying to heart and for us to interact with the
world as God does.
We have our
comfort zones. Our little boxes. And perhaps that is often truer in religious
settings. We have our traditions and ways of doing things that are comfortable.
We have a nice order and liturgy. We know what to expect and when to expect
them. Sure, an occasional change might be nice, but don’t make the change too
big. There are boundaries that define good order. We like everything and
everyone to fit within those boundaries. It makes us uncomfortable when the
boundaries are breached. It might possibly even be thought of as unacceptable
and best to be kept out and away.
Prophesying in the Ancient World
I suspect
most of us would be rather uncomfortable with the behavior of prophets and the
act of prophesying in the ancient world, including among the ancient
Israelites.
We typically
think of prophecy as words rationally spoken or written down by someone about
future events. But that is not at all at the top of the priority list of
ancient prophets and prophecies. The purpose of prophecy was to communicate messages
from a divine being to humans. The prophet was an intermediary between the
divine realm and the human realm. In many cases, the act of prophesying was
thought to literally involve the possession of the mediating prophet by a
divine spirit. And the prophet would speak and act as if possessed. Prophets
uttered and acted ecstatically, frequently through unintelligible speech and
noises and bewildering behaviors. In other cases, however, prophecies could be
delivered as normal speech. The Hebrew Bible contains numerous examples of both
types of prophesying.[1]
What would
we think if someone among us, right now, started speaking and acting
ecstatically? Or perhaps even just got up and started to declare to us a
supposed message from God? I do think most of us would immediately get very
uncomfortable, perhaps edging away, and wondering about their state of mind. We
might think through modern science and suspect that they might have some kind
of neurological issue or having a mental health episode.
But in the
ancient world, this was expected of religious intermediaries such as priests
and prophets, and in fact a sign of divine presence and authority.[2]
Yet even
though ecstatic prophecy might appear chaotic, it followed cultural and
religious expectations. In our reading from Numbers, when two individuals,
Eldad and Medad, prophesied outside the approved and expected place and time,
there were some who tried to silence them. Moses, however, recognized that God
is larger than the narrow boundaries created by their religious and cultural
traditions, and wished that God’s spirit would pour out on even more of them.
Jesus, too,
had to confront the narrowness of his own disciples.[3]
John reported to Jesus that he tried to stop someone from throwing out demons
in Jesus’ name, because that person wasn’t among their specific group and physically
following Jesus. Jesus rebuked John, “Don’t stop him,” and ended with a well-known
saying, “Whoever isn’t against us is for us.”
Pentecost Sunday
The first
Pentecost in Christian history fits within this same prophetic pattern and
expectations.
1
When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. 2
Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the
entire house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be
individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the
Spirit enabled them to speak. (Acts 2:1-4 CEB)
The act of divine
possession or inspiration, as some prefer it to be called, is obvious. The sign
of divine presence and authority is the ability for all to speak in other languages.
This has occasionally been explained that there were enough disciples who knew
enough other languages so that it seemed like a supernatural event occurred,
even though it didn’t. But the plainest explanation that the author of Acts
wants his readers to understand is that these disciples were given unusual
abilities to speak languages that they had never spoken before.
Not the Gift of Tongues (Glossolalia)
The event of
Pentecost has often been conflated with the speaking or use of tongues,
technically known as glossolalia, but they are two very different
things. We don’t have time to delve into details today, but for those
interested, Paul makes a clear distinction between the spiritual gifts of prophesying
vs. tongues in 1 Corinthians 14. The gift of tongues is most closely associated
with ecstatic utterances that are unintelligible. The gift of prophecy is
intelligible without an interpreter.
They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in
their native languages. 7 They were surprised and amazed, saying,
“Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? 8
How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? 9
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and
Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the
regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and
converts to Judaism), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring
the mighty works of God in our own languages!” (Acts 2:6-11 CEB)
Gift of Prophesying
What we read
about in Acts is the spiritual gift of prophecy in action. The disciples act as
intermediaries between God and other humans. They offer a message from God to
the people.
Like in
other prophetic acts, there are naysayers.
13 Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!” (Acts 2:13
CEB)
Peter’s
response to the accusation begins,
“Judeans and everyone living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen
carefully to my words! 15 These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect;
after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning!” (Acts 2:14-15 CEB)
It might
seem like a strange rebuttal to our ears, as we clearly know that there is
nothing that physically prevents someone, or even large groups, from becoming
drunk early in the morning. However, getting drunk before 9 a.m. was considered
improper and something just not done in this society.
In the Mediterranean world, even the worst debauchery did not
begin until [emphasis mine] nine in the morning (Cicero,
Philippics 2.41.104: “But how many days did you most disgrace fully carouse in
that villa! From the third hour there was drinking, gaming, vomiting”).[4]
In any case,
it apparently was a strong enough argument against drunkenness.
All Receive the Spirit’s Gift
Peter
continues with a citation from Joel 2:28-32, with a few modifications. Peter’s
point is that the last days have arrived because a clear sign from God has been
placed upon Jesus’ disciples. These disciples include men and women, young and
old, and wealthy and poor; and the message from God is going to not just Jews
and those who speak Aramaic, but to all languages and peoples present in the
Roman Empire and perhaps beyond. Peter ends the first part of his rebuttal with
an inclusive appeal,
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Acts 2:21
CEB)
In the next
part of Peter’s speech past our reading today, Peter identifies Jesus of
Nazareth, who, because of his death, resurrection, and ascension is Lord and
Christ. The gift of belonging to and following Jesus the Christ is the Holy
Spirit. On Pentecost, the outward sign was the ability for the disciples to
communicate the gospel in as many languages as was necessary.
Signs of God’s Presence Today
But that was
then. We are living in 2023, in a modern, rational, scientific world. Ecstatic
behaviors and speech are looked upon much differently now. Even the very claim
that one has received a message from God is seen with suspicion. I should add
that there are some large segments of Christianity that do accept these as
present-day manifestations. But outside of these groups, they are generally not
considered authenticating signs, and certainly not by those who are outside
Christianity. So, what are the signs of the Holy Spirit possessing or inspiring
us and the church today?
Jesus in America Survey
In March
2022, the Episcopal Church released a national study it had conducted through
Ipsos.[5]
One of the findings were around what Christians and non-Christians (including
those of other religions as well as non-religious) respectively thought Jesus
taught and what was the most important teaching of Jesus. Another area of
finding was how Christians viewed themselves vs. how non-Christians viewed
Christians.
Of the
teachings of Jesus included in the survey, there was agreement on several of
the teachings of Jesus that all thought Jesus had taught. Among the many agreements:
Love your neighbor, moral teachings, love your enemies, not judging other
without first judging yourself, feed the hungry, love God, turn the other
cheek, and how to live in community with other people.
But in the
question about what the respondents considered to be the most important
teaching of Jesus, there was less agreement. For Christians, love God was the
most important. For non-Christians love of neighbor was thought to be most
important. Next for non-Christians was Jesus’ teachings around not judging
others, but for Christians this falls to around fourth to seventh place
depending on subsegment of Christianity. Love of neighbor, too, falls to second
to fourth place for Christians, depending on the subsegment. For evangelical
Christians, after love of God, Jesus’ teachings that he is the exclusive way to
salvation comes in second place.
What is most
interesting and where disagreement is most prominent is in how Christians view themselves
vs. how non-Christians view Christians. Christians view themselves (in order)
as giving, compassionate, loving, respectful, friendly, honest, humble, sharing,
and truthful. Those of other religions and the non-religious, however, view
Christians as (in approximate order): hypocritical, judgmental, self-righteous,
arrogant, unforgiving, disrespectful. Any positive characteristics show up lower
in the list, and include friendly, giving, and compassionate.
The most
polarized result shows up in the question of whether Christians that each
segment knows represent the values and teachings of Jesus. Even Christians
surveyed only say about a third of Christians they know represent a lot the
values and teachings of Jesus. And for the non-Christians surveyed, that number
falls into the single digits – as low as 2% from the non-religious.
An Interpretation and Suggestion
There are
many ways to interpret survey data, and what I suggest next is just one
possibility.
What I see
is that Americans (who were the ones surveyed), irrespective of religious
affiliation, generally have some common agreement to Jesus’ teaching and values.
Christians, regardless of denomination, tend to put the vertical relationship
with God and beliefs about God higher on the priority than horizontal
relationships with other people, sometimes much more so. The non-Christians
look at Jesus and they see his relationships with others much more than his
teachings about God. When they look at Christians, us, they see a huge gap
between what they see as Jesus’ important teachings and what they see
Christians living and modeling.
I suggest
that perhaps the most impactful sign today of God’s presence in God’s community
is a better congruence between what Jesus taught and lived, what the church
values and teaches, and how individual Christians live out the teachings of
Jesus.
Conclusion
Here is a
quick summary of how Jesus lived and related to his world: Jesus’ forgiveness
and acceptance offended and threatened the religious status quo, the temple
system, and the priests. Jesus’ nonviolence offended his fellow nationalists.
Jesus’ inclusiveness offended those who create hierarchies and divisions based
on race, nationalities, and religion. Jesus’ egalitarianism offended any who
subscribed to the hierarchical structures that were the social, political, and
religious norms. Jesus broke down boundaries. Jesus gave his life for these values.
God raised Jesus up to vindicate these values. Jesus sent and continues to send
the Holy Spirit to animate his followers with these values.
Jesus said
to his disciples, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending
you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”[6]
In the Upper Room on Pentecost Sunday, the Spirit poured out to include all
peoples, languages, genders, races, and nationalities into the movement initiated
by Jesus Christ.
Will we
allow the Holy Spirit to direct our lives after the pattern of Jesus? A
crucifix is a symbol of Christ, but are we willing to go beyond that and truly
live a cruciform life and thereby wear the sign of Christ’s presence, power,
and authority in our very being?
In the name of God who is the creator and sustainer of all, the God who broke boundaries, and God who continues to move to break boundaries.
[1]
Prophecy and
Ecstasy | Ancient Prophecy: Near Eastern, Biblical, and Greek Perspectives |
Oxford Academic (oup.com), Chapter 5.
[2]
IVP Bible Background Commentary, Old Testament. Numbers 11:25.
[3]
Mark 9:38-40.
[4]
Reading the New Testament Commentary, Acts 2:14.
[6] John 20:21-22 (CEB, with my edits).
No comments:
Post a Comment