PENTECOST, B – May 31, 2009
SCRIPTURES – Ezek. 37:1-14;
Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27 & 16:4b-11
“I
will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.” (Ezek. 37)
"The things that the flag stands for were created by the experiences of a
great people. Everything that it stands for was written by their
lives. The flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of
history."
And so, the flag cannot be just a colorful piece of cloth you hang. It is
an embracing of our nation’s history and purpose as your
history and purpose.
This is especially true of the Bible. You
really cannot hear and embrace the words of the Bible apart from
the history which it proclaims and which gave rise to its words.
God’s Word proclaims history, and God’s Word makes
history. And so, a little bit of history.
“The hand of the Lord was
upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the
Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full
of bones. He led me around among them, and behold, there were very
many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.
And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So begins our reading from Ezekiel. Ezekiel then sees these bones that
are lying all over on the ground suddenly fly together. Tendons
and flesh then appear on the skeletons, and an army of living
people arise from them. This sounds like a scene from a TV show:
you know, CSI Babylon! What’s going on? God was summarizing the
history and condition of His people Israel in 600 B.C. They had
turned away from Him to the worship of false gods, and so God had
punished them by sending the Babylonians to conquer them and carry
them away to Babylon as slaves. Israel was dead as a nation, like
dry and scattered bones. But, through Ezekiel God gave them a
great promise: He would raise them to life again as His people and
restore them to their own land!
We hear something similar in today’s Gospel reading. It is the night
Jesus will be betrayed by Judas, the night before He is crucified.
Jesus tells His apostles that He is going to leave them, and
sorrow fills their hearts when they hear this. But, He gives them
a great promise: “I will send the Helper, the Spirit of
truth who proceeds from God the Father, to you.” He will
wipe away their despair and raise them to new life!
We could use God’s intervention today, couldn’t we? Our nation, although
not dead, is very sick. Entire industries are on the brink of
collapse, millions of people have lost their jobs, and many others
have had to take salary cuts. The huge drop of the stock market
has imperiled many people’s retirement incomes. We’re hurting
severely, and a number of you are suffering. Boy, like Ezekiel’s
people and the apostles, we could use God’s intervention!
God has intervened. On this Day of Pentecost, we recall the fulfillment
of God’s great promise to save sinners. It began at Christmas,
with God the Father sending His Son into the world. God the Son
came into our world bodily and lived among us as a human being!
Easter announces the completion of Christ’s work of salvation.
Jesus removed our sins from us by taking them upon Himself and
dying for us, enduring their punishment of death and hell in our
place. He then rose from the dead to create a new and eternal life
for us with God. The gift of salvation is prepared and wrapped.
Pentecost is its delivery. God now sends the Holy Spirit to unite
us to Jesus and give us His salvation. “He will glorify me,
for he will take what is mine and declare it to you,”
Jesus says. And, God will now not only be among us in flesh; He
will even fill our flesh and live within us! “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”
God’s promise to Ezekiel is fulfilled! God sends His Holy Spirit
to us all! – not primarily to bless our lives with prosperity –
no, we endure many trials – but to give us eternal life with
Christ.
“I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and it shall come to pass that
everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
How will such great things happen? The
enslaved Jewish people in Babylon among whom Ezekiel lived must
have asked him this. He saw a great vision! He experienced God’s
presence! What about them? Well, they have Ezekiel’s words, and
with them, they have life.
“Prophesy
over these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of
the Lord.’ [And as] I
prophesied, the breath came into them, and they lived.”
His words, given by God to proclaim, would do it. Jesus promises
the Holy Spirit to His apostles and says:
“When the Spirit of truth
comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak
on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he
will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify
me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
And
so, God gives words; speaking, preaching, and witnessing about
God’s works. This is how the Holy Spirit comes to you, and,
through you, to others. This is how God the Holy Spirit joins you
to Jesus and comes to live within you: by words.
Is this it? Can this really be? The people who heard Ezekiel may have
said, “Well, it’s great that you had this awesome vision. How
about us? Are words all you have for us?” The disciples surely
felt very empty when, even though they had Jesus’ words and
promises, they saw Him hanging on the cross. And, maybe you’re
wishing for something more than words, some greater evidence of
God’s presence in your life. Words that are true, however, can
change lives.
q On this day 23 years ago, a little after 1:00 in the afternoon, I said these words: “I, Robert, take you, Lorayne, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death parts us, according to God's holy will; and I promise you my faithfulness.” She then spoke similar words to me. Just words? They expressed our love, our very selves. They created a new life together, and brought forth three other lives.
If our words, the words of weak and sinful mortals, can bring about such
great things, then how much more powerful, life-giving and
life-changing, are God’s true and holy words! “[The Holy
Spirit] will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare
it to you,” says Jesus. Just words? Words from the Son of
God! Words that God the Holy Spirit inspired Jesus’ apostles to
write, so that we would know our Savior! The words of the Bible
are marriage words, for they join us to Jesus and give us what is
His. His love, His faithfulness, His oneness with the Father, His
death as payment for our sins, His resurrection to new life, His
ascension to God’s right hand – the Holy Spirit gives all this,
and more, to you as He promises His love, promises Himself,
to you. By these words the Holy Spirit fills you. This is yours as
you hear and believe His words, the words of the Bible.
Are a spouse’s words of love important? They are necessary; they are vital; they bring joy and the continuance of life together. How they need to be said and heard! Even more do we all need to hear and believe God’s words. In his explanation to the 3rd Article of the Creed Martin Luther teaches us: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.” We need God’s Holy Spirit to give us life with God and make us truly spiritual. We also need to know that we receive this Holy Spirit only through the words of the Bible, for they are His words of love. Luther tells us in his Large Catechism:
“Neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe in him and take him as our Lord, unless these were first offered to us and bestowed on our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel by the Holy Spirit… [The Holy Spirit] has a unique community in the world. It is the mother that begets and bears every Christian through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit reveals and preaches that Word, and by it he illumines and kindles hearts so that they grasp and accept it, cling to it, and persevere in it.”
In conclusion,
I’d like you to focus upon the banners behind the altar. Today we
gladly fly before us, not the flag, but these banners with the
flames and the dove which proclaim the coming of the Holy Spirit
to us. He is the Lord and giver of life who brought you forth into
this life and gives you eternal life in Christ. He does this here,
in this place, through the words of God that are proclaimed. God
the Holy Spirit, who knows your history and your life, speaks
God’s life into you. “I
will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”
By Him we live forever!
