If I were to tell you that the three most important days in the history of the Church were Christmas, Good Friday and Easter, I doubt that any of you would argue with me or tell me I’m wrong. After all, on Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Even though there’s a really good probability that His birth did not take place on December 25th, we realize that the birth of Jesus in that lowly stable in Bethlehem – no matter when it actually took place – was absolutely essential for our salvation.
Good Friday is next on the list because it was on that terrible but still very good Friday that Jesus paid the penalty for sin – the penalty of death – for us. And Easter, of course, is vital because it represents Christ’s triumphant victory over sin and death. Without Christmas we couldn’t have Good Friday, and without Good Friday we couldn’t have Easter. Without Easter we wouldn’t have forgiveness of sins.
But something is still missing – and that something is Pentecost. Because beginning with Pentecost, the Holy Spirit begins to spread the Gospel through the mouths and writings and deeds of the Apostles. Beginning with Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fills ordinary sinful people in all nations – people just like you and me – with faith. In terms of our salvation history, Pentecost ranks right up there in importance with Christmas, Good Friday and Easter.
The problem is that most Christians don’t fully understand Pentecost. Statistically speaking, Easter is the single day of the Church year that boasts the highest attendance of any service during the year. Christmas – actually Christmas Eve – is the second highest attended day, and the numbers are usually pretty good for Good Friday. But Pentecost? Well, for most people, Pentecost is just another Sunday. In the Christian church as a whole, church attendance on Pentecost is usually OK – not spectacular, just OK.
Pentecost is a Greek word that means “fiftieth.” Our Epistle lesson today begins with these words: “When the day of Pentecost arrived …” Unlike Christmas and Good Friday and Easter, which were unknown prior to Christ, Pentecost already was an established Jewish feast day, marking the 50th day after the Jewish Passover. It was also the final day of what was called the Festival of First Fruits. The irony of this is that in both Matthew chapter 9 and Luke chapter 10 Jesus is quoted as saying: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” So on this Jewish festival day of Pentecost, the festival of First Fruits, God gathered in first fruits of His eternal harvest. Those who were brought to faith on that day became the first fruits harvest of the Gospel, becoming some of the first members of what we now call the Christian Church. And from that day forward, laborers have been going into the harvest to spread the Gospel good news of salvation through Christ.
During His time with the disciples, Jesus had often spoken about the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. In these past few weeks our Gospel lessons have largely been from Jesus’ final discourse with the disciples recorded in John chapters 13 through 17, and in these chapters He repeatedly promised to send the Holy Spirit to them. In John 14:16 He promised to give them another Helper. Ten verses later Jesus said that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, would teach them everything. In John 16 Jesus said that the Spirit of truth would guide them in all truth. And in John chapter 15 Jesus was pointing specifically to the day of Pentecost when he said: “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
Pentecost is sometimes referred to as the birthday of the Christian Church. Last week we read from Acts chapter 1, where we were told that the total number of believers was “about 120 in all.” That number can seem somewhat surprising in view of the great crowds that often followed Jesus and heard Him preach. One way of looking at it is that the total membership of the Christian Church in the days prior to Pentecost was less than the membership of our congregation here in Pana.
But on Pentecost everything changed in a big way. If you read beyond today’s Epistle lesson to the final verses of Acts chapter 2, you discover these startling words: “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” Just imagine what would happen if the Lord of the Harvest were to on one day add three thousand souls to the membership roster of St. Paul Pana. There’s not a building anywhere in town that could hold that many people at one time. What a wonderful problem – and blessing – that would be!
If Christmas is the birthday of Jesus, then Pentecost truly is the birthday of the Christian Church. But today, this Pentecost day, is also another birthday, for today is the baptismal birthday of little Anna Elizabeth Nollman. When Anna was baptized in the name of the Triune God just a few minutes ago, the Holy Spirit was here every bit as much as he was on that Pentecost day two thousand years ago in Jerusalem. No, we didn’t hear the roar of a mighty wind in our Sanctuary as the people heard on that long-ago Pentecost, nor did we see any tongues as of fire. We didn’t see the Holy Spirit descend in the form of a dove as He appeared when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. But the Spirit was here. Correction: the Spirit is here. Because that is the special work of the Holy Spirit: to bring us to faith and to keep us in the one true faith. The Holy Spirit does that for each and every one of us – just as he does it and will continue to do it for this beautiful young child.
We can only imagine how exciting that first Pentecost must have been – how the emotions of those who were there and witnessed the events of that day must have been running at a fever pitch. Unfortunately, there are many who focus more on those emotions and signs than on an understanding of what was taking place and why it was taking place. Far too many people and far too many churches are confused about the person and the work of the Holy Spirit, letting their emotions become the most important thing in their understanding of their Christian faith. Our culture’s focus on feelings instead of facts has led many to think that worship is primarily about our feelings. They focus on what they feel about God and what they do for God – rather than on how God feels about us and what He has done for us. It doesn’t take much looking to find any number of churches that describe worship exclusively in terms of emotions – using words like exciting, stimulating, stirring, inspiring.
Now please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we can’t get excited or emotional about the salvation that Jesus won for us by His death and resurrection. I’m not saying that we can’t get enjoyment from singing some of our favorite hymns. You’d have to be comatose to not feel sorrow on Good Friday or joy on Easter. But what I am saying is that the Holy Spirit does not work primarily through our emotions. The Holy Spirit works through the inspired Word of God.
That’s what happened on that Pentecost we call the birthday of the Christian Church. After the sound of the mighty wind and after the tongues as of fire appeared, St. Peter spoke to those who were there. Peter preached. And what he preached was the Word of God, beginning with the words that the prophet Joel was inspired to write possibly as long as 800 years before that Pentecost day. The emotions of those people did not bring those three thousand souls to faith. They were brought to faith by the Holy Spirit through the proclamation, the preaching, the hearing of God’s holy Word. Here’s how St. Luke describes it: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
When Anna was baptized this morning, I’m sure that her family members and friends had many emotions running through their minds. You may have shared those emotions as well. But let’s look at what really took place. There was nothing special about the water that I used – it was simple tap water straight from the Pana Water Department. As we learn in Luther’s Small Catechism, “Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word.” The Catechism goes on to say: “certainly not just water, but the word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this word of God in the water. For without God’s word the water is plain water and no Baptism. But with the word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.”
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.” Fellow redeemed in Christ, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we have been brought to faith in the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Like little Anna, have received this washing of the new birth by those beloved living waters. We have been brought to faith. That is why Pentecost is every bit as important in our lives and in the lives of all believers as Christmas, Good Friday and Easter. And thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit will keep us in the one true faith until we all meet again on the greatest of all days – the day that Christ returns in judgment and we begin our glorified, eternal life with Him in heaven.
Return to Pastor page
