05/15/05

Pentecost or Babel?

Genesis 11:1-9
Acts 2:1-21, 36-42
John 20:19-23

Recently someone asked me, "Just what is Pentecost?," so I thought it might be good to review again what this high holy day is all about. Pentecost was originally a Jewish holiday, also called the festival of Weeks, when seven weeks (approximately 50 days, thus, Pentecost) after the start of Passover, every Jewish male was to go up to Jerusalem to worship in the temple. It began as an agricultural festival, when faithful Jews brought the first fruits and crops of their vineyards and fields as a sacrifice to God; but then Jewish tradition morphed it into a commemoration of the giving of the Torah to Moses. Later it came to be recognized as the date on which King David had died. (i) Thus, all the "devout Jews" were gathered in Jerusalem in our lesson from Acts 2 today.

The author of Acts emphasizes the importance of Christianity's connection with Judaism by contrasting the festival associated with the revelation of the Torah with the new revelation of the Holy Spirit. Just as fire and thunderous noise were part of the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, so also fire and the loud rush of the wind mark the coming of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. (ii) The disciples of the resurrected Lord felt his presence in a unique way on that Pentecost day, and this is the day we commemorate as the beginning or the birthday of the Christian church.

The lectionary sometimes picks the Tower of Babel story in Genesis as the first lesson on this Sunday, so as to compare and contrast it to Pentecost. Jewish legend has it that after the great flood, Noah and his descendents settle in the plain of Shinar in the Tigris-Euphrates river basin in present day Iraq, and there, to create for themselves a lasting monument, they decide to build a dazzling city (Babylon) and a tower that will reach up to heaven. God, so the story goes, realizing that humankind was getting too big for its britches, goes down to the people, confuses their language, and scatters them to the four corners of the earth. This was the ancient's way of explaining the diversity of languages and cultures throughout the world.

Archeological historians confirm that the Babylonians did build a giant ziggurat, a seven-tiered pyramidal tower, and biblical scholars feel that the early Israelites may have seen this as an audacious endeavor, hardly what God would want the people to do, thus, the legend that developed. The word Babel, deriving from Babylon, is also a play on the Hebrew word, balal, which means to mix or to confuse.

Enough scholarly stuff! The story of the Tower of Babel has to do with the desire for humankind to control its own destiny: "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves ..." Throughout history, God's people have refused God's way, have refused to acknowledge God's guidance in their lives, and have instead struck off on their own. A virtue even today is the ability to make it on our own, and so-called self-made men and women are idolized, because they have made a name for themselves, often against huge odds. We Americans look at our record of national achievements, often conveniently overlooking our failures, and we proudly proclaim that yes, we have surely made a name for ourselves. When we who call ourselves Christians forget from where we get our strength, our wisdom, our abilities, when we forget that all that we have and all that we are is from God, when we start worshipping everything but God, from our material possessions, to success, to power, etc., then we also are liable to God's judgment, as were those who built the Tower of Babel.

A word about God's judgment. In all the early Hebrew Bible stories depicting God's power, each has an element of grace as well as judgment. For example, though Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden, God provides them with clothing. Cain who murders his brother is certainly under God's wrath, but still receives divine protection. In spite of a flood supposedly covering all the earth, humanity is spared extinction through Noah and his family. But in the story of Babel it seems that God's judgment is without saving grace. At the end of the episode the people are scattered throughout the earth, and there the story seems to end. But in the very next chapter, we read about the call of Abram and the creation of the people who are to become Israel, God's chosen ones. The grace of God still prevails.

To understand the Tower of Babel experience, we need go no further than modern American society, where many of us babble on with our own ideas, interests, and agendas, and make little effort to listen to others and their thoughts. This is often true in family, social, or business settings, in government, in churches, literally wherever we find folks who are trying to communicate with one another, but who often are not bothering to listen to one another. It's a rarity when the few lone voices crying out for the welfare and common good of all are heard over the din of the market place, special interests, and selfish preoccupations.

The confusion of life without God or without a conscious commitment to God, as in the Babel story, is in sharp contrast to the strange unity among diverse people that is experienced at Pentecost. If Babel is the chaos that sometimes comes into our lives when in our pride we defy God, then Pentecost is the sense of community created when persons are intent on listening to each other and in doing God's will.

Since Luke, the probable author of Acts, the same one who is also the likely author of the Gospel by that name, since Luke is not an eye witness to what happens, it's possible he may not have gotten all his facts straight, or perhaps even embellished them to suit his own theological or evangelical purposes. Thus, it's possible that the apostles, after the rush of wind and tongues of fire, may not have spoken in a variety of foreign languages understood by the variety of people gathered in Jerusalem, even though this contrasts nicely with the Babel story. Since Aramaic was the language spoken by almost everyone in those parts, most would have understood that language. I'm not discounting a literal interpretation, however; that may indeed have been how it was. Another option might be that they were speaking "in tongues," something described by Paul in Corinthians, technically called "glosalalia," an ecstatic utterance thought to be a manifestation of the Holy Spirit - and still heard in Pentecostal churches today. For those hearing this in Jerusalem on that day, it may have come across as incoherent mumbo jumbo, which could explain why the people think the apostles are "filled with new wine."

Peter, never before a particularly eloquent public speaker, and indeed someone who disavowed Jesus the night before he was crucified, is obviously filled with the Holy Spirit and he lifts up his voice and addresses the crowd. It would take too long to hear his sermon in its entirety, but hopefully you got a feel for it in what Bev read. He is, as we would say, "preaching Jesus," the importance of following Jesus, the "power, wonder, and signs" of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and in his concluding words, that God made Jesus the Messiah, this one who was crucified.

Peter's words cut many of them "to the heart," and recognizing their sinfulness, they cry out in dismay, "What should we do?" His answer is simple, yet profound: "Repent and be baptized ..." Perhaps on this Pentecost Sunday, we too should recognize our own sinfulness and repent of our shortcomings. As we mentioned last Sunday, repentance involves not just changing our minds or expressing remorse, but actually changing our behaviors and our actions. And, though I assume most of us have been baptized, a prerequisite for church membership, maybe we can stretch this to include recommitting ourselves to our faith in Christ, and in our active participation in Christ's church. The church today, as in the time of the Apostles, is the place where the Spirit of the Lord is especially active. Here in the life of the family of faith hearts of fear are replaced with hearts of love, and human weakness is conquered by divine strength. On that first Christian Pentecost, the Holy Spirit tied Jesus' followers together, and this new unity even crossed boundaries of gender, race, age, and nationality, a loving communion of folks praising the Lord. This also can still be felt in the church today. The Holy Spirit imparted to the disciples unquenchable joy, hopefulness, and courage, and gave them a feeling of invincible power. This also can be ours as we struggle and grow in our faith and in community with one another. (iii)

One final note. Those who end up joining themselves with Peter and the other disciples, some three thousand of them that day - now that's powerful preaching - all of them devoted themselves to four activities that are worthy of our emulation. First they devoted themselves to the "apostles' teaching." I would interpret that for today as being involved in learning experiences in the church. For us this would include at the very least, regular and consistent attendance at worship, where through the scriptures and sermons the people of God learn about the faith. It could also extend to adult education endeavors such as Bible study or spiritual growth groups, like our Koinonia and Seekers groups. Christian education is not just for our children and youth.

They also devoted themselves to "fellowship." Church life is incomplete without joy, laughter, good conversation, and all round spontaneous fun, of people having a good time with one another. Fellowship also implies caring and concern for one another, support, holding up, and strengthening of one another. I can think of no place in the church where this is done better than our Pilgrim Women's Fellowship Helping Hands efforts. We certainly also see it with our Stephen Ministers and now with our Parish Nurse.

Third and fourth, the followers of Jesus devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and prayers. The sacramental and worship aspects of church life are of utmost importance, for it is here - beyond any of the spoken words - it is here that we come in touch with the transcendence of God, with the mysteries of our faith, and with a realization of the importance of God and God's relevance in our lives. For sure we can and should pray privately, but there is great power in the collective prayers of one another gathered in worship. Being together in worship regularly is critical to our health and wholeness, but as they say, I'm probably "preaching to the choir," since all of you are here.

We're not able to explain with complete certainty what exactly happened on that Pentecost Day approximately 2,000 year ago, but that the apostles experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in a way that made them conscious of the power of God there can be no doubt. Inspired by this Spirit they began their important work of spreading the Good News, and the Christian Church began to flourish and grow. The word was spoken, the presence was felt, and the people responded with joyous enthusiasm. My prayer for all of us on this Pentecost Day is that the Holy Spirit may touch each one of us until we tingle with joy, and that we may respond with joyous enthusiasm as we reach out to others in the name of the Living Christ. So may it be. Amen.

The Pilgrim Church of Duxbury
Rev. Kenneth C. Landall

i Craig S. Wansink, Lectionary Homiletics, Vol. XVI, No. 3, 5/15/05.
ii Ibid.
iii Robert A. Bryant, Homiletics, op. cit.