Continuing what Jesus started

CONTINUING WHAT JESUS STARTED

Acts 2:1-11; I Cor.l2:3-7,12-13; Jn. 20:19-23

The story of Pentecost, as told in the Book of Acts, confronts us with things that are not easy to understand.  The Holy Spirit made His presence felt with a strong wind.  This demonstrates for me the power of the Holy Spirit.  Then we are told, "Tongues of fire appeared which parted and came to rest on each of them."  I think the fire demonstrates the love the Holy Spirit was imparting on the Apostles.  Next we are told that "they began to express themselves in foreign tongues as the Spirit prompted them."  Was it a miraculous ability to speak languages they had never learned?  Or did they speak in their own language but their hearers understood them in theirs?  That first Pentecost confronts you and me with much mystery.

Our Gospel reading has some of the same.  Jesus suddenly appeared in a room where all the doors were locked.  Obviously, His resurrected body could do things that His natural body could not.  Once in the room, we are told that He breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  That too raises questions.  Was the Spirit given on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection or was the Spirit given on the evening of the first Easter?  Maybe it was both.

I do not know exactly the when and the how of the coming of God's Spirit upon His church, but I think I know the why.  The risen Christ first said, "As the Father has sent Me, so I send you."  Then He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  It means that we are to continue what Jesus started and we are endowed with God's Spirit to help us do precisely that.  Our mission is a continuation of Christ’s mission and we are enabled to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now there are certain things Jesus did which are beyond our capabilities.  All of the Gospels attribute some things to Him that we can never do.  Matthew tells us He walked on water.  We can’t do that.  Mark tells us He restored the sight of a blind man.  Again we can’t do that.  Luke tells us He stilled a storm with just the sound of His voice.  We can’t do that.  John tells us He called back to life a man who had been dead for four days.  We can’t do that.

If we take the New Testament literally, the life and work of Jesus is out of our reach.  What then is the meaning of this statement, "As the Father has sent Me, so I send you."?  I am going to mention three things that Jesus did, which all of us can continue.

First, He treated all people with respect.  Every person was important to Him.  A rich man, who was a Pharisee, invited Jesus to dinner and He went.  These people, as a whole, were rather hostile toward Jesus, but He honoured the man's invitation.  He treated him with respect.  At that dinner, a prostitute entered the room and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.  He was no different to the rich Pharisee than He was to the poor prostitute.  Jesus treated them both with respect.  We can do the same.

To someone, this may seem like a watering down of Pentecost.  After all, when the Holy Spirit came upon the church, He gave them great power.  He enabled them to preach the gospel and to heal the sick.  Why are we talking about such mundane matters as treating people with respect?  The most convincing sermon to be preached in this community will not be from this pulpit.  It will be out there on the streets, in the homes, and in the stores, where Christian people treat each other with respect.  I can think of nothing that would be more healing in our society than showing respect to each other on a daily basis.  "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

Another thing that Jesus did was give preference to the wayward and the weak.  He once told a story about a shepherd who had a hundred sheep but one was lost.  The shepherd left the ninety-nine and went looking for the lost one.  That’s what Jesus did.  He reached out to the people who existed on the margins of society.  He cared for everybody, but especially for those who needed Him most.  We can do that.  It won’t be easy for we tend to care for those who are nice and won’t give us any hassle.  We are not very keen to help people at the bottom of the heap who are of not much use to us.  They cannot recommend us for a job or a promotion.  They cannot buy our products.  They cannot bolster our egos.  Why bother with them?  Jesus was not like that.  His chief concern was not the people who could help Him, but the people whom He could help.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, like Jesus, we can be like the shepherd looking for the lost one.  "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

A third thing that Jesus did was forgive.  He forgave a woman who was caught in the act of adultery.  He called Judas "friend", knowing all the while of his betrayal.  He forgave those who nailed Him to the cross.  He forgave His disciples for forsaking Him in His hour of need.  Jesus was always ready to offer forgiveness.  In our reading, He commissioned His church and His apostles to become agents of forgiveness.  Do you know of anything our world needs more than that?  Forgiveness puts us at right with God and brings us together.

Lord Jesus, Pentecost marks the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church.  May we by Your Holy Spirit, be empowered to continue what You started - to treat all people with respect, to care for those who cannot care for themselves, and to forgive those who have wronged us.  "As the Father has sent Me, so I send you."

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