Midweek Musings for Sunday, May 15, 2016

MIDWEEK MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY, May 15, 2016

This Week's Reflection Comes From

Rev. Aileen Robbins

Messiah, Rochester

and Member of Synod Council

Reflecting and Dwelling in the Word

PRAYER OF THE DAY

God our creator, the resurrection of your Son offers life to all the peoples of earth. By your Holy Spirit, kindle in us the fire of your love, empowering our lives for service and our tongues for praise, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, [the apostles] were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs - in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

'In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

and they shall prophesy.

And I will show portents in the heaven above

and signs on the earth below,

blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

The sun shall be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood,

before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "

MUSINGS

As Jesus stands poised to ascend into heaven; after Jesus has told the disciples that they must not leave Jerusalem but must wait there for the promise of the Father, the disciples frantically ask him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"

At that particular moment, Jesus chooses not to answer that question. His instruction remains, just wait. Perhaps it's because some answers are just too deep for words, some answers need to be experienced. Sometimes in our waiting we find that we ask the wrong question. I think this might be the case here. The disciples seem to be overlooking the fact that Jesus has been out and about among Gentiles. Their thinking is confined to believing that Jesus will come only to restore the people of Israel. They can't possibly at this point in time have any idea of the scope of salvation God has in mind.

To have some frame of reference for this question and indeed this event, we need to go back to the book of Numbers, which tells the story of Israel's move into Canaan after their 40 years sojourn in the wilderness. The story is interrupted by a long list of rules and laws and right before they cross the border yet another census is taken. And then it ends with each of the twelve tribes being assigned a territory. Kingdoms are given over to the tribes of Reuben and Simeon and Gad and Dan and the rest of the brothers. Boundaries are established and the land becomes settled.

The book of Numbers ends with a time when each tribe, each nation was assigned a place by God. It was as close to Eden as anyone was going to get-everyone in their place, everyone exactly where God wanted them. And all of the outsiders were exactly that-OUT! Personally, I think that's what the disciples wanted the kingdom restored to: a place for God's people, everyone in their place, and the outsiders out!

But Jesus, or rather the Holy Spirit, answers the question, "Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" with the Pentecost event. The answer lies not in the flames or the wind. I believe the answer lies in the list of nations, the list that provides such entertaining reading from the lectern this Sunday each year.

The list begins rather oddly with the Parthians, Medes, and Elamites two of whom, it turns out, were actually extinct. The Elamites were nearly wiped out by the Assyrians in 640 B.C.E. and were eventually absorbed into the Parthinian Empire. The Median Empire entered into a political alliance with Babylon and was later absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus II. As a distinct ethnic group, the Medes had been extinct for over five-hundred years!

So, here we finally come to the point of this long history lesson: The disciples can only hope for a limited restoration, a restoration of the remaining tribes, for there are some that were completely gone. The disciple's question to Jesus assumes that God can only work with what is here and now. But Luke's list includes people who no longer exist. God can restore what is completely, unquestionably, irrefutably lost! That is amazing. God will and does restore those who have always belonged but have been pushed out. God's scope of grace includes the restoration of those who were never, ever part of the story of salvation in the first place. For the list of nations includes the Egyptians and the Libyans and the Turks and the Romans and the Arabs--an incredible list of outsiders!

God's word, God's love, God's mercy, God's grace is for all people. Peter is the first to comprehend. He jumps up and announces with gusto, "This is what God meant in the Prophet Joel when he declared I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh!"

God cannot be contained in our boxes. God cannot be confined to our meager scope of salvation. The Spirit is on the loose and the Spirit will speak to whomever she wills. Children shall prophesy. Teens will see visions that will guide us. Old people will dream dreams that will direct the future. The lowly, the poor, the marginalized shall prophesy. And everyone shall be saved.

That, my friends, is the beauty, the miracle of Pentecost-not that there were flames and wind but that everyone, insiders, outsiders and those on the fence, on that day were touched by the Spirit and able to hear in their own language the language of God speaking words to them.

God's Spirit has been poured out and it is a beautiful thing. But the thing about the Spirit is that she won't be confined even to our buildings, and certainly not on our terms. Just like on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, the Spirit speaks to us so that we can speak to others.

This is the central importance of Pentecost: the Spirit's transformation of the church into a community of prophets. No longer are we individual nations unto ourselves, but we are a prophetic community. The community that had gathered in Jesus' name is now made something that they were not before: prophets of God's word, messengers of the good news of Jesus. The last days of Peter's Pentecost sermon do not bring an end or destruction to creation, but rather bring a prophetic mission to the church that continues in the here and now.

I wonder who else needs that prophetic word spoken in their lives. Is it my new neighbor? Is it the person who sits across the lunch table from you at school? Is it the coworker at the next desk or cubicle? Is it your sister or brother or grandmother who has lost interest in being part of the church? Is it the friend you meet after work the third Friday of the month?

God's work of restoration is happening now in us and through us. God's work is continuing as we listen to one another from oldest to youngest. God's work continues when we open our mouths and share the good news of Jesus for all people. Amen

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