Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[Intro]
On the night Jesus was betrayed, He made a promise to His
disciples: “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that
I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Later that evening, Jesus would be arrested by a band of
soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees. That following
day, Jesus would be sentenced to death by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate and
later nailed to a cross and die. The chief priests and Pharisees were satisfied
knowing that their problem had been solved.
At the same time, the disciples didn’t know what to do. Where do
they go from here? They were troubled. So, they hid from the Jewish authorities
out of fear that they could soon die.
Then on Sunday evening, while in a locked room, Jesus appeared
to them and showed them His hands and His side. They believed! They were full
of joy! Everything was perfect again with Jesus at their side.
Following His bodily resurrection, Jesus presented Himself alive
by many proofs and spoke about the kingdom of God for 40 days. Then, seemingly
out of nowhere, Jesus bodily ascended into heaven as He was lifted up and a
cloud took Him out of their sight.
The disciples gazed up into heaven and likely thought, “What’s
next? What are we to do now? We have no leader.” Now, they knew what to do
while Jesus was in their physical presence among them, but now that He is gone,
they are lost. All they can do is gaze up into the sky.
The disciples were right back where they were on that Good
Friday evening. Jesus is gone. They are sheep without their Shepherd.
[The Coming of the Holy Spirit]
Ten days after Christ’s ascension into heaven, the disciples
were all gathered together in Jerusalem.
Then “suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a
mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Acts
2:2).
The disciples began speaking in languages that they never knew
as they proclaimed to one another the mighty works of God.
As they were speaking in other languages, devout Jews who
traveled to Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost overheard them. These
traveling Jews said to one another, “How is it that we hear, each of us in his
own native language the mighty works of God?”
Something had come over the disciples and this something was the
Third Person of the Trinity dwelling within them.
After fearing what would come of them, the disciples were no
longer sheep without a Shepherd. The Holy Spirit had come to their side as
their Helper. All at once, they began to remember all that Jesus had done and
taught.
The promise of Jesus was fulfilled! The Holy Spirit had come to
be at their side and enlighten them with His gifts!
[Enlightens with Scripture]
Now, unlike Jesus, the Holy Spirit has no physical body, instead
He borrows our human bodies to accomplish His work.
As the Helper, the Holy Spirit inspired Christ’s disciples to
speak of the mighty works of God and write of the mighty works of God.
You see, the Holy Scriptures are the very words of God as the
Holy Spirit inspired the prophets, evangelists and apostles to write.
Just like Jesus, Holy Scripture is both fully divine and fully
human. The Holy Spirit gave these men the divine words to write in human
language.
So when we read or hear Scripture read, God is present. God is
speaking to us. Now, God is not imprisoned or boxed in those pages, but God is
there, waiting for readers and hearers to encounter His power in words of both
Law and Gospel.
Here, God condemns sin and expresses His wrath from its pages.
We encounter the crushing power of His Law as we realize we have fallen short
of the glory of God.
At the same time, the Holy Spirit tells of the saving grace of
God though Jesus Christ in His divine Scripture. In God’s Written Word, we
learn that although we are sinners, we have a Savior who has saved mankind
purely out of grace.
Now, even though the Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures, He
focuses not on Himself. His focus is on Jesus.
You see, the Holy Spirit’s role is to bring everyone to the
knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ alone and the Holy Spirit does this
through the Scriptures and through the preaching of His Word.
Martin Luther writes in his Large Catechism: “Neither you nor I
could ever know anything about Christ, or believe on Him, and have Him for our
Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit
through the preaching of the Gospel. The work of redemption is done and
accomplished. Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His
suffering, death, resurrection, and so on. But if the work remained concealed
so that no one knew about it, then it would be useless and lost.”
You see, the Holy Spirit cannot conceal the work of redemption
that has been done and accomplished through Jesus Christ.
This is what we celebrate on Pentecost! The work of Christ is not
concealed, but is available for all people! “For everyone who calls upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).
[Points Us To Christ]
Today, the Holy Spirit dwells in you through the Means of Grace:
Word and Sacrament. Through preaching, the Holy Spirit continually points you
to Christ.
The Holy Spirit began dwelling in you at your baptism, which was
your personal Pentecost.
You see, in baptism the Holy Spirit gives you a new life. He
gives you a new thinking about God, about yourself, about your sins. Because
Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day, you are now pure and perfect
and holy. Now you are forgiven and free and the Holy Spirit brings you that
message. Through that good news, the Holy Spirit makes you alive.
We are alive knowing that in Christ, we are both saint and
sinner. Through the Holy Spirit’s work, we remember that in Christ we are
saints. But also the Holy Spirit reminds us that we have fallen short of the
glory of God. We sin repeatedly against God as we place our trust in ourselves
rather than God.
So, the Holy Spirit reminds us that even though we deserve
eternal punishment for our sins, God has given us salvation through Jesus
Christ.
We are reminded that in Christ, all the powers of sin, death and
Satan, have been destroyed through His death and resurrection. We receive this
free gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Through the Spirit, we are also reminded that on the same night
of Christ’s betrayal, Jesus also instituted the Lord’s Supper. So, when we receive
Christ’s very body and His very blood within the bread and wine, we also
receive forgiveness of sins and strength for our faith. We also proclaim the
Lord’s death until He comes again in glory.
Even though we are 2,000 years removed from the earthly ministry
of Jesus, we can remember all that Jesus has done through the power of the Holy
Spirit.
We can do so, because the disciples were enlightened by the
Spirit on Pentecost. Through their remembering, we have been taught. Likewise
at our baptism, we have become enlightened by the Spirit to know Jesus Christ
as our Lord and Savior. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
T SOLI DEO GLORIA T
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