Comfortless

May 11, 2008     Pentecost A

Acts 2:1-21           

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13         St. John 20:19-23

We are told in the Gospels that Jesus cared for his disciples. His care for them during his lifetime on earth was manifested in many ways. His care did not stop at his ascension. Jesus promised that he would not leave them comfortless. Another Comforter would come to be with them forever.

St. John's Gospel speaks about Jesus' glorification. According to St John the glorification of Jesus took place when he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, but all was not yet accomplished. The Holy Spirit still had to be given; the one who made the promise had to send him.

This is precisely what occurred at Pentecost. After being in the company of his disciples for the forty days following his resurrection, the Lord ascended into heaven, and on the fiftieth day, the day we are now celebrating, he sent the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. The account is given in today's second lesson: "Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and there appeared to them tongues like fire which separated and came to rest on each one of them. And they began to speak in other tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance."

The tongues in which they spoke as the Holy Spirit filled them were a foreshadowing of the Church's preaching of the Gospel in the tongues of all nations.

You will remember, after the flood, in pride and defiance of the Lord, an impious generation erected a high tower and so brought about the division of the human race into many language groups, each with its own peculiar speech that was unintelligible to the rest of the world.

At Pentecost, by contrast, the humble piety of believers brought all these diverse languages into the unity of the Church. What discord had scattered, love was to gather together.

Like the limbs of a single body, the separated members of the human race would be restored to unity by being joined to Christ, their common head, and welded into the oneness of a holy body by the fire of love as the Spirit gave them gifts.

This was not the only time the Spirit gave gifts to the Church. St. Paul speaks about many gifts that the Spirit gives, not just one a single day, but through the history and life of the Church. The gifts of the Spirit take different forms, not just the one form of speaking in tongues. Each gift, however unspectacular it might appear in relation to other gifts of the Spirit, has to be used for the common good of the Church.

The gifts of the Spirit must not lead to individualism but to the building up of the corporate body of the community. The Church is one body through a common baptism and a common "drinking of one Spirit." Anyone therefore who rejects the gift of the Spirit, the Comforter, and withdraws from the fellowship of this unity cuts himself off from the gift of the Holy Spirit and ultimately the Church and God.

We are fellow members of Christ's body, we are the fruits of unity and the children of peace. We remember this day with joy, celebrate it in freedom of spirit, for in us, as in each generation of Christians since, is fulfilled what was foreshadowed in those days when the Holy Spirit came on that group gathered to await the promised Comforter of God. At that time whoever received the Holy Spirit spoke in many languages, individual though he was. Now in the same way unity itself speaks through all nations in every tongue using the many gifts of the Spirit.

We are established in that unity, we have the Holy Spirit among us, and nothing can separate us from the Church of Christ that speaks in the language of every nation of the world.

We are not comfortless. Jesus is among us through the Holy Spirit, given on that first Christian Pentecost in tongues of fire, and to all generations since in Holy Baptism. The truth of Easter continues, Jesus lives and so shall we.

Our order for Holy Communion today is the Palatinate Liturgy. It was the service written to express the faith of the Church as interpreted and taught by the Heidelberg Catechism. There is no question as to the main theme expressed in the Catechism. It is the comfort that we have through Jesus Christ. I chose this liturgy for use on this Pentecost because of that theme of comfort. Comfort as understood by the writers of the Catechism and this liturgy had nothing to do with a Lazyboy lounger. It had to do with strength. Our word Comfort comes from cum forte meaning "with strength". It is the strength that Jesus gives us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ does not call us to snuggle in and wait, but to rise up and serve.

As an earthly meal fuels our physical bodies, so the Lord's Supper fuels our Spirits giving us the power and ability to serve God. In the Lord's Supper we are united more and more to Christ's life preparing us not only for life eternal but also life temporal.

Christianity is not just a religion of the future, It is a religion of the now. It is not just an anticipation of life in heaven. It is also an expression of life on this earth. In the Lord's Supper we share in the life of Christ. We share not only in the glorified life of Christ in heaven, but also the obedient life of Christ on earth. The Lord's Supper prepares us not only to live forever, but also to live for each day.

Come and be comforted. Be nourished by the life of Christ, so that you may live for Christ, forever and for today.