Fr Mike's Message - 5/28/23

The Gospel: ​John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Prayer: Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that you have inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation, and that you will empower our application. Amen

The Message: ​Today we are celebrating Pentecost Sunday. So, today we are going to look at Pentecost and what it means for us. I am going to be focusing on the theme: "he makes all things new" in my message this morning and drawing on what it meant on that first Pentecost and then as it flows into our lives today. 

Before we go too far into this reflection I want to say that it is important for us to know and recognize that this celebration, like so many others in the Christian faith, has its roots in Jewish tradition.
 
We use the word Pentecost to remember, celebrate and commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. But the roots of the day go back many hundreds of years in Jewish history and life.
 
The term Pentecost comes from a Greek word meaning "fiftieth." It refers to the Jewish festival of Shavuot which was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover. It is also known as the "Feast of Weeks" and the "Feast of 50 days" in rabbinic tradition.

This was a Jewish celebration day. It had various meanings at various times in Jewish history. All of them were celebrated to some degree at the time of Jesus.

Originally Shavuot was the second of the three Pilgrim Festivals of the Jewish religious calendar. It was originally an agricultural festival, marking the beginning of the wheat harvest. During the Temple period, the first fruits of the harvest were brought to the Temple, and two loaves of bread made from the new wheat were offered. This aspect of the holiday is reflected in the custom of decorating the synagogue with fruits and flowers and in the names Yom ha-Bikkurim (“Day of the First Fruits”) and Ḥag ha-Qazir (“Harvest Feast.”)

I would like to ask you to hold on to that image of bringing the "First Fruits" to the Lord in thanksgiving. We will return to this concept later in my Message.

Now as the lives of the Hebrews and later the Jewish nation changed and evolved so did the commemoration of Shavuot. During rabbinic times the festival became associated with the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, which is recounted in the Torah readings for the holiday. It became customary during Shavuot to study the Torah and to read the Book of Ruth.

Jesus' followers, his disciples, - who were Jewish - are understood to have gathered for the celebration of Shavuot on Pentecost. They have gathered, but they fear for their lives and are meeting in secret behind locked doors. Obedient to tradition but unsure of what the future holds for them when suddenly everything is changed.
 
Jesus' appearance among them took an old situation and turned it into something new. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so coincidentally, this was Jesus' second appearance to his disciples. At Shavuot, the second festival, Jesus makes his second appearance.
  
So, back to making things new, this ancient festival with all its various meanings and reasons for celebration now, was established for Jesus' followers, as the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The day was filled with new meaning as they were filled with the Holy Spirit. 
This appearance of Jesus must have caused some consternation among the disciples. Jesus feels it is necessary to say twice. "Peace be with you." He says it to the disciples before he reveals his hands and his side. Then he says it again "Peace be with you" before he commissions them. "As the father has sent me, so I send you."

Then he breathes on them and says "Receive the Holy Spirit." What an amazing sequence of events. 

If that wasn't enough Jesus then makes an astounding statement: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them."
The disciples are empowered by Jesus and he makes forgiveness the top priority of their new lives and their new ministry. Not only that but they can withhold forgiveness - " if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Later in the service, during our Eucharist, we will pray the Lord's prayer together. 

The phrase right in the middle really stood out to me as I was writing this message: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." 
What an awesome opportunity and responsibility that is. To be able to forgive. But also we need to consider what the Lord says about our ability to retain "the sins of others." In some ways, I believe that is an even greater opportunity and responsibility. 

Can we see, looking back at Shavuot, how Jesus makes this ancient celebration of "first fruits" new? Jesus gives Pentecost a new and a fresh meaning. The "first fruits" of a Christian life is forgiveness. When Jesus comes to the disciples at Pentecost he doesn't come expecting gifts from them. He comes and gives them a gift - the Holy Spirit. The first fruit of the Holy Spirit's activity in a believer's life is forgiveness. 
  
Here is a beautiful and meaningful way in which the disciples were given to live their lives. They were to be marked and set apart by forgiveness. If we are his current-day disciples, then we also can participate with the Lord, in his work of making things new. 

As we go out into the world, or perhaps as we consider those sitting with us here this morning, we have the awesome opportunity and responsibility to help them step into the new life that Christ offers each and every one of us.
 
What great joy we can experience not only in our own relationship - with the Lord - but also in being ambassadors of the love of Christ in the world.
 
This is so well expressed in the prayer from the Daily Office: Christ Our Passover:

Alleluia.
 Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us; *
 therefore let us keep the feast,
 Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, *
 but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.
Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; *
 death no longer has dominion over him.
 The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all; *
 but the life he lives, he lives to God.
 So also consider yourselves dead to sin, *
 and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Alleluia.
Christ has been raised from the dead, *
 the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
 For since by a man came death, *
 by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
 For as in Adam all die, *
 so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Alleluia.

Perhaps, as we reflect on this new life and all its opportunities, can pray 
The Post Communion Blessing. 

Can I invite you to close your eyes and I will read that prayer:
 
Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.

Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart; through Christ our Lord.  Amen