Whit Sunday
Numbers
11: 24-30; Acts 2:1-21, John 20:19-23
Many
sermons begin by looking at last week’s events to try and connect the readings
with “the real world” that we may venture out in tomorrow. We look back because
we’ve no idea what the coming week will bring, or even if it is a Monday due to
lockdown brain fog!
We
are in good company because the Gospel reading jumps back - to the evening of
the first Easter Day. Bishop Helen-Ann often quotes from Nick King’s freshly
translated New Testament – Nick is a Jesuit priest but also an expert in Greek,
hence he’s translated his own Bible. I’ve bought a copy for lockdown and Nick’s
comments run alongside the text.
Our
reading began at verse 19 but in verse 18 Mary Magdalene announced to the disciples
that she has seen the Lord. Verse 19 begins with the disciples locking all the
doors so they do not seem to have believed her.
They
are described as in fear of “the Judaeans”, a much more accurate phrase than
“the Jews” of the King James and the New Revised Standard Version Bibles, translations
which reflect centuries of misunderstandings and antisemitism with “our older
brothers.”
On
Easter Day here in our time much was made by bishops and priests about the
locked doors because, just like the disciples, we were in lockdown, afraid to
go out for fear of our very lives. Little did we think that we would still be in
lockdown 7 Sundays later. The press conference on Bank Holiday Monday was unusual
because it was the first ever by a “Chief Adviser” rather than an elected
politician, but with all the presidential trappings of a rose garden. Was he
right to leave lockdown? If it was lawful was it moral?
The
scene in John is chosen by the Church today because it’s John’s Pentecost -
Jesus came and stood among his friends, breathed the Holy Spirit towards them,
2 metres apart hopefully, and commissioned them to go and forgive sins. The
disciples now had work to do, though Thomas was commissioned later. If we were
going to have 3 points, then the first would surely be that the Holy Spirit
comes in to send us out.
Our 2nd
reading from Acts is Luke’s Pentecost. For Luke the Spirit in action can be
felt and seen – there are dramatic winds and flames. We are meant to recall the
sights and sounds of Jesus’s baptism in Luke 3. One of Luke’s emphases is that there
will be opposition. Like many ancient historians, Luke uses speeches to
interpret to his readers what he thinks is going on. We could think of the
Queen’s Speech when she opens Parliament. The Queen reads it to tell us what is
going on but a few 100 people contribute to the writing of it.
So in
verse 13 Luke speaks of rejection and mockery as the speakers are accused of
being drunk, a theme that will reappear frequently in Acts. The Spirit’s sheer energy
drives the good news around the known world -
– if
we put a pin on a map for all those difficult place names that were read out
they would make a circle round what we used to call the Near East. The Spirit
went even further, eventually, as we are sat in western Europe listening today.
However, the
Spirit brings opposition because of its
message of judgement - think of Peter’s phrase in verse 21 – “everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.
Today,
in these strange times, we have gathered behind closed doors. No one from
outside our household may come nearer than the garden wall, unless it’s the
cleaner and we leave the room 20 minutes before her – or him. It may be easier
to crave the safety of closed doors and minds as we find comfort in the
familiar routine of home. The risk assessment for churches when they are opened
says that gates, outer doors and inner doors must be left ajar, so that no-one
touches them and the priest has to use the south or “priest’s door.”
We
continue moving back in time like Dr Who for our last point that came in our
first reading from the Book of Numbers. In the Ribblesdale parishes we always
have the Old Testament reading apart from today, because the reading from Acts
is just so long! Still, in lockdown we can read it during the week. It’s that
wonderful story of someone snitching on their neighbour.
We
used to react in horror when East Germans shopped their neighbours, school
children informed on classmates and students passed information about other
students. We now know from the archives of the Stasi – the secret police - that
eavesdropping was widespread. Now the Coronavirus has brought that same plague
here and, unlike the East Germans, we aren’t even rewarded with a new apartment
or Trabant car – though the Daily Mirror will pay you for a tipoff about
celebrities.
The
story in Numbers relates how God shared his Spirit with Moses and 70 chosen
elders in the holy tent. The 70 elders were only given the Spirit for that one ceremony.
Joshua, Moses’s right hand man, snitched on the wonderfully-named Eldad and
Medad. They hadn’t even been in the service, and yet, there they were, running
around, full of God’s spirit. “Stop them!” said Joshua.
To
his surprise, Moses wished that the Lord would put his Spirit on all the
Israelites.
The
last point then is that Pentecost is for all God’s people. We too can offer the
simple prayer or plea that the people of God have whispered and sung down the
centuries: “Come Holy Spirit” – that we may be sent out through doors that are left
ajar, vulnerable to opposition and ridicule, but willing to be challenged so
that we can seek - and find - Jesus in the ones we serve.
The
Holy Spirit is not just for Peter, Thomas and the elders, but for Eldad and
Medad, you and me.
Rev Stephen Dawson
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