God's Wisdom

Acts 2:1-21

I think one of the more interesting of scripture passages is the one that was read today about how the disciples were filled by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The day was called Pentecost because it was fifty days after the Passover, and "Pentecost" literally means fifty days.

There they all were, gathered together in Jerusalem, the eleven disciples, celebrating the end of the season of Passover along with the rest of their fellow Jewish worshipers from all over the known world. And they were praying together in a large room where many passersby could see them when suddenly there came, as the scriptures say, "A rush as of a mighty wind." And tongues of flame appeared and rested on each of the disciples. And as this happened each of the disciples began to speak in foreign languages that they had never studied before, each of them telling about the good news of Jesus Christ. And the amazing thing about it is that as Jewish persons from foreign lands walked by and heard them, understood what they were saying so that many of them were converted to Christianity on the spot.

This was the Day of Pentecost. Fifty days after the Passover.

Now, it isn't often that United Methodist pastors get to preach on Pentecost Sunday. Often this is because Pentecost Sunday often takes place on days like today wherein churches are celebrating things like High School Baccalaureates. So, often pastors will pick a theme that they believe may be a bit more appropo to an educational theme; scriptures like how Jesus as a youth went and spoke with the elders in the Temple and grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Or, on Baccalaureate Sundays pastors will sometimes preach lofty sermons from the book of Proverbs, spouting advice on how young people should listen to the wisdom of their parents and all that good stuff that probably most of you graduating seniors do anyway.

But, rather than do that, I'm going to talk a little about Pentecost and what it means, not only because Pentecost is considered to be the birthday of the church, but also because whether you know it or not, what happened at Pentecost has a real bearing on the rest of your education, whether you go on from high school to college, or not. And that's true for all of us here, today, for what happened on that day of Pentecost has a real bearing upon us, as well.

Those of you who call yourselves graduating high school seniors have, by now, attended at least 13 years of classes. That's approximately 2,340 days of school. That translates into somewhere between 14 and 15,000 hours of class time that you spent learning everything from the four R's to all the other things kids have to learn in school, anymore. You've learned a lot, or at least we hope you have. And we trust that as you leave high school you leave as educated persons. You know things like the speed of light and the circumference of the earth and the square of the hypotenuse and you can quote the kings of England from Marathon to Waterloo in order categorical. But, in spite of our learning, not too many of you seniors, and maybe not even very many of the rest us would admit to being wise.

And that's why the Day of Pentecost is important to us. For as those disciples sat together in their place of worship, God began something special in their lives. Now, let's consider for a moment all these disciples had been through up until that day. They had spent three years with Jesus, listening to him, learning from him, watching him, eating with him, studying him. Their heads were full of things that they had learned from the greatest Teacher in the world. But, now he was gone. They had graduated from one of the greatest periods of schooling that any of us can possibly imagine. And there they sat together in that room on the Day of Pentecost, like you are today, dressed in your caps and gowns, wondering what God had in store for them for the future, wondering if they had what it takes, wondering if they would be smart enough, wondering and hoping and unsure and maybe even a little afraid.

And God did something for them. He sent his Holy Spirit upon them. And in doing so God began a process in their lives of wisdom building. The filling of God's Spirit was an event which would grow in their lives in such a way that each would develop gifts and graces leading to marvelous accomplishments in the face of what might have otherwise have been insurmountable obstacles.

And that's why what happened on Pentecost is so important to us, as well. For God offers this same power, this same Spirit, to you. He offers it to us all. And yes, amazingly, if you listen carefully with the ears of your soul you might even now hear that rushing of wind which is God's Spirit being offered to you and to all of us. Can we, will we, like those disciples so long ago, hush our souls receptively, expectantly, as the Spirit blows through this room, the flaming tongues dancing above our heads?

Your high school education is complete. But school isn't out. In fact, it has only just begun. Amen.