ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 2:1-11
WHEN THE DAY of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontos and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."
It feels like just a few years ago, but I think we’re heading on two decades. It just a couples years before Thomas came home. Beth and I spent a week touring Paris with Beth’s sister Becky. I have to say Paris was amazing and that I’d go back in a heartbeat, but one of the most interesting parts of our trip - something that was a bit unique - was the timing. You see, it was 2003 and we landed in Paris on the same day that President George W. Bush launched the US’s invasion of Iraq. It was the beginning of our nation’s military response to 9/11, which you could say finally ended just last year with our withdrawal from Afghanistan. The US launched that invasion with support from an international coalition that included the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia, but we weren’t in England, Poland, or Australia. We were in France. And France had taken a stand against our invasion.
I remember seeing posters at bus stops with French headlines reading “Guerre Bush” or Bush’s War. I have photographs of the protestors outside the US Embassy and French police lining up in riot gear including bulletproof shields shields and batons, all standing at the ready, waiting to keep the peace by force if necessary. I don’t remember any personal trouble related to our presence as American tourists in Paris, but I do remember one time, as I was browsing a little gift shop, the owner of that shop had the radio playing. It was a talk show, and I couldn’t understand a thing, of course, because the announcer and his guest were speaking French, but then in the middle of his monologue, I heard two English words and I had to laugh because I knew exactly what they were talking about. Those words were: “Freedom Fries.”
You see, in reaction to the French pushback to our invasion, some Americans had decided to shun anything French. And that included the most popular fast food side dish in America, French Fries. And so a small number of restaurants and the Congressional Cafeteria renamed French Fries as Freedom Fries. Forget the fact that French Fries were invented in America, that “French” in the name is a reference to a style of cutting, not the country. But who ever really started saying “Freedom Fries.” It was 100% a stunt. And a laughable one, at that.
But 2003 was notthe first time Americans had decided to change the names of their foods to reflect their negative feelings about other ethnicities. Have you ever heard of “Liberty Cabbage” or “Liberty Sandwiches?” Well, in 1918, as America fought Germany in World War I, anti-German sentiment here at home led to the renaming of sauerkraut as “Liberty Cabbage” and hamburgers as “Liberty Sandwiches.” Those names didn’t stick, either. But unfortunately, this anti-German sentiment during World War I went even deeper than it’s 2003 equivalent, leading to the banning of German classes in schools and the speaking of German in public. It even led to prohibiting German preaching in German-speaking churches.
Right here in Iowa, our Governor at the time, passed the “Babel Proclamation,” an executive order forbidding the use of any language other than English in public. This executive order, a gross and obvious infringement of the first amendment, was enforced by local municipalities who would fine violators. Fines were often in the $25 range, which would be the equivalent of about $450 today. Right here in Scott County four women were fined $225 (or $2,250 of today’s dollars) by the County Defense Council when they were heard speaking German to one another over their a party line. And if you’re too young to know what a party line is, when telephones were first invented they were shared by communities, not just households, and you could listen in on your neighbor. These women were fined for simply speaking to their friends and family in their native tongue.
This proclamation was made, accepted, and enforced because people were afraid. In spite of the fact that these very same German immigrants had fled to America in an attempt to escape the oppression of the government that the US now fought, Americans feared what they could not understand. Iowa’s Governor Harding argued that his proclamation would "save the lives of American boys overseas by curbing sedition at home." His rhetoric was backed by none other than President Theodore Roosevelt who said in reference to the proclamation in Iowa: “America is a nation—not a polyglot boarding house ... There can be but one loyalty—to the Stars and Stripes; one nationality—the American—and therefore only one language—the English language.”
I have to say I love the irony of the name of the “Babel Proclamation,” a reference to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. Doubtless Governor Harding or his advisors chose this name to give the proclamation an air of Christian authority. But did Governor Harding or his advisors know that they were naming their proclamation after the bad guys in that story? That evil king Nimrod was able to gather all the people together in one place and attempt to build his sacrilegious tower specifically because all the peoples of Earth spoke one language. And did he stop to think that it was God who sent the various languages to make sure that humanity huddle together in this way again, but rather fulfill his commandment to be “fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.” By insisting that all Americans speak only one language, Governor Harding and Teddy Roosevelt were standing on the side of King Nimrod and the Tower of Babel. And they were standing against the will of God.
I thought talking about separation caused by languages, fear of what we don’t understand, and the Tower of Babel would be a good place to start this morning, because many of our hymns see what happened at Pentecost as an answer to what happened at the Tower of Babel. For example, today’s Kontakion reads, “When the High One descended, confusing tongues, He divided the nations. And when He distributed the fiery tongues He called all to one unity.” I think it is important to remember that this miracle didn’t sudden make everyone understand Aramaic. It didn’t make everyone suddenly start speaking a single language like Hebrew or Latin. The very first miracle performed upon the descent of the Holy Spirit was to see the Church preaching and teaching in a variety of tongues.
The passage read from Acts today begins with the disciples—the very same disciples who had fallen asleep in the garden of Gethsemane, who had fled in the face of persecution, who had hidden themselves behind locked doors when their Lord was hung on a cross—all gathered together and praying. Our icons always very stylistically show the twelve disciples or the twelve disciples and Mary, which is kind of how I always pictured it, but John Chrysostum makes the point and I think he is right that we are supposed to understand from the text that this was the entire 120 mentioned a few sentences earlier. So this group included not just the 12, but also Mary the mother of Jesus, Jesus’ brothers, and about 100 other disciples, men and women gathered together in prayer. And then suddenly a wind roars through the room, and tongues of fire come to rest upon each of these 120 individuals. As the Holy Spirit rests upon all these men and women in that upper room, we are witnessing the birth of the Church. Ezekiel had described the Glory of the Lord leaving the Temple in Jerusalem, and notice here that the Holy Spirit did not simply move into some central Christian Church. Instead, just as St. Paul would later describe, every person had become the Temple of the Lord. And just as Jesus had promised the woman at the well, the time had come for every person to worship in Spirit and in truth.
After the apostles and disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit, only then are they moved to leave their silent prayer and begin proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. We are told that in the streets of Jerusalem that day were many devout people who had journeyed to Jerusalem from all over the world to celebrate Pentecost, the major Judean festival. The author of Acts goes out of his way to describe the very diverse audience: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Judeans and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.” Europe, Asia, and Africa are all represented in this list of visitors. This is a mix of Judean travelers; those who are not Judean, but simply interested in the Judean religion; and those with no Judean ties at all.
And in a crowd like that, it would be most likely that all of these visitors would be trying to speak Greek, the most common language in the Greco-Roman world. And it would have probably been acceptable for the Aramaic speaking disciples to attempt to reach out to this crowd and do their best in Greek. But this was not enough for the birthday of the Church. Instead of insisting on Aramaic or Greek or Latin, the disciples miraculously begin to speak to each of these people in this crowd in their own native languages.
The first thing the Holy Spirit does on Pentecost is demonstrate the path forward for this new Christian religion destined to reach the ends of the earth, and it is not to enforce some single language like reborn King Nimrod. Instead, the Holy Spirit caused the apostles to speak the various languages of these foreigh visitors. God spoke to these men and women in their own tongues. And yes, in this story, the language is learned with miraculous speed. But when a missionary dedicates his or her life to learning the language of a people they hope to serve, it is no less the miraculous just because it takes longer. It is every bit the work of the Holy Spirit that drives this action. When Sts. Cyril and Methodius worked with the Slavs, or when St. Nicolai Kasatin evangelized the Japanese, or St. Herman ministered to the Aleuts, or St. Patrick to the Irish, or St. Olaf the Norwegians, or St. Sava the Serbs, or St Nina to the Georgians, it was no less the Holy Spirit that led them to learn, work, and write in the language of the people. It was love, patience, kindness, and faithfulness that allowed them to do their work. In fact, it is always a loving act to take the time and effort to understand the many different peoples who live around us. It is fear causes us to mistrust what we can’t understand. And perfect love drives out fear.
And “different languages” doesn’t always have to mean literal linguistics. We all know different generations can have a hard time understanding one another. Or different occupations, whether you are a teacher or a manager or a grandmother or a meteorologist or a nurse or a technician, we each speak different languages in our daily lives. But each of you were called to carry the Spirit of Christ to all of those you work with every day. We come here, like the disciples gathered in the upper room, to pray, to purify our hearts, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we can carry that Spirit out into the world. Each of you was chosen specifically and on purpose to be the hands and feet and mouth of Christ, spreading his love into places that only you can reach with words that only you know.
As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “To the Judeans I became as a Judean, that I might win Judeans; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law, that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that I might by all means save some.” We must learn to speak the languages – both literal and figurative - of all those around us.
The story of Pentecost concludes with Peter, the same Peter who had sunk in the waves when he tried to walk on the water, who had fallen on his face in fear at the Transfiguration, who had denied Jesus three times on the night of His betrayal—preaching his first sermon, witnessing to Jesus Christ’s lordship without fear—in the streets of the very same city who had so recently – only 50 days earlier - crucified his Lord. Thousands are converted by his words and a community founded in love grows up in Jerusalem. Acts tells us that this community “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
We often come to this passage to explore the beginnings of the Eucharist, the meal that we are here today to participate in today. Or we like to emphasize the notion communal living. It is easy to admire this lifestyle, this sharing of everything in common that still happens to this day in our monastic communities. But today, I’d really just like to emphasize the spirit of unity among these new Christians as they “continued daily with one accord” - with one accord. What a miraculous witness we would be to the world if we could do just this one simple thing. In an ever increasingly polarized society where so many are willing to post on Facebook about how others are “stupid” or “evil” and how “I know better than you,” what a glory it would be if there were just one community where love, patience, and humility were the rule. Where we listen to people who we disagree with. Where we show patience with people who make mistakes. And we are able to show humility, to demonstrate an understanding the limits of our own knowledge. Just like the apostles, I have little doubt that a place that that we would find “favor with all the people.”
Love is always the truest sign of the Church. This is why the Eucharist, a shared meal, lives at the heart of our faith. We prove, or at least try to prove, every week that we are one, that we are a family, that we are indeed the Church, by our willingness to come together to share a meal. To be the Church, we must do our best to remember that within the Church there is “neither Judean nor foreigner, slave nor free, male nor female.” Indeed, St. Maximus the Confessor takes this Pauline notion even further, saying: “Men, women, and children, profoundly divided as to race, nation, language, manner of life, work, knowledge, honor, fortune…the Church recreates all of them in the Spirit. To all equally she communicates a divine aspect. All receive from her a unique nature which cannot be broken asunder, a nature which no longer permits one henceforth to take into consideration the many and profound differences which are their lot. In that way all are raised up and united in a manner which is truly universal. In her none is in the least degree separated from the community, all are grounded, so to speak, in one another, by the simple and indivisible power of faith.” This is what the Church is. It is not a place to sing the prettiest songs or display the best icons - though those things certainly can happen here. It is where humanity is called together in order to practice and grow our love. Jesus taught this to his disciples as he washed their feet. He said: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
I hope this is why you are here today; to love and forgive one another; to live and pray in humility. If we had thousands here with us and we couldn’t love, we would be wasting our time. But I tell you that even when there are only a few of us are here, we have the potential to change the world. “Acquire the Spirit of Peace and a thousand souls around you will be saved,” St. Seraphim of Sarov famously taught. If you are able to find peace here and carry that peace out into the world, it will not go unnoticed. People are craving peace – especially right now - and they will seek you out and ask you where you found it. I promise you that.
May we be the kind of community where we love one another in spite of our differences, where we make sacrifices for one another in spite our own needs. May the fire of the Holy Spirit burn so brightly among us that it is unmistakable. May we be instantly recognizable to any who walk through our doors as the very icon of the Church founded over 2000 years ago when the Holy Spirit rested upon each of those one hundred and twenty disciples in that upper room.