May 23, 2021 – Pentecost Text: Acts 2:1-21
Dear Friends in Christ,
A medical technician was asked about his most unusual emergency experience. He chose to tell about a call from an usher at the Lutheran Church. The usher said, “We have a man who slumped over in his pew during the sermon and we think he has expired.” He relates, “When we got to the church, the preacher just kept preaching, so we carried the man out as quickly as we could.” “What makes that so unusual,” he was asked. He replied, “We carried out four other men before we found the one who had died.” Welcome back Pastor.
Today is Pentecost and we pray we have your attention just like the Apostle Peter had when the Spirit enabled him to preach on Pentecost. No one fell asleep when He was speaking. Today …
“THE HOLY SPIRIT IS POURED OUT ON JESUS AND US”
As Peter preached he reminded the people of all the things that God, the heavenly Father, had put on Jesus, his Son. Heaviest of all was the weight of the cross the Father placed on His Son’ shoulders. While evil men played a part in the passion of Jesus, it was the divine plan of the Father to sacrifice His Son for the sins of the world, just like Isaiah had written in prophecy, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Is. 53:6)
The Father also put new life into Jesus when He raised Him from the grave. Following this Jesus was called home to heaven where He was exalted to the highest degree.
The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus and He could pour it out upon all people. Isaiah foretold it this way, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.” (Is. 42:1)
Because the heavenly Father put all those things on Jesus, our Father now puts His blessings on us, His children by faith. “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh . . . even on my male servants and female servants, in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” (vs. 17a, 18a)
We are God’s children and He blesses us by putting things on us. Think of all the things you have put on your children. I was privileged to put water and the Word through the Holy Spirit on the boys at their baptism. I put on diapers and their first helmet. I put on shaving cream for their first shaving experience and numerous times I got to tie their tie around my neck and put it on theirs. I put on skates and bicycle helmets. I was privileged and blessed to place a confirmation stole on them and then to put my hand on their head as they were confirmed. I put on silly outfits to make them laugh and some times I put on the face of comfort and faith when they had worry or anxiety.
The Lord has done the same for us. When dead in original sin the waters and Word of the Triune God put us on a path of Christian faith. The Lord put on the Word in our hearts as we attended Sunday School and worship. We sang songs and hymns and heard bible stories and the Holy Spirit was pouring all of this onto us. We needed the Spirit’s help to memorize the catechism and make our public confession of the faith. And the Lord has provided us with comfort and peace when life doesn’t go the way we think it should or how we had it planned. He puts on the robe of righteousness, which we will wear into eternity. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Another experience many of us parents have had or will have is when we drop off our son or daughter at college or we leave their first apartment as they start in a new job in a different town. We will no longer be there to put on everything they are going to need. But we trust, don’t we? We trust that the Lord is watching over them. We trust that the Holy Spirit will keep them in the faith. We trust that what the Lord allowed us to do will carry them the rest of their days. We drive away confident that we have given them everything they need to make it on their own.
Our heavenly Father has done the same. Because of everything that His Son Jesus handled for us – the burden of our sin, His presence in turmoil, the joy of salvation that is on us – we are confident of our place in His family. He put His Spirit in us to be with us . . . always.
Amen.