Today
we gather like the disciples did after Jesus had been crucified, like they did
after His Resurrection that we celebrate with Easter, but today, only 10 days
ago the Church celebrated Jesus Ascension into heaven. Notice the Christ Candle, no longer resides
on the floor representing Jesus Christ birth.
It no longer resides beside the font where we bring our children to
receive the Grace, Mercy and Love of God in the Rite of Holy Baptism. Now the Christ Candle is at from our
perspective the ‘Right Hand’ of God.
The
journey has been clear, well documented, well remembered, Jesus destination is
now fulfilled, His destination and job is complete and Jesus Christ is secure
in Heaven, but Jesus promise for the disciples in the year of His crucifixion
and resurrection, is incomplete. The
next step for the disciples is recorded, not in the Gospel, but in Acts, the
book that relays to us the development of the New Testament Church.
What
happens to the disciples? Simply, “They were filled with the Holy Spirit”. The promise Jesus made to them long before
that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to them. This Spirit, the Spirit of Truth would
inhabit them, infuse into their very heart and souls and involve them in the
mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is the same Gospel we know and hear about when we gather here for
worship. It is the Gospel the disciples
had witnessed of the salvation offered to them, by Jesus Christ on the Cross of
Calvary.
Today
we celebrate the Festival of Pentecost. Pentecost
is the Celebration of the Giving of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the
Holy Spirit, not only to the disciples to inspire them to action, but it is the
same Holy Spirit given unto each and every one of us in our Holy Baptism. When “They
were filled with the Holy Spirit” the disciples lives were forever changed,
not only had they left everything to follow Jesus Christ, they now understood
with the gift of the Holy Spirit given unto each of them, they would be willing
to die in order that the message of the Gospel of Salvation would be given to
all of mankind through them and ultimately to each and every one of us gathered
here this morning.
Since
“They were filled with the Holy Spirit”
the disciples understood their role as followers of Jesus now changed from
one’s who received directly from Jesus Christ, to now not only active participants,
but devoted leaders in the New Testament Church. And their following would come at a cost. The cost would not be simply of time, travel
or training. The training was over, the
Gift of the Holy Spirit given unto them on the first Pentecost would change
their desire from staying their comfort zone to travelling to distant lands and
the gift of the Holy Spirit would change their perspective of time. Ultimately the gift “They were filled with [of] the Holy Spirit” would and did cost them
their lives.
You
see we remember on Pentecost what the cost is not only by reading the lessons,
but especially with the color of the paraments that adorn the pulpit, lectern,
the altar and even the stole I wear. The
red paraments signify the willingness of followers of Jesus Christ to die in
order for the message of salvation to be proclaimed. The best current example we have is the
willingness of Christians to die at the hands of ISIS as martyrs for the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Those
who lose their lives and die a martyrs death truly it could be said, “They
were filled with the Holy Spirit”!
Their willingness to die in order to spread the message of the Gospel,
not only connect their baptism with their lives, but are intimately connected
to and channel clearly how the disciples and “They were filled with the Holy
Spirit”!
What
can we take away from this? We hopefully
will not have the same opportunity like the disciples or Paul or even the
martyrs of today in Egypt or any of the Islamic states to have to choose death
rather than disown our faith. What we
can do though is pray for Christians throughout our world, those persecuted in
distant lands, but also locally even in our own country and community. For this can be our prayer that God not only
would ‘come again’, but that until that time, we can ask to be just like the
disciples and for the same gift they were given, since “They were filled with the Holy
Spirit”! AMEN.
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