[Machine transcription]
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.
Amen.
This morning’s meditation draws from all three readings that we read this morning.
You may be seated.
The ability to communicate, I would say, is an important aspect of being a human being.
We need to communicate with one another to convey our needs, to convey our desires, to
cooperate, to work together, to relate to one another
on a personal level.
Communication is the key to many relationships.
Employer-employee, friend-to-friend,
parent-child, teacher-to-student, husband-and-wife.
People can do amazing things together
when they are able to communicate effectively.
And when communication isn’t going well,
Feelings can be hurt, misunderstandings can lead to damaged friendships, relationships
can be broken.
And thus our Old Testament lesson I think is really an account about communication, about
a group of people that clearly were able to work together very well to communicate about
the work that was surrounding this most impressive building project that they were undertaking.
a great city, a great tower within that city, a place where they could live
together and not be dispersed over the whole earth, a place where they could
create a name for themselves. Now you may recall God’s command to Noah after the
flood, it was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the whole earth. Well the
humanity at Babel had other plans. With one language, with one mind, they assumed
they could do whatever they wanted. But when God confused their language, and that
ability to communicate was taken away, when they couldn’t understand one
another’s speech, the project was over. There would be no tower built to the
heavens. There would be no great city for all of them to dwell in. They were
dispersed. God had his way. And ever since, language has been a barrier, a barrier
to communication, a barrier to cultural and personal understanding, a barrier to
peace among nations. But what’s really at the root of the people’s problem at
Babel? Oh, their own hubris and pride. That was a big part of it. They were serving
themselves with their city building. They weren’t really interested in serving God.
They’re not interested in God’s command, only what they wanted to do, and so God thwarts them.
Perhaps some of them caught the hint and returned to God in repentance and worship.
We’re not told, but we do know they dispersed. We know they were driven apart by their inability
to communicate with one another and what of us? We all have the same language, so
it’s more than just language that afflicts our ability to communicate with
one another. Even when our language is the same, there’s misunderstanding. Or
worse than just misunderstanding, we still use our communication and service
to ourselves. We tear others down with our words instead of building them up. We
may withhold the truth from someone that needs to hear it. Our communication, I
dare say, is still radically deficient. In the book of James, we read this,
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a
forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of
unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body,
setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. With it we
bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the
likeness of God.” Well, our communication with each other may not be what it
should be, but what about the communication between us and God? It’s
not that God doesn’t want to communicate with us, he does so all the time. The
problem is that we often disregard or ignore that communication. The people of
Babel knew perfectly well what God wanted them to do, yet they chose to do
their own thing. Most people have a sense of right and wrong, and yet how
many times do we ignore that Word of God imprinted on our hearts? Consider the
Old Testament prophets, what happened to them when they brought the Word of God
to the people. It was ignored or even caused the hearers to torment and even
kill them. Now God’s communication with us may not always be what we want to
hear, and what about our communication back to God? We call it prayer and
worship. It’s not always right either. Our prayers are not only lacking in
quantity, but often we do not even know how or what we are to pray for. How much
do we trust that God hears our prayers, let alone seeks to answer them in the
way that’s best for us? Maybe we don’t pray as we should because we figure
what’s the point? It would seem like with human communications, divine human
communications are also broken down, but take heart. For the author of Hebrews
writes this, long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by
the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. In the
person of Jesus, God has opened a new communication channel to us in this most
marvelous way, no longer speaking to us only through the mouths of the prophets, but making
His very Word flesh and blood and living among us, communicating at the most personal level
imaginable.
John’s gospel tells us that this Word of God has existed before all things, has created
all things, and now is made flesh in the Word, in the person of Jesus Christ. And
through that Word, through Jesus’ Word, demons were driven out, the sick were
healed, the lame were made to walk, the blind were made to see, the deaf were
made to hear, and even the dead were raised. God’s Word to us in Jesus is the
final communication of his grace and his mercy and his love. All that the prophets
promised, all that they were persecuted for, has found its fruition in Christ.
Jesus is the word of peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do
not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do
not be afraid. The Word made flesh, the Word crucified for our sins and risen
for our life. James talks about the flame, the fire of the tongue, and isn’t it
ironic that on Pentecost, fire rests on the heads of the disciples? As we read
in the book of Acts on this first Pentecost, God is furthering his
communication plan by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And what was the first
thing that disciples did when they received the Holy Spirit? They began to
speak, they began to communicate with those hearing, but not using one human
language only, but using all human languages at the same time. God reversed
the punishment of Babel to make his word clear to people of every language, of
every nation, of every tongue. He confounded the Babylonites’ language to
turn them away from themselves toward God, and at Pentecost he speaks every
language to communicate the love of Christ to the people. The work begun at
Pentecost continues through this day as missionaries and Bible translators once
again translate the Word of God into people’s own language. We too have our
language, the Word of God presented in our language because of the work of
those who have labored before us,
so that we too might hear of God’s love
and grace in this place.
And why does God speak to the people at Pentecost?
Why is that the first thing that the disciples do?
Because God has something very important
to tell the people,
and he has something very important to tell us.
In the book of Acts,
Peter begins to preach to the people,
and he says this,
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He declares, this
Jesus you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men, but God raised him
up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held
by it. Peter doesn’t begin to preach about himself or the disciples or all
the cool things they’ve done. He doesn’t even begin to preach about the Holy
Spirit, but he preaches about Jesus. The Spirit caused the disciples to
communicate about the death and resurrection of Christ, and notice what
Jesus himself says in our gospel lesson this morning. He says of the Holy Spirit,
He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said
to you. The Holy Spirit’s desire is to do the will of the Father, and the will of
Father is that we would know the Son, Jesus. The will of the Father is to use
His Holy Spirit to communicate with us the work done by Christ, to show us our
need for Christ, and to show us God’s great grace and mercy in Christ. And
today the Holy Spirit continues His work. He continues to call, gather, enlighten,
and sanctify the whole Christian Church on earth. This is the Spirit given to you
in your baptism. It’s the Spirit given to you in the words of Scripture and in the
body and blood of Christ. The Spirit that speaks to you about Christ. The Spirit
that intercedes for you when you pray when you do not know what to pray for.
Through the Spirit, human and divine communication is restored. We hear the
Father, and the Father hears us. This is the same Spirit that gathers you and I
together in this place, in this sanctuary, for the last 60 years. Fellow believers,
the Spirit that teaches that each of us is loved by God and who desires to
direct our communication with one another and to those who do not yet know
of Christ’s mercy and love. God’s Holy Spirit restores communication with God
and it sanctifies our words and our communication with each other, brothers
and sisters in Christ, as each of us are. Praise be to God who sends the Spirit to
tell of Jesus and to tell of the Father’s love. In Jesus’ name, amen. And the peace of
God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
