Fr. Sean's Whitsunday Sermon

We have made it to the feast of Pentecost! This is the day that we have been looking forward to for weeks. Even leading up to the Ascension our readings from Jesus’ farewell discourse in the Gospel of John has been anticipating this feast day.  And at the Ascension last Thursday, Jesus promised that his departure was necessary so that he could send his Spirit upon his Apostles. And as our Preface to the Canon summarizes, this feast is the celebration of the Holy Spirit’s descent upon the Apostles and their work to preach the Gospel to us, the Gentiles. “According to whose most true promise, the Holy Ghost came down as on this day from heaven, lighting upon the disciples, to teach them, and to lead them into all truth; giving them boldness with fervent zeal constantly to preach the gospel into all nations; whereby we have been brought out of darkness and error into the clear light and true knowledge of thee, and of thy son Jesus Christ.” Through the gift of divine strength and knowledge, the Apostles led the church, and dispelling their own fears, they went out to preach the Gospel in all directions. And this Apostolic preaching and life continued into every age up to our own. But this feast helps remind us that “the Gospel” is no mere intellectual idea, but something much more profound and mysterious. If we look at the prophesies and narratives fulfilled in this feast, we will begin to see the rich meaning that this feast holds for our own lives.

First, we are working within the narrative of the Exodus. The culmination of the Exodus was the night of the Passover, in which the Hebrews were saved by spreading the blood of a lamb upon their doorposts as the Angel of Death came through the land. The Egyptians finally gave up their dominance and ordered the Hebrews to leave. Fifty days later–after the Hebrews have a miraculous escape from Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea, receive Manna, the bread of Heaven, defeat the Amalekites–they come to the wilderness of Sinai where God announces his plans for them. In Exodus 19 he tells Moses: “[Exo 19:4-6 KJV] Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and [how] I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is] mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” Moses does tell Israel this, and the people respond that they will obey all of God’s words in order to be his peculiar treasure, a nation devoted to him and to be His. Then the people assemble at the base of the mountain, the priests and elders just slightly up the mountain, and Moses goes to the top of the mountain where God descends, so to speak, in fire and a thick cloud from which emanates a loud trumpet like noise. The people are terrified, bewildered as God gives to Moses his most special gift, the Law (Torah).

This moment is one of the most important within the history of Israel, and in fact the Jews commemorated this moment every year at the Feast of Pentecost, pente meaning 50: 50 days after the Passover. The feast is often called the Feast of Shavout or Festival of Weeks, which combines a celebration of the first fruits of harvest and the  commemoration of the giving of the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai. By the first century, Jewish men were required to present gifts at the Temple in Jerusalem for this feast, and the priests at the Temple would offer up two loaves of bread on the altar. This feast focused on God’s provision, his guidance, and his setting apart of the people. Torah was not just an intellectual idea or contract that the Hebrews had to agree to or sign–rather, it was a way of life that brought them into union with God. 

But the people did not obey the gift of God. Instead, they rebelled and refused to follow Torah which would have brought them life. And so God promised to restore his people through a Messiah who would come and then his own Spirit to dwell within the hearts of his people.

In the book of Isaiah, one of the more important prophecies of the Messiah comes in chapter 11 which talks about the lion laying down with the lamb. That we are familiar with. But The beginning of the chapter reads: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: [Isa 11:1-3 KJV].” Notice how there are seven gifts of the Spirit and these are promised to rest upon the branch of Jesse, the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. These seven gifts–or as the Veni Creator phrases it, they are the sevenfold gift (unity)–show up many times in Revelation, but listen to this from Rev. 5: “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” [Rev 5:6 KJV] The sevenfold gift, represented by the Lamb’s seven horns and eyes, now are sent forth into the world to fill the disciples. These are: Holy Fear, Godliness, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, and Ghostly Strength. The gifts are not inspirations or ideas but “intuitive dispositions of the soul which render the soul receptive to the inspiration of the Spirit and docile to His leading.” They are, in essence, the very character of the Messiah, and they are now gifted to us. Or in other words, we have been given the life of Jesus in us. That is the work of the spirit! And that is what St. Paul means when he writes the Galatians: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. [Gal 2:20 KJV] Or when he writes the Colossians that he is a minister of the “mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. [Col 1:26-27 KJV] Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we now live in the life of Jesus, and take on his very character.  Just like in the story of Exodus where the Hebrews are saved by their passage through the Red Sea, we are brought into the family of God by the waters of our baptisms. But even more, Christians are given the fullness of the Spirit of God at their confirmations. 

This is true and is the foundation of our faith. From these ontological truths we then live, but so often our lived reality seems so difficult and messy that it is hard to reconcile the great truths we proclaim with our day to day lives. For sure, there are some who so live in their baptismal and confirmation grace, that they rarely sin. But for most of us, we struggle deeply with our sins. We know our failures well, we know the consistent attempts we have made to reform ourselves to no avail. We know that even looking at ourselves is terrifying, for then we must face our failure, weakness, and shame. The Sevenfold Gifts of the Spirit might seem unattainable or perhaps just lofty goals. This is because of our own sins which separate us from God. Or, in another analogy, our sins put us to sleep, making us numb to the working of the Spirit. When we walk away from God, God does not abandon us, though it might be hard to hear him! We must realize that if our sins are what separate us from God, then we must focus on repentance.

Instead of despairing that we might not see these great ontological truths bearing the sort of fruit we would want, facing our weakness can bring forth repentance. This is the place of our own cross. And while the Deceiver wants us to believe that God forsakes our crosses or turns away from our crosses, God actually meets us there by asking us to take up our cross. It is easy to despair, but God requests a vigorous act of faith to take up our own faith and follow him–to join him on his Via Crucis, his way of the cross. All of the Apostles had run away from their Master on his way to the cross, and yet, with the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, their lives burned with a fervent zeal for the Risen Lord. God worked in their repentance, and his Spirit led them to accomplish his will. 

We know that we have been given the same Spirit. Jesus promised not to leave us comfortless, strengthless. And according to the Gospel, the strength in which we live now, the Holy Spirit’s strength, is his. “Because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” Notice how our union with him is the same union he has with his Father, which means that our relationship with God is one of divine love. I love how F.P. Harton puts it in his book on the Spiritual Life: “The purpose of Grace is the reproduction of Jesus in human souls, and the purpose of the life of the individual the reproduction, within the limits and under the particular circumstances of each soul, of His holy life.” This is our goal, and God has given us every gift to achieve it! If you do not feel that you know this gift–if you feel that you do not know the life of Jesus Christ–then the first step is to repent so that you may live in Him. God has given us his life, and even if we have walked away from his grace through sin, his Spirit helps us to repent and return to him. May you like the Apostles grow in the Holy Spirit and burn with fervent zeal.