Pentecost

Pentecost – the day the Holy Spirit was sent to be with us forever – is about much more than we realise. It is about the reversal of division, about overcoming human limitations, about the power to forgive and about continuous ministry.

It is the culmination of a series of events that began a long long time before. Let’s start with the reversal of division.

The Tower of Babel

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. [Genesis 11:1-8]

Instead of obeying the Lord God and allowing Him to be their God, the people gathered to build the tower. This was much more than our concept of a tower and was to be a man-made sacred mountain on which humanity intended to live and be gods themselves.

Humanity shunned the Lord God and His plan to restore Eden through them, and so God scattered humankind, dividing them with different languages, wanting to start again.

Israel did not actually exist at this point. God then selected Abram; a man from the very heart of the rebellion. It is through God’s covenant with Abram that Israel was created from Abram’s descendants.

In this covenant, God said that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abram and his descendants. This shows the intention of God; that despite His decision to punish the nations of the earth, the Israelites would serve as a mediator for the return of the True God with a trail leading the nations back to God through Israel and The Messiah.

When the Holy Spirit came, as described in Acts, as wind and fire, this links back to the images used for God’s presence in the Old Testament.

But more than that are the signs that the reunification, the reversal of division, is in progress whilst pointing to the division point. The flaming tongues were divided, and the crowd formed from all the nations, were confused. The tongues are distributed amongst the disciples as they are commissioned to preach the good news.

As the people heard about Jesus and His resurrection and became His followers, they carried the news back to their nations. The people are being reunited and reconciled with God through the Holy Spirit.

This is part of the continuous mission. To witness and call the people back to God. 

The Holy Spirit unites people across boundaries. It replaces judgement and division with understanding, unity and peace.

So, what about the overcoming of human limitations?

The Holy Spirit provides the inner strength needed to work through hurts, resentment and shame. This allows forgiveness as an act enabled by the Holy Spirit instead of human effort on its own.

Forgiveness is also part of the continuous mission as we are called to continually release grievances, heal relationships and extend the same forgiveness to others as that we receive from God.

Which brings us to the power to forgive.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”. And with that He breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” [John 20: 19-23]

As Christians we are obliged to forgive. It can be difficult to forgive. It can be difficult to forgive others. It can be difficult to forgive ourselves.

Forgiveness – forgiving does not mean forgetting. It does not mean making excuses or trying to justify what occurred. It does not mean that there won’t be consequences. It is about whether those involved can move forward in life or whether they are imprisoned by being unforgiven.

If we choose for sins to be retained we choose a state of unforgiveness and living in darkness. To live in such darkness is our choosing not God’s choosing.

The Holy Spirit gives us power to forgive. It opens doors and allows us to live in the light. 

The Lord breathes the Holy Spirit on us and gives us a new life, a new heart and a new mission:

Go and forgive!

Peace is not possible without forgiveness. Love is not possible without forgiveness.

At Easter we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord. Just like Jesus did not stay in the tomb His instructions didn’t either. He instructed us to love, to forgive, to reconcile, to love God, to love our neighbours and to love our enemies.

The highest form of love is forgiveness. 

Forgiveness is unconditional love. It is not only loving those who are easy to love but also those who are difficult to love.

Jesus arrived in that locked room and said to His disciples “Peace be with you” He was telling them that they did not need to be afraid of Him, that He loved them and that He forgave them.

Go in peace! Go and forgive!