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Liebe Gemeinde,
Sprache ist immer und überall auch Barriere. Entweder, man spricht nicht dieselbe Sprache oder Mundart, so wie ich für viele von euch das in diesem Augenblick tue. Oder man spricht dieselbe Sprache, doch die Mehrdeutigkeit der Worte, ihre Betonung, und die Gestik, deren man sich bedient, sorgt für Missverständnisse. Dear Congregation: Language is always a barrier between people, as some of you just have experienced. Either you don’t speak the same language or dialect, which leaves you without any understanding of what is being said at all. Or you do speak the same language, but the ambiguity of your words, your pronunciation or gesture can lead to misunderstandings. Much of our daily communication fails, because of these things, meaning pronunciation, gesture, accentuation etc. You know what I mean, don’t you? Although language is an amazing means of communication, it is unfortunately marked with this stigma of not being barrier free. From the biblical point of view, we have to understand this fact as a punishment. Because: The bible tells us – as we have heard in today’s Old Testament reading – that people once where one, and they shared one common language using the same words. However forsaking God as the core issue and landmark of their lives, they tried to supersede Him with something self-made: a tower “with its top in the heavens”. This tower should serve them as a reputation of their own power and abilities, as some kind of protection against others, and also as some kind of orientation and bonding point to hinder them from being “scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” In order to prevent that they continue to rely on themselves instead of trusting in God, the Lord came down from heaven, confused their language, and thus scattered them, away from their tower. Ever since, humans have to live with the barriers of language, and the consequences of its misunderstanding. However God didn’t leave it there. On the day of Pentecost, He continued taking care of this language matter in a new and very different way. Because:
„When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? – Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs – we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”
On the day of Pentecost, God broke down the barriers of lan-guage. He took care of the disorientation that had been caused by human distrust in Babel, and which dominates human communication ever since. Because: Firstly we learn from today’s bible word that on the day of Pentecost people through faith in Jesus Christ voluntarily turn towards God as the core issue and land-mark of their lives. Secondly we learn that people – empowered through God‘s Spirit and influence – are enabled again to talk to each other in such a way that they definitely and without any form of misunderstanding, understand each other in spite of different languages, and in spite of all other forms of reservation or intended misinterpretation. We learnt that on the day of Pentecost there was such a deep understanding of what was said, that more than 3000 people came to faith and thus built the first Christian congregation ever. Today, we celebrate the day of Pentecost as a special festive day to commemorate this wonderful doing of God. And this way we also remind ourselves of the fact that God works in people through his Spirit until this very day: Not only by means of ena-bling people to speak in other tongues, which certainly happens in some Christian congregations. At least this is what one can hear every now and then. And even though we might, along with those God fearing Jews in Jerusalem, look a little sceptical at such things, because we can’t assess them properly – which is no won-der, taking into account their extraordinary character, and know-ing that some people even fake them in order to create a hype. More important is that God works in another way through His Spirit amongst us in the same way as He did on the day Pentecost: Namely in a way that people from so many different countries, and so many different language and social backgrounds, are led together by God’s Spirit. And this happens in order to learn through faith in Jesus Christ, how to understand and to bear each other without misunderstandings and without barriers. Because: By hearing and believing the Good News of Jesus Christ God’s Spirit enters us. And by entering us, He starts to ‘shepherding’ our way of thinking. God’s Spirit makes us talk and do things in a way that avoids any false, ambiguity, and mistaking. Thus God eventually creates a community, in which people can be cer-tain of things, in which they can feel safe, and in which they are able to trust each other.
Now, one could object: But, are we there already? Is our congre-gation such a barrier free place without misunderstanding? Or don’t we still talk, think and behave in a way that causes lots of misunderstandings, even if we share the same faith and use the same language? Yes, we do! However it shouldn’t deprive us of our motivation and hope in faith. Most of all, it shouldn’t deprive us of our certainty that God is already at work amongst us. Because: Even on the day Pentecost it was not the whole commu-nity of Jerusalem that believed in what Peter told them. And I am pretty sure that after Peter’s sermon, some of them continued with their jokes or sceptical comments – just as people do today.
Those however, who heard the message, and were cut to the heart and turned to Jesus Christ as their saviour, got baptized and de-voted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, as they spent much time together in the temple, breaking bread and prais-ing God and having the goodwill of all the people. (Acts 2:45-47). It is no different to we have and what we do in this congregation!
I don’t know, how you feel about this, but I get frustrated very often because of all the misunderstandings and the way, in which Christians, in which we talk to, or about each other. And some-times I long for God to work and to change us and all people in a more noticeable way. If you feel the same way, let us first of all continue to listen to God’s word. For God gives His Holy Spirit through word and sacrament, as through instruments. And it is his Spirit, which works faith in those who believe in Jesus Christ. And let us always ask our heavenly Father in prayer that He may fill us with the power and the gifts of His Spirit, so that we may experience over and again, and God willing increasingly noticeable, our own days of Pentecost, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN |
