Something Happened
Something Happened by Rev. L. John Gable
May 31, 2020
Ask twelve different eyewitnesses to an accident “What happened? Which car entered the intersection first? Who had the right of way? Was the light green or red?” and it is certain you will get twelve different accounts. The only thing that all will agree on is that “something happened” and there is evidence to prove it.
The same can be said of the events we read in Acts chapter 2 about the day of Pentecost. Was there really a mighty wind? Were there really visible tongues of fire? Were people really hearing the disciples speak in languages not their own? Which came first, the wind or the sight of the tongues? Ask any of those who were eyewitnesses and it is certain the details they offer will differ, but it is also certain that they will all agree that something happened there and there is ample evidence to prove it.
Recall the disciples are still in Jerusalem, obedient to the instruction of Jesus that they were to stay there and “wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” When was this to take place? No one knew and it was already 50 days after the Easter day and 10 days after they stood and watched Jesus ascend in to heaven. Their question would be ours, “Now what do we do?” and so they committed themselves to “wait and pray.”
It was the Day of Pentecost, the festival day in the Jewish tradition celebrating God’s giving of the Law to Moses, and the city was filled with people, “devout Jews from every nation”, pilgrims come to celebrate the festival in the holy city. Meanwhile, the disciples and the 120 who claimed Jesus to be the Messiah were huddled together in an upper room, “waiting and praying”, when it finally happened. Luke describes it this way, “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” Is that what really happened? We’ll have to take Luke’s word for it because he is our only eyewitness. Was he describing events as they actually took place or was he using poetic license to describe that which was utterly indescribable? We don’t know, do we, but one thing is certain: something happened there, the evidence is undeniable.
We often speak of the day of Pentecost as being the “birth” of the Church and that is very accurate because what Luke is describing is a “birthing” story. It aligns very well with the creation story told in Genesis: the movement of the Spirit, the wind (ruah in Hebrew, pneuma in Greek), the sound, the fire which throughout history is an indicator of a theophany, a God appearance (think of Moses and the burning bush), the out of nothingness God creates. This is a creation story, the story of God’s giving birth to the Church through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, just as promised, and the evidence that something happened that day is undeniable.
The people outside on the streets heard it and rushed toward it. This wasn’t a “private showing” for the select few, this was a “public display” of God’s erupting power. Hearing the sound of the wind, seeing the flames of fire, then listening to the disciples speak in languages not their own was evidence enough that something was happening, but not everyone believed it was of God. Luke is quick to add that the people were “bewildered”, others were “amazed and perplexed” and still others suggested that these followers of Jesus were “drunk with new wine”, a claim Peter quickly denied arguing it was only 9:00 in the morning, but a detail Luke includes which adds credence and credibility to the story. Not everyone who witnessed the incident interpreted the events in exactly the same way.
Their confusion led to their demand for some response or explanation from the participants, “What does this mean? Something was going on, what was it?” Which led to the greatest single piece of evidence of all, Peter’s standing up before that gathered crowd and giving testimony as to who Jesus really is: the promised Messiah of God.
Peter, of all people! Peter, the one who only days before could not muster the courage to speak honestly to a young maid who questioned him outside the High Priest’s house on the night of Jesus’ arrest, and that not only once but three times! Peter, who like the rest of them, not only fled when the soldiers came to arrest Him but also stayed in hiding during the time of His crucifixion, undoubtedly out of fear for his own life. Yet here he is, Peter the rough and tumble fisherman no doubt with the vocabulary of a longshoreman, just days later, before that inquisitive crowd of foreign visitors who were admittedly suspicious of the activities that had gone on that morning in that upper room, stood up to explain to them that what they were seeing and hearing was evidence that God was fulfilling His promises; that God was creating something new just as He had on the first day of creation; that God was giving birth to a new “Spirit filled entity” just as Mary had given birth to Jesus the Messiah; that God was pouring out His Holy Spirit not on the select few, and that only at certain times and under certain circumstances, but on each and every person who would open their hearts to receive Him; and that by that power God was sending willing witnesses out in to the world to tell the Good News of Jesus’ saving love.
Something happened there. Something remarkable. Something miraculous. Something happened that radically changed Peter which emboldened and empowered and enabled him to stand up and speak. Something happened that transformed the lives of those 120 gathered there that morning and another 3000 by the end of the day and another 5000 not long after and literally billions through the ages since, including yours and mine.
Something happened there that day which was all of God without any human control or intervention. The only thing the disciples brought to the table is that they were there when it happened, and that because they were obedient enough to “wait and pray” for it. Something happened that day that was overpowering and undeniable and that something was God’s pouring out of His Holy Spirit, on them and on us and on every man, woman and child who will let themselves receive it as I pray each of us either already has and is yet willing to do today.
All of this is what Luke records in the first 13 verses of Acts 2, the rest of the chapter is his record of the very first Christian sermon ever preached – again by Peter, this being the second time he stood up to speak. Yes, something remarkable, miraculous really did happen that day. A number of years ago I preached a summer series of sermons titled “Sermons I’ve Read That I Wish I Had Written”. I took sermons from some of the greatest preachers in Christian history, reworked and edited them down because some of them were really long, and preached them myself giving credit where credit was due. I wish now that I had used Peter’s sermon from the day of Pentecost. It too is too long to read in its entirety to you today, so I am going to ask you, just at the end of this worship service before you rush off to whatever is next, to please read Peter’s message for yourself, Acts 2:14-36, only 23 verses. Not to give you a spoiler, but as a word of encouragement to actually take the time to read it, let me give you the cliff notes.
Peter’s sermon wasn’t three points and a poem, but neither was it belabored. He explained plainly that this was the age of fulfillment, quoting the prophet Joel, the last days when God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh, male and female, Jew and Greek. Speaking to that gathered crowd who also were waiting and praying for God to send His promised Messiah, Peter says, “You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders and signs that God did through Him among you, as you yourselves know- this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised Him up, having freed Him from death, because it was impossible for Him to be held down…therefore let everyone know with certainty that God has made Him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” What Peter is doing is using the very Scriptures his listeners used, the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, to point to Jesus as the fulfillment of all of God’s promises through His life and death and resurrection, and then he goes on to say that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that they had just been eyewitnesses to, was further evidence that Jesus really was the promised Messiah of God.
I could go on, but the point is, Peter is giving us an outline that we too can use as we share with others that which we believe about Jesus. He uses God’s own Word and his own personal experience, in full dependence on the aid of the Holy Spirit, to tell the Good News as he knows it, and we can do the same.
One of the many things I love about this record of this first Christian sermon is that it was given by a man without any credentials, who was surrounded by a motley crew of folks with no credentials, other than that they knew Jesus. As one commentator put it, “This is a strange image, twelve men, none with exceptional credentials, no fabulous educational pedigrees, none with reservoirs of immense social capital to draw from, all standing in front of Israelites with nothing more than a message.” All of which means every one of us can be a witness for Jesus, using our own words, our own experiences, our own “inabilities”, and each and every one of us is called to be just that, to be a witness to Jesus, dependent not on our own wit and wisdom and wherewithal, but on the aid of the Holy Spirit today, to enable God to touch and change people’s hearts.
Luke tells us that Peter’s words, unrehearsed and Spirit inspired, cut to the heart of his listeners, as only God’s Word can do, such that they asked him, “What should we do?” Peter’s response was simple and unambiguous, “Repent (turn around, change your ways, turn back to God) Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
No one would believe such unremarkable witnesses as these unless the Holy Spirit of God breathed on their witness, and the same is true for us. Those people were not moved by Peter because he was a dynamic speaker, but because the Holy Spirit was speaking through him, and that is still the Spirit’s work today through us. We cannot give our faith to anyone else; faith is always a gift from God, but we must be willing to share it with others because God uses our words, even our words, bumbling, mumbling, inarticulate and unrehearsed as they may be as to who we believe Jesus to be and how He has touched our hearts and changed our lives, to bring still others to the faith, and as we do that the experience of Pentecost is repeated again and again, ever new. People, still today, come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ by hearing that in Him, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, something happens, and I assure you, it happens still. So as Peter said to that crowd that day, I say to you: “Here is salvation! Let yourself receive it!” Let something happen in you.