You are my witnesses ⁠— Sunday of Pentecost

When the day of Pentecost had come, the Disciples were all together in one place.  And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.  And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.  And they were amazed and wondered, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?  Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’”  Now this He said about the Spirit, which those who believed in Him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  When they heard these words, many of the people said, “This is really the prophet.”  Others said, “This is the Christ.”  But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”  So there was a division among the people over Him.  Some of them wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?”  The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”  The Pharisees answered them, “Are you led astray, you also?  Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd, who do not know the Law, are accursed.”  Nicodemus, who had gone to Him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our Law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”  They replied, “Are you from Galilee too?  Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.”  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Acts 2:1-11

John 7:37-52; 8:12

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God.  Amen.

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.[1]

My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord told his disciples to stay away from the Gentiles⁠—from you and from me⁠—and to go only “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  This points to a problem when someone offers a quotation, either from Scripture or from the Fathers, that we need to know the context: why did Christ speak thus?  We see from its location in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter ten, that it is before the most significant event in human history, it is before the Resurrection; before, the Lord’s ministry was limited to the Jews, to the descendants of Abraham, who had received the promise from God and kept his covenant: after, the whole world, all peoples, can receive the Good News.  Israel, as centred on Christ, can now incorporate all who believe in him.  “And Jesus came and spoke to them,” in his famous words at the end of Matthew’s Gospel,

saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.[2]

My dear brothers and sisters, happy feast!  It is a great joy that we are able to celebrate together the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples.  The Holy Spirit vivifies the whole creation, grants wisdom and understanding, enlightens the faithful and is a beacon for the whole world.  It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we may call God Father and come to him through Christ.  By the descent of the Holy Spirit the Apostles started the process of going out to all nations.  Scared, and in the upper room, they received the Spirit and preached to the crowds “the mighty works of God.”

In our own baptism and chrismation, we too received the Holy Spirit.  In today’s Liturgy the priest will say, “Send down thy Holy Spirit upon us, and upon these gifts here spread forth.”  And yet, are we as enlivened by the Holy Spirit as were the Apostles?  The words given by the Lord to the Apostles, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,” are given as much to you and as much to me.

“The Resurrection of the Lord,” writes Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, perhaps the preeminent missionary of our time,

is the starting point for the expansion of the mission from Israel to the whole world.  Those who continue to move solely within the boundaries of Israel⁠—even the new Israel of grace⁠—seem to insist that they live in the days before the Resurrection.[3]

Do you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, also live in the days before the Resurrection or after?  Do I?  Do we satisfy ourselves that the mission of the Church has been reached in me, in my family, my nation–yet no further?  Do we pray, and work, for the Gospel to come to all nations, to all peoples?  Do we seek ways to help the spread of the Good News of Christ’s saving Death and Resurrection?  Not everyone is called to preach the Gospel in distant lands, among strange peoples, but we need some who do and we need to support them through our prayer, through our time and through every means of support.

Yet to all the nations, to all peoples, does not only mean to distant lands: when the Lord said, “you shall be my witnesses … to the end of the earth”[4] he was including Poole and Bournemouth, Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall: we have been called, whether by immigration or residence, by our baptism and conversion, to be Christ’s apostles throughout our cities, towns and villages, throughout this region.

Can you take part in this mission?  This is not an optional part of the Faith, it is essential for us.  Again, from Archbishop Anastasios,

It is time for every Christian to realize that mission is our own obligation and to take part in it looking to the whole of humankind.  Just as there is no Church without a worshipping life, so there cannot be a living Church without missionary life.[5]

How can we all, my brothers and sisters, help?  Firstly, and essentially, through prayer.  Pray.  But to pray is not to pass on responsibility to God so that we may forget about it⁠—“I have prayed, that’s all I can do”—rather it is to ask God for the strength for me to do what he calls me to do.  It may be that you are not suited to preach through words like the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, but you can preach by living a Christian life.  You may not be called to travel to Africa or South America, but you can help those who do.

In today’s Gospel, the Lord promises “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’”  This theme of water, so strong in the Gospel of John and about which we have heard much on the Sundays of Pascha, occurs again.  This “living water,” which the Beloved Disciple immediately explains on this occasion means the Holy Spirit, is promised to all who believe.  The Pharisees and chief priests, despite all their learning, could not understand.  The officers they had sent to arrest Christ, despite their lack of learning, could: these officers “were subdued by one single sermon,” says St John Chrysostom, “and they who had gone forth to bind Him, came back bound themselves by wonder.”[6]  We, too, in our preaching⁠—our living the Christian life⁠—must be bound by wonder.  It is not only by words that the Apostles brought many to belief in Christ, it was also by their wonder, their own living the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection.

Christ said of himself, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  This, in today’s Gospel, makes a double promise, one at each end of the reading: “living water” and “light” are offered freely to us, to those who believe.  “Living water” is the Holy Spirit and “light” to lighten the way of for all people, to be a beacon⁠—a lighthouse⁠—for the peoples of Poole, Bournemouth and the whole region.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, be the Church!  Be a Christian!  Be a light to those in darkness, be food for those who hunger, be drink for those who thirst, be present with those who are alone: clothe the naked with Christ, be beside the sick and imprisoned.[7] 

Share this great blessing we have received.  Do not limit yourself to a life before the Resurrection⁠—a life without the Resurrection⁠—but let the light of the Resurrection shine out within you that you may be part of the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit and come to know the Father from whom every nation is named,[8] through Jesus Christ his Son.

That we may give glory, honour and worship to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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[1] Matt. 10:5-8.

[2] Matt. 28:18-20.

[3] Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, ‘Mission in Christ’s Way,’ p. 27.

[4] Acts 1:8.

[5] ‘Mission in Christ’s Way,’ p. 20.

[6] St John Chrysostom, Homilies on John, LII, i.

[7] Matt. 25:31-46.

[8] Cf. Eph. 3:15.