Truly Pentecostal

Acts 2:1-11; Mark 16:15-18

It may seem odd to connect these two passages of scripture, but they intertwine with one another in a fascinating way.

First a scriptural note, the text from Mark is most assuredly an add-on. Mark’s original narrative ended with v.8—the women fleeing the empty tomb in fear—the Church will be only as its adherents make the leap of faith, accepting resurrection as real and actual, overcoming the complete irrationality of Easter to find hope for life. Later compilers were dissatisfied with Mark’s non-ending—it left too much unsaid; so, they tacked on their own endings that neatly tie up the narrative—vv.9-13 are the short form wherein Christ manifests himself to the disciples as risen; but 14-20 is the long form, and it has become a tragic text for a niche of Appalachian Christianity as it is the basis for the practice of snake handling. 

So why would I connect it to the Pentecost narrative?

Because, ironically, it is a means by which we can all enter the Pentecost experience in an authentic and actual manner—and, no, no one will be required to take up copperheads, rattlers, or other vipers! 

Pentecost itself is a misunderstood and oft misinterpreted holy day. Yes, it is “the birthday of the Church”—the Spirit quickens the disciples into apostles. But it is not about the gift, per se. It is about God expanding the embrace of Christ to encompass all the world—the main issue in Pentecost is intelligibility—do human beings understand who God is for them and what God intends for them? The disciples do not gain super powers or supernatural natures; they receive incredibly—nearly banal—abilities—they can talk to the people. 

That is so incredibly important for us to bear in mind as we seek to practice our faith—the gifts and benefits of God’s presence with us are not things that break with the flow of normal reality, but that completely enter it at a totally functional level. Christ’s call to love others as we love ourselves is not a call to engage in a practice inhuman by nature, but utterly human! Think how that redefines the hallmarks of Christ’s walk within the world. His selflessness, his presence, his listening, his teaching, his healing—none are meant to break with the world as it is, but to fully engage in the world as it is.

Pentecost reveals God with us.

God entered the experience and the very being of the gathered disciples. God met them as they were—afraid, isolated, perhaps alienated, and even humiliated by a world that rejected the one in whom they pinned their deepest hopes and now seems intent on silencing every one of his followers. God then refuses to leave them in their frightened sanctum, but sends them back into the fray armed with language—intelligibility—with which to meet the world—this is who we are; this what we are about; and this is whom we adore. 

Luke makes sure we understand that the world so confronted really did not know what to do with the confrontation—the general consensus is the apostolic party got started early! From the ridiculous rises the profound. Even though all that Christ revealed, taught, and lived was essentially the pinnacle of human expression—creatures imbued with the creative imagination to make love the absolute dynamic of daily life—the world opposed it. Christ was a living denunciation of a life lived for self—self-gratification, self-aggrandizement, self-centeredness, and all the rest. Sadly, self is conventional wisdom even as it spirals us toward devastating outcomes. We may well destroy the planet because preserving it interferes with our own gratification. Christ meets deadly opposition. Those who follow Christ are also entering a risky arena. 

Which now brings us to this addendum to Mark’s gospel. 

Whoever penned this denouement to the gospel must have come from a scary context. Why else emphasize God’s protection in the presence of real and potentially fatal danger? This keyhole is essential for grasping the intent of this paragraph. To live by other-centered, self-emptying love puts us at odds with the ways of the world, and, yes, there will be moments when that puts us in a place where we may run into opposition. 

For instance, the state of Georgia recently passed a gross liberalization of gun law—you can carry a firearm openly into any public space, including churches, but, ironically, not into the state house. As congregations wrestle with how to respond to this law, folks find themselves on different sides of the fence, including here within this church. For us, there are basically three main issues (other congregations may encounter a different set). First, how do we balance the need to protect the Least of These from harm, while also practicing Christ’s radical hospitality of welcoming anyone into his presence, even those violently opposed to him? Second, how do we follow a path of peace that could very well publicly reveal just how vulnerable we are here? Third, guns are only one form of violence in our society, should we not also just as strongly stand against all forms of violence, from domestic violence to drug abuse to violent speaking to poverty to any other action or behavior that harms another human being? We struggle to find a consensus position. A state legislature changed the playing field, revealing things deep within us we did not even know were there. 

So where is our help and our hope?

The God who preserves us against all danger.

That was the point the editor was trying to make. When life spins away from us, beyond comprehension, and beyond our ability to cope, God is there. We open ourselves to the coming of the Spirit. We open ourselves to the presence of love. Through the blessing of the Spirit—God’s presence—Christ formed a communion no one would ever have imagined—it even included a Zealot sitting at table with a tax collector, sworn enemies, even fatally opposed if one learns the practice of being a Zealot. Yet, at that table, even these two could sit together without fear of harm.

So, if there be hope for us as a community of Christ, it comes through embracing a true Pentecostalism—emptying ourselves before the Spirit to find the essential truth of the Gospel that any of us can grasp.

May we do so now and always.