When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
There were several events of monumental importance that happened in 1492. But there is one event of 1492 that, at first glance seems to lack significance but in reality altered the entire course of history. For it was in that year that the Spaniard Antonio de Nebrija entered the chambers of Queen Isabel of Spain and handed her what he called the key to their dreams for a Spanish Empire. It was a weapon. A weapon which had no equal and it was not made of steel or gun powder…. it was made of paper. It was the first book of grammar. When handed the book Queen Isabel famously said that she knew the Spanish language quite well and had no need for such a book. To which Antonio replied “Your Highness, language is the greatest tool of empire”.
And one has only to look at the 21 Spanish language countries that exist now.. over 500 years later …to know that he was right. And one has only to look to the language laws of Germany in the 1930s and 40s and of South Africa in the mid 40s to the mid 90s… not to mention the English-only legislation in 28 states in our own country to know that there are few more potent markers of identity than language. Language is powerful.
In Barabara Kingsolver’s novel titled the Poisonwood Bible, one of the main charaters, Reverend Nathan Price is an American missionary to the people of the Congo. Failing to understand the nuances of their language and insisting on the primacy of the King James Translation of the Bible he proclaims to them that Jesus is Bangala! Thinking he was saying that Jesus is supreme. Of course the villagers simply looked confused since what he really said was Jesus is Poisonwood – meaning Jesus is a noxious plant. But since the King James was the only true translation of the Bible, he refused to substitute another word.
The problem is that while there may be one Gospel…one story about God-with-us, God becoming human and healing the sick and feeding the hungry and being killed for it all and then defeating death itself….while there is this one story, there are countless ways of understanding it. There are countless images and words and music and culture which serve to tell that story. My friend Sara just came back from 3 weeks in a Christian area of Karala India…she told me about the Indian Christian art from the 8th and 9th century which depicts Jesus standing in lotus flowers and Jesus with two peacocks on either side of him representing his human and divine nature. This isn’t Indian art which happens to be Christian, it’s Christian art which happens to be Indian.
See The problem comes when we hear the Gospel in our own language, our own culture, our own art and then proceed to conflate or confuse the Gospel itself with the form in which we understand it. I really believe that God came and got me through the Lutheran liturgical and theological tradition. I had already in my life experienced the fact that I am simultaneously sinner and saint, the fact that God’s grace is a gift freely given to me. I had already experienced the fact that I can’t make my way to God but that God always comes to me. So when I was exposed to this Lutheran stuff I thought “well, of course! I’ve already experienced all of this to be true” I felt like God led me to the thing that would make sense to me.
What becomes problematic is then assuming that the way I understand God is the only way God can be understood correctly. What becomes a problem is when I insist that there is one language in which the Gospel can be preached and it just so happens to be the language, or the art or the culture I understand. I’ve then confused the ethos and the logos….the wrapping paper with the gift.
In this Pentecost reading from Acts we hear that there were those from every nation living in Jerusalem…you know that weird list which included Parthians, Medes, and Elamites. The point is that Jerusalem under Roman occupation was a multi-cultural scene. We are told that there were people living in Jerusalem from every nation who gathered around when they heard the sound of the Spirit’s mischief that Pentecost morning….that morning that things got seriously strange. When these people from every nation gathered they heard these Galalain followers of Jesus tell of God’s great deeds of power. But they heard this in their own native languages. in their native tongues. Here’s the thing…if they were living in Jerusalem they all would have, to some extent, spoken Greek, the language of the Empire. An empire which spread it’s language and power and culture over 3 continents. They surely shared a common language. Yet the Spirit scoffed at using the language of imperialism and dominance. The 120 original members of the church very well could have communicated to those from every country living in Jerusalem in Greek, but instead the Holy Spirit chose to reveal the truth about God’s great deeds of power in Medeish and Parthianese and Ebonics and Spanglish and slang and in the Queens English and in Arabic and Farsi and on and on. Because language is powerful. And God just kind of comes and gets us through whatever means and whatever language necessary. The text reads:
“In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power”
Before Jesus left his disciples he told them about this day. “Power will come over you” said Jesus, “when you receive the Holy Spirit.” And in the Gospel reading for today we hear that this is a Spirit of Truth…..to receive the Holy Spirit is to receive the power of Truth. And yet no one single language or culture or denomination or tradition has sole ownership of that truth. There is a Sacred Promiscuity to the Holy Spirit. And I find it endlessly irritating that God’s redeeming work in the world isn’t politely limited to the language and theology and means that I happen to agree with. But for a long time in the church we have acted as if we have sole ownership of God’s Truth. As though it’s only truth when stated in the language we understand which, by the way, you must conform to. But that’s not what we hear about today. The Kingdom of God is not an empire which has language laws. We humans may exercise power through Imperialistic conformity laws. But God doesn’t. “In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power”
God comes to get you by whatever means necessary. So today let’s be part of a Pentecost which celebrates how God communicates through languages we don’t understand and by theology and means with which we don’t agree. Because that means that God comes also to us. By any means necessary. Even hillbilly music. Amen.
(blog note: the reference to "hillbilly music" refers to the fact that we did our Bluegrass liturgy Sunday. It's called "Light Into The World" by Kent Gustavson)