Thomas J Parlette
“A Long Wait”
Acts 2: 1-21
5/23/21, Pentecost
There are things in life that are universally annoying…
- The pen that runs out of ink in the middle of your signature.
- The driver who cuts you off and doesn’t even bother to wave.
- And of course – waiting in line.
Universally annoying. But we still have to deal with it at times. There is a woman who tells of trying to get a table at a very popular and very busy restaurant. She approached the hostess and asked quite brusquely, “Will it be long?” The hostess never even looked up, she just kept writing in her hostess book. So the woman leaned in closer and asked again, a little more firmly, “Will it be long?”
Without acknowledging her, the hostess said, “About ten minutes.”
A few minutes later, the woman heard an announcement over the speaker. “Willette B. Long, your table is ready. Ms. Long, your table is ready.”(1)
This morning we find Jesus’ friends and disciples waiting, perhaps thinking, “Will it be long?” Jesus promised a gift of some sort. How long will we have to wait?
I came across an interesting study recently that took place in Holland about awkward pauses in conversations. Have you ever been in a conversation, and then the person you’re chatting with suddenly goes silent? It’s kinda’ disconcerting, isn’t it?
Researchers in Holland ran a study to measure how long a conversational gap has to last before it creates negative emotions in the people involved. They discovered that all it takes is four seconds of silence in a conversation to inspire feelings of anxiety, exclusion, incompatibility and awkwardness. Just four seconds of silence makes us feel insecure and uncomfortable.
A member of the research team summarized the study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: “Conversational flow is associated with positive emotions and a heightened sense of belonging, self-esteem, social validation and consensus. Disrupting the flow by a brief silence produces feelings of rejection and negative emotions.”(2)
Our passage doesn’t really say what the followers of Jesus were thinking as they waited, but it does note that they were joyful together as they waited and prayed. They had spent 40 days with the resurrected Jesus. They finally understood that Jesus truly was God in the flesh. And they finally believed that his plans were trustworthy, and his promises were true. They had no idea what was coming their way, but they went to Jerusalem and they gathered together in prayer and they waited, just as Christ had told them to. They waited for that gift that Jesus promised them.
It reminds me a bit of an incident that occurred on January 1, 2002. Two young men got in line at a Seattle movie theater to see the movie, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. That’s all well and good – but the movie wasn’t being released until May 16, 2002. So those young men waited outside the theater for 4-1/2 months to see the latest installment of the Star Wars franchise.(3) That’s a very long wait!
Jesus friends had a long wait as well … fifty days had passed after Christ’s Ascension. And then the gift that had been promised shows up. Our passage describes the moment the Holy Spirit came upon them like this: “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.”
On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem. All the original twelve were there, save one. Judas’ place had been taken by Matthias. Jesus brothers were there. They weren’t always fans of their brother’s ministry – but there they were. His mother was there, too, still pondering things in her heart, just as she had when Jesus was born. “The women” were there as well. We don’t know their names, but we know they were there – sometimes more courageous than the rest of the disciples whose names we recognize.
There they were – this motley band of earnest believers – still shaken by the events of the past 50 days – saddened by the departure of their leader – but willing to trust that Jesus would fulfill his promise and grant them the power to go on.
In a recent study in the International Journal of Financial Research, experts estimate that it costs major organizations an average of $136 million dollars to suddenly lose a CEO to illness or death if they don’t have some other leadership plan in place. If the CEO is fired due to some scandal or controversy, the costs may be even higher. The study makes it clear that every major organization needs to create a strong bench of trained leaders ready to step in and guide an organization in case of an unexpected change.(4)
The disciples of Jesus were confronted with the task of replacing their CEO, so to speak. Jesus had been crucified, resurrected and now had ascended to be with God. Jesus had spent three years training his disciples to carry on his message and ministry after his departure. But how do you replace the Messiah, the Son of God? Well, you don’t – not really, not without some help. And that’s what Pentecost is all about. Help arrives in the form of the Holy Spirit, which supplies us with three things we need in order to move forward with Jesus plan to save the world with God’s forgiveness and mercy.
The first is power. Jesus, in his final instructions to his disciples, told them to wait in Jerusalem “until you are clothed with power from on high.” That power would be the Holy Spirit at work in their lives.
For example, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached and 3,000 people were added to the church. Pretty impressive, but that’s not all. In a relatively brief period of time, the tiny Christian community swept across the entire Roman Empire. Power was promised and power was delivered.
If you’ve ever seen lightning strike a tree, it is a powerful sight. I’ve never seen it in person, but I’ve seen video. To us, it looks like a bolt of lightning comes sizzling down from the sky and hits the tree. But in reality, there is a natural amount of electric energy stored in the underground. When a “leader bolt” of electricity comes down from the clouds, it meets up with the stored electricity in the ground and creates the illusion of an explosion of power and light. The tree is just the vessel to connect the heavens and the earth.
That’s what happened on Pentecost, and that’s what happens today when believers pray to receive God’s power to go and do ministry, to be God’s witnesses, to be the Body of Christ in their communities and in the world.
The second thing we get from the Spirit is purpose. There is no power without a great purpose calling us to accomplish great things. God once declared to the prophet Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams…” And now that Spirit is here. What vision has God given to the people but a vision of the entire world joined into one family – the family of God.
A man named Roy Lloyd interviewed the late Mother Teresa multiple times over the years and her answer to one of his questions jumps to the forefront in this context. He asked her, “What’s the biggest problem in the world today?”
And without hesitation, Mother Teresa answered, “The biggest problem in the world today is that we draw the circle of our family too small. We need to draw it larger every day.”(5)
Yes, we do. We need to draw our circle large enough to encompass every man, woman and child of every race and nation on this planet.
On this Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the vision and the power to reach every person on earth with the message and ministry of Jesus. It’s why people from every nation and language and culture and color gather in churches all over the world to worship and work in the name of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was drawing the circle of our family as large as possible to include the whole world.
So, a church called by the Holy Spirit to take the Gospel of Christ to the world has power, it has purpose – and it has one more thing. It has God’s presence. Jesus had ascended to be with God. What would his disciples do now? Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life for them. What would happen to the sheep without a shepherd. But Jesus had assured them, “I will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever…” That counselor came like a mighty wind, like tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s presence in the hearts of his followers.
Many of you know the story of Florence Nightingale. Nightingale was a social reformer and the founder of modern nursing. She led a team of women who provided medical care to British soldiers in the Crimean War in the 1850’s. The improvements she instituted in medical care and cleanliness in the medical tents saved countless lives.
She was known for her tireless care for her patients. At night, she made the rounds of all the medical tents. The soldiers knew from the light of her lamp that she was working through the night, ensuring that she was aware of everyone’s needs. They even nicknamed her “Lady of the Lamp.”
Nightingale once said, “If I could give you information of my life it would show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led by God in strange and unaccustomed paths to do in His service what He has done in her. And if I could tell you all, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all; and I have never refused God anything.”(6)
… I have never refused God anything…
Now imagine one more time that group of believers gathered together in that upper room in Jerusalem. They were men and women of “very ordinary ability.” Just like you and me and even Florence Nightingale. They weren’t chosen because they had any particular skill or charisma or courage. God chose them to bless them with God’s power, purpose and presence through the Holy Spirit. And through them, God chose to bless the whole world with the message and ministry of Jesus.
That is who we are even today. We are not alone. God is with us. God has not left us comfortless, or powerless or without purpose. A mighty wind has roared. God has sent flames of power and purpose and presence on us. The long wait is over. Now it is time for us to go and preach the Kingdom of God and do acts of mercy and justice and healing that show the world the love of God, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p21.
2. Ibid… p21.
3. Ibid… p21.
4. Ibid… p22.
5. Ibid… p23.
6. Ibid… p24.
