Pentecost Reminds Us Where We Find Peace :: John 14:26-27
And now you have that peace.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus was born without sin, lived without sin, died for your sin, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven so that he can always be with you. He has announced his absolution to you that your sins are forgiven on his account. He has united himself in baptism with you, drowning your sins and raising you into eternal life. And today, once again he will deliver to you his Supper that gives you peace ... that is, the peace of God that transcends all understanding ... quite literally, the forgiveness of your sins. This is where the Lord of Peace is giving you his peace at all times in every way (2 Th 3:16) ... through Word and sacraments. You who confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you are saved. That is the peace of Christ. He has set you free from sin, death, and the devil. That is the peace of Christ. You have eternal life now in Christ.
This is why we are celebrating the Feast of Pentecost today with the Divine Service. God has sent the Holy Spirit to teach you all of this through his Word, and to remind you of all of this through his sacraments (v 26). Peace I leave to you. My peace I give to you (vv 26-27a).
4. The Feast of Pentecost celebrates the abundance of new life in Christ!
I might have surprised you again today when I told you that this fiftieth day of Easter is one of the three most important days of the church year. Of course, I’m sure y’all had Christmas and Easter atop your list. After all, who doesn’t love birth and new life most of all? But we wouldn’t know anything about any of that apart from Pentecost. Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Holy Christian and Apostolic Church, God has delivered on the peace he has been promising you since the fall in the garden.
Christmas is the day we celebrate Peace on earth and Goodwill toward men. In the midst of our sin, the Prince of Peace took on flesh and began dwelling among us (Jn 1:14). In this way, Immanuel, God with us, shows us that he is not a god who doesn’t understand us ... nor is he a distant god who doesn’t care for us. The Maker of Heaven and Earth, the only True God, the One who gave us our bodies and souls, eyes, ears, and all our members, our reason and all our senses, he is still taking care of us. He has come to give us peace. ...
We couldn’t go to God. So he came to us at Christmas.
Let us always rejoice and be glad about this!
In the same way, Easter is the day we recognize that God made all things new. God has overcome death. At Christmas, he entered a sinful world. At Easter, he revealed the new creation through the newness of life. While sin was doing its best to destroy our world, God sent forth his son, our Lord Jesus, to become the perfect lamb of God ... the perfect sacrifice for sin.
God didn’t desire your efforts to make peace, that is through sacrifices, but he also could not ignore your sin ... sin that separates you from him. Sin has no place with our Just God. Sin had to be punished, for the wages of sin is death. But instead of punishing you, God loved you in this way: He poured out his wrath upon Jesus alone. Jesus, the sinless son of God, suffered, died, and was buried for your sin. God’s justice was executed in Christ. Jesus received the death you deserve for your bitterness and blasphemy, for your gluttony and gossip, for you ingratitude and indifference, for our unwillingness to keep ... or treasure ... the Word of God (v 23). As Jesus said, I told you this before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe that he is the Christ, the son of the living God, and that in the faith, you may have life in his name (Jn 20:31).
But thanks be to God, death and grave could not hold the author of life. God raised [Jesus] from the dead, releasing the pangs of death (Acts 2:24). And because of his resurrection, death has no more power over you. God has swallowed up death in victory. So now we have peace ... peace we don’t even understand. Let us rejoice and be glad in it: The resurrection life is now yours! Peace he has released to you. His peace he has given to you (v 27a).
Yes, Christmas and Easter are most certainly two of the most important days of the church year. But what would any of that be without the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? The answer: Nothing at all! The only reason we know any of this is because God sent us the Paraclete ... or the one who literally calls you to be with him is the Holy Spirit. The Father sent [him] in the name of [Christ] ... he has come to us to teach us all things, and he causes us to remember all things [that Jesus said and did] ... at Christmas, on Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday ... and in all points before, during, and after.
As Luke tells us, when the Day of Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all together. ... And suddenly it happened ... There came out of heaven a sound like an intense rushing wind. ... And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). God poured out the Holy Spirit upon the world. God began opening our eyes and ears to see and hear the Gospel ... to know all we need to know for our salvation ... to remember all that Jesus taught.
So let us rejoice and be glad in it!
3. What, therefore, is it that we need to remember?
As Jesus said in the verse immediately before our Gospel reading, we need to remember to keep his word ... not just part of it, but all of it. We need to pay attention to the inerrancy of God’s Word ... not just part of it, but all of it ... treasuring it ... seeking it out ... loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself (Lk 10:27). And now you can because as the psalmist declared, the Spirit of the Lord fills the world. Alleluia. The righteous will be glad. They will exult before God. They will be jubilant with joy! Alleluia! (Ps 68:3).
Today, because the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us, we can actually be brought to repentance in the name of Jesus. We can recognize our sin and our need for a savior. We can then hear the word of God that declares what Jesus has done to deliver to you absolution. We can recognize the gifts God has given to us in baptism. We can receive the Lord’s Supper with joy, knowing that Jesus takes bread and wine and says take and eat; this is my body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. We can actually live in peace, sharing peace, setting aside all bitterness.
Before the Day of Pentecost, the disciples had been weak in this regard. They were doubting Thomas’ so to speak, constantly forgetting who Jesus was, and what he taught us to remember.
2. But then the Holy Spirit came and began reminding of all Jesus said and did.
Amazingly, 3,000 souls heard that word of the Lord and believed all that Jesus said and did and continues to say and do. That first day alone, people speaking at least 16 different languages heard the Gospel in their own tongue and began sharing it in their own tongue, telling their neighbors. Today, all that Jesus said and did is now written in 704 languages, most notably in our own English tongue.
They began to believe not only the Word of God, but that the Word of God is inerrant ... that his doctrine gives us life. They began learning to recognize that even though we can’t find God in our thoughts, in the world, or in our efforts to be the church ... he nevertheless finds you, calls you, comforts you, nurtures you ... not because of anything you did, but precisely because of his means of grace ... the inerrant word and efficacious sacraments. Knowing God does that gives us peace. They then began returning to their baptism, and breaking bread every time they met. This is the truth of God’s word being proclaimed at Pentecost. It is the truth we need to treasure and remember.
1. And this is why we remember where, when, and how the peace of God comes!
While everyone everywhere searches for happiness, identity, security, and meaning in life elsewhere, listen as God continues to remind you of the peace which Christ has secured for you in his Divine Service to you. This is the place he brings you back to the certainty of holy baptism, where he unites himself with you in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Eternal life is yours in baptism. Let us rejoice and be glad in this Gospel.
This is the place he brings you back to hear the proclamation of the Gospel, the Gospel that declares to you that your sins are indeed forgiven on account of Jesus, who lived for you, died for you, rose from the dead for you, and ascended into heaven where he has prepared a place for you. Eternal life is yours in absolution. Let us rejoice and be glad in this Gospel.
And then ... as if those two means of grace weren’t sure and certain enough ... the Holy Spirit still has one more gift beyond measure for you today. As Luther once said, when you want your sins to be forgiven ... run to the Lord’s Supper, which is the Gospel. Here, in the gift he has prepared for us, you will surely receive the forgiveness and peace Jesus won on the cross for you as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup ... proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes.
How comforting it is that Jesus left his peace right where the Holy Spirit is? So you see ...
THE COMFORTER COMFORTS US BY TEACHING US TO REMEMBER THE GOSPEL
Thanks be to God on this Day of Pentecost. He brings comfort! He pours out blessings! Through him, we remember we have peace ... in Jesus’ name.