H. Michael Brewer
Crescent Springs Presbyterian
Pentecost 2006
SOY AMADA – Y TU TAMBIEN
Acts 2:1-12
“What does this mean?”
That was the question on the lips of Jews gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost a few weeks after the
death and resurrection of Jesus. What does this mean? This strange wind, these people speaking in many
languages, this fisherman turned preacher.
What does this mean? We might well raise the same question today. What is it with all these red shirts
and dresses, all this talk of Spirit, these young people promising to follow Christ, these prayers and songs
and anointings with oil? What does this mean?
It means two things. It means you and I are in need of some fixing up, and it means God thinks we are
worth fixing up. Thus the sending of the sending of the Holy Spirit—the great Fixer-Upper.
Or let’s try to put it more simply. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives means that God loves us. No,
us is too generic, too vague. Pentecost means God loves you.
Do you leave your socks on the floor? God still loves you.
If you’re in a wreck on the way home today and in the ER they discover that you didn’t put on clean
underwear this morning, it won’t change God’s mind about you.
Flunked out last semester—or cheated so you wouldn’t flunk out? God still loves you.
Do you keep a running list of all the stuff you’ve messed up in your life? Maybe you botched up your
marriage or you haven’t been there for your kids or everything you do at work is a lie or you’ve made yourself
sick with bad eating or bad choices or bad thinking. Maybe you’ve judged someone or hurt someone or
refused to forgive someone. Maybe every single day you run through the catalogue of the things you wish you’
d done differently. God probably wishes you’d done it differently, too, but no matter what you’ve done or what
you ought to have done, it doesn’t diminish God’s love for you, not by a milligram, not by an atom.
When God looks at you, God sees something of value, something of potential, something infinitely
precious. Can we be sure of this? Yes, because God says so.
In Deuteronomy 7 where Moses delivers God’s love letter to Israel. “You are a people set apart as holy to
God, your God. God, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal
treasure. God wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important—the fact is,
there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love.” (from The Message)
God told me to bring you the same message this morning. I’m supposed to tell you that God didn’t single
you out because of your earning potential or your good looks or your lofty morality. God picked you out just
because God loves you, always has, always will.
And so that you won’t think it’s just a bunch of sweet talk, God has backed it up with actions, backed it up
with Jesus. I know, you’ve heard it all before, but have you really heard it? I hope this won’t hurt anyone’s
feelings, but I have to be honest with you. If the church were on fire and I could save only one person, if I could
only save you or Bethany, I’d carry Bethany from the flames. I wouldn’t even have to think about it.
Let’s say the flood waters are rising and I have to choose between rescuing Rachel or saving the doctor
who has just that moment thought up a cure for cancer. I understand the ethics of the matter. I appreciate that
the needs of the one must sometimes be outweighed by the needs of the many. I realize that this doctor could
do immeasurable good in the world. I know all that, and it wouldn’t make any difference. I would save my
daughter.
I said I’d be honest, and honestly I’m not all that good at loving or parenting. Pretty average, really. So I can’
t begin to fathom how much God loved Jesus or what it cost God to sit by while the only begotten Son bled out
on a cross. Nor can I grasp how much God loves me in order to make that sacrifice. I can’t imagine that love,
but having seen the proof, I can’t doubt it either.
“So, what do you think?” asks the apostle Paul in Romans 8. “If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the
line for us by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? The One
who died for us is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going
to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times,
not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins
listed in Scripture. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—
nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—
absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has
embraced us.” (from The Message)
I read about a guy who makes his living by tracking down people who have money coming to them.
Sometimes the money is owed by the IRS or a bank or an estate. So this guy tracks these people down and
helps them claim their money for a finder’s fee. The interviewer said, “That must be a hard job.” “Not really,”
the guy says. “Finding unclaimed money is easy and tracking down the people who deserve it, that’s not hard
either. The tough part is convincing people to accept the money. A lot of people simply refuse to believe it and
they walk away.”
That’s why God has sent us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, to convince us how much we are loved. The
love is there. It’s real. It’s ours. But until we believe it and accept it, we’ll never experience it.
We are loved by God, loved more than we can understand, more than we can grasp, more than we can
explain, more than we can express in story or sermon or song. It would be a shame to miss out on that,
wouldn’t it?
Come, Holy Spirit. Burn down our defenses. Blow away our fears. Speak the language of our hearts. And
please don’t let us miss this. Amen?
Soli Deo Gloria!