We don’t celebrate Pentecost for another month, but today’s lectionary scripture from the book of Acts is the climax of Peter’s Pentecost sermon. Thousands had gathered in Jerusalem for the Pentecost celebration; people from many nations, speaking many different languages; and on that day they witnessed and experienced an extraordinary outpouring of God’s Spirit.
And then, Peter stood up and spoke to the crowd. It’s the first real post-resurrection proclamation, and the first time any of the disciples had shown any confidence following the confusing, mind-blowing events surrounding the crucifixion and the resurrection.
And in that proclamation, that sermon, Peter explained how God’s Spirit is at work, and that it is in line with what the prophets talked about many generations before. And this outpouring of the Spirit, Peter said, is a sign that God is establishing the kingdom (the kin-dom, the reign) of Christ on earth, that even though he was crucified, Christ was raised up and exalted by God, and continues to reign as God’s messiah.
The people were inspired by his preaching. They were in awe of what Peter said. And the people asked the disciples, “What should we do?”
And Peter said: “Repent; repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
And on that day, 3,000 people were baptized. 3,000 people repented. 3,000 committed to following the way of Christ.
What was it that was so compelling to them? What were they searching for? What was it about the way of Jesus that attracted them?
The more I read and study the Bible, the more connections I see between the time of the disciples, and our own time. Many of the longings and frustrations and hope and despair of our own time are reflected in the crowds that followed Jesus, and the crowds that were baptized by the disciples.
Like so many today, they were tired of the ways of the world. In Roman society, everything was designed to support and lift up those at the top, those with power and authority and wealth. Everyone was expected to contribute to the wealth of the empire, even though only a few at the top received the benefits of that wealth and could enjoy it.
And anyone who couldn’t contribute to that wealth was held in contempt, and treated with disregard.
Lepers, the blind, the disabled—what contribution did they make to society? They were all made into outcasts. Rome had no use for them; and the very important religious leaders, trying to stay in Rome’s good favor, labeled them all sinners. The leaders said that if they were blind, if they were lame, if they were lepers, then it must have been because of some sin they committed.
And, in this way, they justified their collaboration with the dog-eat-dog world of Rome.
And the people were so tired of a system that beats them down, tears them apart, and seeks to extract from them every ounce of life and energy, just so “Rome” could prosper.
But then: along came Jesus. Jesus hung out with lepers, with the blind, with the disabled, with all sorts of other outcasts and rejects. Jesus proclaimed that they would inherit the earth, that they would be free from the powers of oppression, including the power of Rome. And Jesus declared that a new kingdom was now present—the kingdom of God—in which the first would be last, and the last, first.
And to all those on the margins of society, and all those who were tired of giving all their life energy to Rome, this sure sounded like good news.
But then, Jesus was crucified.
Perhaps they had all been wrong? Maybe the kingdom they thought was arriving had just been a bunch of wishful thinking?
However, three days after his crucifixion, God raised Jesus from the dead.
This was the sign that God was on the side of Jesus (or that Jesus was on God’s side), and that the kingdom Jesus proclaimed, God would establish after all.
And now, through this amazing displays of God’s Spirit, it was even more apparent that the message and work of Jesus was alive and being led by the Spirit, and that the new kingdom of God, where every person is lifted up, is seen as worthy, and is allowed to use their life energy for the good of their community rather than just for the good of the emperor, is present, in their midst, within and among them.
And the connection I see to today is that, today, so many people also feel that their life energy isn’t benefiting them or those they care about. Many people are discouraged, and feel that there’s no purpose, that no matter how hard they work, things aren’t getting better. So many people are getting beat down, torn apart, broken, and treated with contempt and disregard.
But when Peter preached to the people about how God is alive and at work through the Spirit in the same way that God was alive and at work through Jesus, the people came alive. Their hope was renewed. And they asked: “What should we do?”
And the disciples replied: “Repent. And be baptized.”
The word repent has been defined and explained in various ways. The way I define it is to live in a new way.
Much of recent Christianity has emphasized the personal aspect of repentance, but repentance is also about the community; the society.
In the book, The Very Good Gospel, by Lisa Sharon Harper (one of the absolute best books I’ve read), she writes that “Charles Finney, the leading revivalist of the nineteenth century, created the altar call to give people the chance to stand up and walk forward, proclaiming that they were aligning themselves with the Kingdom of God. But citizenship in the Kingdom of God, Finney insisted, required allegiance to God's governance over and above any human governance, including the social, legal, and economic institution of slavery. Men and women confessed and repented of their personal sins as well as their complicity with structural evil. And when they wiped away their tears and opened their eyes, Finney thrust a pen into their hands and pointed them to sign-up sheets for the abolitionist movement.”
Christian repentance, then, is to commit to no longer living for the empire, or even for oneself; Christian repentance is to commit to living for the new way of Christ, living for the kingdom, living for the beloved community, and working on behalf of that community—every person in the community—giving your life energy to that community, so that no one is cast out, no one is cast aside, no one is seen as worthless.
It is manifesting God’s love in all you do. It is focusing less on your rights as an individual and more on your responsibility to making your community and your world the best it can be, for all who live there.
God’s vision for the world began when God created the world—all the plants and animals and humans—and pronounced it all very good. There was peace. There was harmony. There was an understanding that all of creation is connected, and we are to care for creation.
There was abundance; plenty for all. All we had to do was take care of it, maintain it.
But then sin came along. People got jealous, thinking that others were getting more than they were, and so they acted in ways so that they could have more than others. People started hoarding resources, taking more than they needed, which means other people didn’t have enough. People started pushing each other down in order to get to the top, and people got violent. Murder and wars broke out.
God’s prophets presented an alternative vision to all this. A vision of a world of justice and peace, where everyone would have enough, and no one would go without. It was a world of abundance, because nothing was hoarded; rather, everything was shared, everyone was looked after, and no one was left behind.
And the prophets called the people to repentance; they called kings and rulers to repentance, but also everyone else. They called on them to embrace the world as God had ordered it, so that peace, prosperity, and justice would be established for all people.
This is the vision God still has for the world today, and when the disciples told the people to repent, they were telling the people to turn to this new way of living, which really wasn’t new, but was God’s intention for humanity from the very beginning.
Now, it has been made known once again through Jesus Christ. The leaders rejected it, but that could not stop the vision. And for everyone who repents from the ways of this world, there is forgiveness, and there is healing, and there is wholeness.
So: repent. Embrace God’s new way.
And, as a sign of the change, the transformation, in your life: be baptized.
Baptism is a new birth, a new beginning. You enter the water living the old life, and you emerge from the water born into a new life.
And when an entire community makes that commitment, the Spirit is manifested among them. They act with glad and generous hearts. Their life together is marked by the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Imagine a whole society marked by these characteristics! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Maybe that’s a hard thing to imagine. Or, maybe it’s not… Over the past 15 years, I’ve seen, here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, this outpouring of love, this sharing, this care. I’ve seen an openness to learning, to having our hearts continually made new and reshaped by God’s love.
Repentance isn’t just a momentary event. It is a lifetime of turning away from the way of the world, and choosing to follow the way of Jesus. It is a lifetime of choosing joy, choosing generosity, choosing life, choosing love, in a world that works so hard to suck these things out of you.
Despite all the challenges, this is what I’ve seen here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church. This is what keeps us going. We are all about God’s new way.
God’s Spirit is alive and present among us. God is continuing to work wonders in our midst.
And we welcome any who want to join us, to repent and be baptized, and follow the new way of Christ’s kingdom, the kindom of God.
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