Presented to Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service 16 January 2011 at St. Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church in Swift Current. Based on an earlier sermon presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on 12 August 2007 and to the Swift Current Corps on 23 May 2010. A further version was presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 12 June 2022 by Captain Michael Ramsay
To read the more detailed earlier sermons, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/acts-2-act-ii-scene-1.html
We are going to look at the reading from Acts today. Acts is a neat book. Did you know that it is the only history (book) in the NT? Did you know that the books Acts and Luke were written by the same author and these books actually come together as sort of a two volume set that many scholars like to call ‘Luke-Acts.’ Together this set comprises more than 30% of the NT.
Acts always reminds me of a play. Maybe it’s the name (Act 1, scene 2). But particularly in the first part, Acts reminds me of a Shakespearian play. Anyone remember studying Shakespeare in school?
All right, here’s quiz for you. Who can name the play these quotes are from: ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your ears;’ “to be or not to be, that is the question” – here’s an easy one - “Romeo, Romeo, where art thou Romeo”?
Shakespeare wrote very dramatic plays and some of the tragedies are pretty tragic like Hamlet. Remember, his ‘to be or not to be’ speech where, of course, he is either pretending to be insane or actually goes insane while trying catch his father’s killer who happens to be his uncle and is also married to his mother. (Sounds like a soap opera actually) And in the end - everybody dies…
Or on a happier note, there is Romeo and Juliet. Young love. But their parents object so they sneak around for a while and then eventually (pause) kill themselves…okay so not a lot of happy endings…but they are very dramatic and neat stories nonetheless.
Shakespeare was a master playwright and Acts reminds me of Shakespeare’s work. (Only its better) God uses the author, Luke, to communicate VERY dramatic REAL events that happen and he attributes to Peter some amazing speeches that could cause the post-modern reader to recall Mark Anthony, Lady MacBeth, or Hamlet.
And Luke uses the scenes and speeches that we will look at today God’s Spirit comes at Pentecost creating unity out of diversity and releasing the disciples to proclaim the gospel of Jesus’ death resurrection and the forgiveness of sins.
Acts really does remind me of a play and just before we open the curtain on Acts II, we should know a bit about the way the stage is set. When the curtain comes up not only will all the disciples still be together in the spirit of Christian unity but also in the scene will be ‘Jews from every nation under heaven (2:5)’ and they have come together in unity to celebrate Pentecost. This is hopefully like us today as Christians are prayerfully gathering from our different traditions and religious expressions of our Christian faith in unity here. The curtain opens on Acts II. Picture this with me as I read from the first verses, which are like a scene from a Shakespearian play:
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing (sound effects) of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be (pillars) 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 languages as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
And this is the dramatic scene in the opening of Acts 2. And if this were a Shakespearean play, now, hundreds of years later, there would be - Cole’s Notes! – Do you remember Coles Notes? The notes so that we can all understand the nuances of what is happening before us and there are many nuances…
If we had our Cole’s Notes with us today there would probably be an asterisk beside the word ‘Pentecost’ (vs. 1) because when we think of Pentecost we usually think of this very moment: the advent of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts – but it is more than that.
Your Cole’s Notes would probably say that Pentecost is also known by various other names: the feast of weeks (Exod. 34:22; Dt 15:10, 16:9-12; Nu 28:26-31), feast of harvest (Exod 23:16), the day of first fruits (Exod 34:22; Nu 28:26; Lev 23:9-14) and this is neat: Pentecost occurs on the 50th day after the Sabbath Passover (Exod. 19:1) and in Acts II it is about 50 days after Jesus was crucified and the disciples were scattered and now 50 days later they are gathering together in prayer and Christian unity.
Now the Jewish festival of Pentecost is a time to celebrate God giving the Law to Moses on Mt Sinai: Remember the Ten Commandments and how Moses climbs the Mountain (twice; Exod. 19-20, 31, 34; Dt. 4-5, 10) and God writes the 10 Commandments on the stone tablets with his own finger (Exod. 31:18; Dt. 4:13, 10:1) and when Moses returns from the mountain his face is literally radiant (Exod. 34:29-35): it’s shining. All the events recorded in Acts 2 I think ar meant to link Jesus to Moses as a deliver – and those present in this scene are probably beginning to understand that.
And even more – you see the Bible is REAL. These things really did happen but it is also a literary masterpiece with symbolism everywhere – really would we expect anything less from God’s own Word?
Look at 2:6: “each one heard them speaking in his own language;” some have compared this passage to an un-doing, as it were, of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9), just before God makes his promise to Abraham. Do you remember that story? The people provoke God by disobeying His command to scatter and fill the earth through the building of this tower and as a result, the people are babbling in different languages. God confuses their talk. But now what happens in Acts II? The opposite. Christians become unified. Instead of language being confused, people can actually now hear the Gospel proclaimed in their OWN language. This sure helps Christian unity – which we are praying for today. There is so much more relating the Spirit of God in Acts 2 comparing the creation of the church to the creation of the world that we just don’t have time to get into today but this is all part of the world and understanding of the Jews present. They understand as the scene unfolds and as Peter continues to speak that Jesus is the Christ, and that we together have killed our Christ.
These people now standing in front of Peter as he delivers something akin to a masterful Shakespearian soliloquy – they are like repentant children in front of the principal, realising that they’ve done something terribly wrong. They realise that Jesus is the Christ and they realize (PAUSE) that they’ve killed him; we’ve killed him. And now Jesus is back from the dead. If we didn’t know the ending, it could be like a 1970s horror movie. You wrongfully kill someone and they come back from the dead to set things right! The people in our text today are hoping against hope to somehow make it right (cf. John 21:15-17 re: Peter’s own restoration) when in a spirit of good repentant Christian unity: Verse 37, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter says, verse 38, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Now this is significant. Jesus is ushering in this Kingdom of God. And what does this Kingdom look like? This is what our readings for today announce. It is a Kingdom of Christian unity and of forgiveness. It is a Kingdom –like the Lord’s Prayer says - where we, in perfect unity, forgive those who do things against us and God forgives us what we have done – even our sending [as was his purpose and with God’s perfect foreknowledge (vss. 22-23)] God’s own son to die on the cross.
What is it that one does as one is united in Christ with fellow Christians as a part of God’s Kingdom? We repent (This doesn’t just mean change our way of acting – it means change our whole way of thinking). We repent – we believe that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead and Jesus is Lord. We believe and are baptised (which in the text here is an initiation ceremony through which the early Christians are united); we must be initiated and united in the Kingdom of Forgiveness of Sins and the Kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus – and this is everything.
Peter says in the text “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This same Holy Spirit who is at creation and at is the same Holy Spirit who is at Pentecost and it is the same Holy Spirit who is with us today. The Bible promises us, Acts 2:39 that, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off —for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be united in Salvation. Isn’t that glorious? Isn’t this wonderful? Isn’t this amazing?
And look what it says, just before the curtain closes on our scene here in Acts II: Our words that we are supposed to hold as our own today. It says that as they are gathered together in Christian unity that - Verse 47- “day by day the Lord added to their number those being saved.” How wonderful? How marvellous?
And may it be continue to be so. Come; let us pray for a unity of the Spirit in our lives. Come let us pray that Christ will be our light. Amen.
To read a detailed related paper on this passage click here: http://www.sheepspeak.com./NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Acts%202:%20An%20Interpretation
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Bibliography
Achtemeier, Paul J., Joel B. Green, and Marianne Meye Thompson. Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.
Bruce, Fredrick Frye, The Book of Acts. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988.
Durant, Will. The Story of Civilisation III: Caesar and Christ. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1944.
Gilbert. “The Lists of Nations in Acts 2.” Journal of Biblical Literature 21, no. 1 (2002): 497-529.
Harrison, Roland Kenneth. Introduction to the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977.
Hays, Richard B. The letter to the Galatians. The New Interpreter’s Bible 11. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2000.
Lenski, R.C.H. The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961.
MacGregor, G.H.C. and Theodore P. Ferris. The Acts if the Apostles. The Interpreter’s Bible 9. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1978.
Neil, William, The Acts of the Apostles. The New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981.
Squires, John T., “Acts.” Pages 1213-1267 in Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Editted by James D.G. Dunn and John W. Rogerson. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003.
The Timechart of Biblical History. Chippenham, England: The Third Millenium Press, 2003.
Wall, Robert W. Acts. The New Interpreter’s Bible 10. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2002.
Willimon, William H., Acts. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1988.
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