First Reading:
11Now the whole earth had
one language and the same words. 2And as they migrated from
the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled
there. 3And they said to one another, Come, let us make
bricks, and burn them thoroughly.
And they had brick for stone,
and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, Come, let us
build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and
let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which
mortals had built. 6And the Lord said, Look, they are
one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the
beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will
now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down, and
confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one
another's speech.
8So the Lord scattered them abroad
from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building
the city. 9Therefore it was called Babel, because there the
Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord
scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Second Reading:
2When the day of Pentecost
had come, they were all together in one place. 2And
suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent
wind, and it filled the entire house where they were
sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,
and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as
the Spirit gave them ability.
5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven
living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered
and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native
language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they
asked, Are not all these who are speaking
Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our
own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and
residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and
Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya
belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and
proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs — in our own
languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of
power.
12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one
another, What does this mean?
13But others sneered
and said, They are filled with new wine.
14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and
addressed them, Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let
this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed,
these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in
the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the
prophet Joel: 17‘In the last days it will be, God
declares, that 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. 18Even upon
my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my
Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19And I will show
portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and
fire, and smoky mist. 20The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and
glorious day. ^21Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall
be saved.”
It's somewhat ironic to me that our two scripture lessons for the day seem to point in opposite directions of each other. One is a story of an ending, the other is a story of a beginning. One is a story of confusion and misunderstanding, the other is a story of a miraculous shared experience… One is fun to tell and fun to wonder about because it's a joyous and incredible display of unity, the other might even be a little bit scary because in it, we see things that we don't usually expect to see from God. At least in the way the passage has often been interpreted.
You see, at first glance, the Genesis story of the tower of Babel gives us a very proud group of people, trying to make a name for themselves by building a tower that reaches to the heavens. And it appears that God was concerned that if they built the tower they would be able to do anything they set their minds and resources to, and for some reason that troubled God… At first glance, God didn't want them to be quite so self-reliant so God thwarted their efforts at building the tower… and then for good measure, God confused their language and scattered the people to the ends of the earth so they wouldn't be able to try these shenanigans again. When you start from that perspective, it's hard to not end up with a punitive image of God, or an understanding that makes God into someone who's petty and insecure. It's like we get a picture where God's sitting up in the clouds somewhere and saying uh-oh, those darn humans are at it again… I better knock them down a peg or two so they don't get too full of themselves. It's an image of God that's troubling and frankly I don't think it's accurate.
In ancient Hebrew thought and throughout much of the bible, names are
almost always tied to identity and making a name for yourself
was an expression of trying to create an identity that would be able
to be carried on by your children and extended family. Generally
speaking, in the bible, the phrase making a name for yourself
isn't used to talk about pride or self-centeredness… that's a
much more recent understanding of the phrase. It's in verse 4 of our
passage that we see the goal of the building project and also the goal
of making a name for themselves and it was that the community would be
kept together, they wouldn't be scattered on the face of the whole
earth. Both their project (which was the tower) and their identity
(which was the name that they were trying to make) were means to that
end. Their goal was to remain unified… And I don't think that
Unity in and of itself is a bad goal… In fact, I certainly hope
not, because after all, it's part of our mission statement…
And as we read this story we have to remember that this is part of
what scholars call the prehistory
of the Bible. This story was
told to explain the circumstance that people saw when they looked at
the world around them… even in biblical times it was clear that
the world was made up diverse people and cultures… they didn't
understand each other's language or practice or worldview, and there
was a disconnect between people. And even in biblical times it was
clear that not everything was as it should be, and there was also a
disconnect between people and God. This text among others was used by
ancient believers to try to explain the gaps in understanding and
communication that they saw when they looked around. And because of
that, this story was much more concerned with origins of why things
were the way they were than it was with pride of the people and the
punishment of God.
So when we look at it as an attempt to describe reality and give an origin to it, what we see isn't really a surprise. We know there are gaps in our understanding and in our communication because we've all experienced them.
When it comes to communicating with God… sometimes I make the joke that the quickest way to get silence in a room is to ask for a volunteer to pray… People come to me and ask me how to pray… and they ask me how I know it works… and sometimes people tell me that they can't bring themselves to pray since some key event happened in their lives, or they can't bring themselves to pray about a certain situation that's going on presently. These are the kind of gaps in relationship to God that the story of Babel was trying to address.
And when it comes to communicating with people, we know that one… we have a thousand ways to communicate with each other… cell phones, text messaging, email, Facebook, twitter, Myspace… the list goes on and on. I know there are people in this room right now who have multiple phones with them at all times. I sleep with mine on my bedside table. And yet sometimes I wonder how often we miss out on the possibility of meaningful communication between people… there are some people we see every day that we walk right past… but the disconnect isn't just with strangers or people who speak different languages… some of the most painful communication gaps are those that happen with the people we know best and love the most… parents and children… spouses and friends… and these are also the kind of gaps in relationship with other people that the story of Babel was trying to address.
People saw the reality of misunderstanding and miscommunication and like everything else, they attributed it to God… and if the only story that we had in our scripture about how God relates to people and people relate to one another was the story of Babel, we might be forced to draw some of those conclusions that I mentioned earlier. But there is so much more… in the next chapter of the book of Genesis the story of God's relationship with Abraham begins… and the covenant that's established between them lays the groundwork for everything else that comes throughout the whole of the old testament and much of the new… because God promises Abraham that he will be the father of many nations and the all of the nations of the world will be blessed through his offspring.
So when the text says devout Jews were gathered together in Jerusalem
from every nation under heaven… and we get a story of blessing,
the stories are related… When the rush of the wind came in a
way that couldn't be ignored, and the tongues that were like fire
appeared among them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak the good news of God's deeds in a way that everyone was
able to hear… the room may have been full of confusion, but it
was a confusion that was different from Babel… Some people say
that Pentecost undid Babel… but it didn't, it was really more
of a continuation… even though people from different nations
and ethnic groups had come together and at least for a moment had
understood each other, at the end of the day, there wasn't a single
unifying language. That might have been undoing Babel… but God
didn't get rid of the differences… like I've said before, the
differences are there on purpose. And perhaps part of what these
stories are trying to tell us, especially when they're coupled
together is that God is more interested in having a world filled with
faithful people of all different shapes and sizes, of all different
races and languages, of all different ideas and ideals and worldviews
than in having people united for the purpose of creating for
themselves a sense of comfort, understanding and security. On
Pentecost the people didn't understand what was going on. There were
some who laughed it off saying that the disciples must be drunk.
Others were simply amazed and they found themselves asking:
what does this mean?
Pentecost is the birth of the church, it broadens the scope of our understanding of God's work in the world. And of all the possible answers, one that is clear is that the primary miracle that the Spirit of God enabled on that day was bridging those gaps of communication that were made evident in the story of Babel. People were connected with one another and with God as language differences ceased to matter and they heard about God's deeds of power in Jesus Christ.
And perhaps the best news of Pentecost is that it didn't end that day. Even now the arrival of the Holy Spirit enables people to hear the truth they need to hear and to speak the truth they need to speak. Certainly it will take different forms for each of us. For some, it may mean difficult work with a loved one to find a new way of being together in relationship. For others, it may look like giving voice to the ways you've been hurt in order to be able to move beyond them. Still for others, it will mean new ministry opportunities, going out, whether near or far to proclaim the good news and to serve in ways needed. And for all of us, it means being open to receiving the Spirit when she comes… whether it comes as a call, a nudge or even a tongue of fire. The spirit draws us in to the heart of God and sends us out to serve… it is a gift, bridging gaps, creating connection and bringing newness of life and so with the church all over the world, today we pray, come Holy Spirit, Come.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on Pentecost, May 23, 2010.
© 2010 Daniel Holland
