Homily For Whitsunday 2025
“The multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language.” In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Epistle for today is St. Luke’s account of the beginning of the Christian celebration of Pentecost. I say Christian celebration for it had an old covenant antecedent - it was rooted in the promises of God to the Jews. Most directly, Pentecost came 50 days after Passover. Passover was the feast of the redemption of Israel out of Egypt whereby the Jews’ safe passage was secured by the marking of the Passover lamb: the blood on the door. God appointed the feast of Pentecost 50 days later. It was a week of weeks - 7 weeks of 7 days.
We read in Leviticus 23 - “From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain in the Lord” (Lev. 23:15, 16)” An offering of new grain in the form of two leavened loaves - meaning offering to God the first fruits of the harvest that would come. For Israel, it would take a deeper meaning of expectation: of the ingathering of the reign of God. There was an expectation among the faithful that Pentecost would have a place in God’s establishment of His kingdom on earth.
So, the Apostles and the disciples would have had an expectation of God doing something new at the time of Pentecost. They had a Jewish expectation in addition to the word of Jesus. After his resurrection and before His Ascension, Our Lord promised them that, “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
The Apostles would be witnesses to these things yet they must stay in the city until they had been clothed in power from on high. Luke 24:47-49. They were not waiting aimlessly - they had a conviction that the Spirit would come at Pentecost - fifty days after the offering of the perfect Passover lamb.
Our Lord’s ministry was marked by miracles and powerful teaching. We have today the first miracle of the New Covenant. Miracles in the Old Covenant were rare and localized. One person may perform a miracle. Another may be filled with the Word of God. Rarely, were both present in one man as was the case with both Moses and Elijah. Jesus, the son of God Incarnate, embodied all prophetic power - every word was truth. Every word was the utterance of God. He performed all types of miracles - so much so that the multitudes followed in anticipation of what he would do next.
In what has been called the first miracle of the Church, we have the faithful gathered together in Jerusalem. You know that God commanded that men appear before him in Jerusalem for three feasts a year. In obedience, the faithful were in Jerusalem. Maybe they had heard about the resurrection of the Messiah - his Conquest over death. Perhaps they had anticipation of initiation of God’s fuller kingdom 50 days after Passover. Regardless of their insight, they were present. They were there and St. Luke is careful to comment that they were from all parts of the earth. They had diverse languages but they were unified by their commitment to the God of Israel. The faithful were gathered and were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke in tongues - the known languages of many peoples. Egypt, Libya, Arabians, Romans, Greeks, Persians. Shorthand for all the languages of the Roman world.
Here, the miracle is that everyone present experienced the reversal of a greater curse. The problem of language, the confusion of tongues was a judgment of God for the disobedience of Babel in Genesis 9. For all mankind was united together in its rebellion against the reign of the God of heaven. We read God’s assessment that, “the people were one and they had all one language...now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” At Babel, all mankind was in lockstep disobedience. So God confounded, confused their language so they would be dispersed throughout the whole earth - fulfilling God’s commandment to scatter, multiply and take dominion. Here, on the feast of Pentecost, it was the work of the Holy Spirit to unify men. Indeed, language was united in the proclamation of the Gospel. The words of men from all over hearing the telling forth of “the wonderful works of God.” His works through Jesus Christ - the crucified, resurrected and ascended Messiah.
It is only appropriate that St. Peter - imbued with power from on High, filled with the Holy Spirit, should preach repentance and forgiveness of sin to all nations. It is the second miracle of Pentecost: the Spirit’s work of repentance and forgiveness of sins, the conversion of souls expanding the Church of Christ by 3000 souls. It is the power of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin - to prick the hearts of hearers, to drive away spiritual deafness. It was his work on that day of Pentecost and it is His work today, because the hearing of words without the comprehension of the teaching is spiritual deafness. The Holy Spirit breathes new life into the spiritually dead hearts of sinners leading them to ask questions, to seek the truth and to knock on the door of heaven, that is to respond in faith to the Gospel. This is the asking they did that Pentecost: what must we do to be saved? Peter didn’t leave their troubled consciences in despair; he told them plainly what to do. 38 Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Repent - turn from self-rule to submission to God; be baptized - be marked with the new covenant sign of inclusion among the people of God and receive the Holy Spirit. Receive, welcome, embrace the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of God who makes His home in the life of God’s people, dwelling in them so that they might grow in Christ. This salvation is so that God’s people may walk in obedience to His will. The Holy Spirit is still the indwelling gift of God for the Body of Christ here in the present.
So, today, we celebrate our common inheritance, the uncommon gift of the Holy Spirit, as an indwelling, constant reminder of God’s love and promise of our redemption, showing us the light of the Gospel.
He is the promised Comforter who strengthens us in our obedience to God. The glorious inheritance which the Patriarchs and Prophets longed to see (Hebrews 11); the miracle of our redemption in which the angels desire to comprehend (1 Peter 1:12). He has been given to us in the present. Indeed, All of God’s people can engage, meditate upon and enjoy the Holy Spirit’s work. Indeed, “the mystery that was hidden for ages and generations but is now revealed to His Saint.” (Colossians 1:26). The question for us on this Pentecost, what will we do with this great gift? What is our response to God’s grace to us in providing divine indwelling? This is precisely what God promises. Do we welcome the Holy Spirit’s work? Are we sensitive to sin? Do we quickly repent when we know of things that are displeasing to the Lord? On the other hand, are we grieving the Holy Spirit? Are we cherishing sin through disobedience, bitterness, unforgiveness? Are we vexing the third person of the Holy Trinity by refusing to repent? Refusing to turn from what we know is displeasing to Him?
As we celebrate the joy of Pentecost, let us commit to asking ourselves these questions. Let us do what St. Paul admonishes Timothy to do, to “stir up the gift which is in you”, the Holy Spirit. Let us repent and live in harmony with the Holy Spirit’s work. May God grant us the grace to do so. Amen.