PENETCOST C, May 30, 2004

There are two accounts of the coming of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The one, the more famous one, is the account form the Acts of the Apostles we just heard. The disciples are gathered in that upper room, hiding out, afraid that the Jewish authorities were going to come and get them and arrest them, and maybe even do to them what they did to Jesus. They just did not know for sure. To be sure, Jesus had told them to go back to that room and wait for the Holy Spirit to come and then they would know what to do.

But the truth is, they really did not know what Jesus was talking about. They had not experienced the Holy Spirit. They did not know the Holy Spirit. They knew God the Father. And they knew Jesus and believed Jesus was God’s Son even though could not explain that relationship to anyone, even to themselves. Jesus told them that he and the Father were one, and they believed that. But, again, try to explain that. As for the Holy Spirit, well, they really were not sure what Jesus was talking about.

But they found out, and, according to Luke who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, they found out in a big way, a very dramatic way. A tornado-like wind swept through that upper room where they were and almost swept them off their feet. Tongues like fire rested on each one of them and they were overcome with a feeling they could not describe even if they tried. Then all of a sudden they started to speak in languages they did not know or understand but some of the people who heard them speak surely did.

We know the rest of the story: about how those disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, went out to try to convert the world. We read the rest of the Acts of the Apostles and learn how the church grew as the Holy Spirit worked in and through this band of believers. And we know from our own lives how the Holy Spirit lives and works through us. However, none of us has ever seen tongues of fire. None of us has ever spoken in languages we did not understand but those hearing us did. None of that has ever happened to any one of us has it? So, can we say that the Holy Spirit really lives in us as it did in those men and women gathered in that upper room way back then?

Well, yes, which is where the second account of the coming of the Holy Spirit comes into play, especially for you and for me. That account is found at the end of John’s Gospel. It happens right after Jesus' resurrection when he suddenly appears in that same upper room where the disciples are gathered, again, in fear of their very lives. According to John, Jesus said to them, “’Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’”

No tornado-like wind, no tongues of fire, no foreign languages: just a breath from the Son of God. Perhaps they did not even feel that breath. Perhaps they felt nothing at all. Perhaps they even wondered what Jesus was talking about anyway. Perhaps it was only later on, after Jesus had finally left them, left them for good and ascended to the Father, perhaps it was only then that they began to feel the effects of the Holy Spirit.

We have two different accounts of the coming of the Holy Spirit, two widely different accounts. The first is dramatic, the second is matter-of-fact. The first is exciting, moving; the second is rather dull and boring. The second we can relate to in our personal lives; the first we cannot. Perhaps our life of faith might be a lot easier if we had seen the Holy Spirit descend on us sometime in our life, perhaps at our confirmation. Perhaps we would be more certain of our faith had we felt the presence of the Holy Spirit inside us, almost consuming us. But we hardly felt anything at all.

But the truth is, I’ll take John’s version over Luke’s version any time. The further truth is that I think John has it right, at least as far as my life is concerned. The Holy Spirit does not overwhelm, does not sweep me or anyone else I know off our feet. The Holy Spirit works sort of insidiously inside us. The Spirit sort of breathes as we breath, if you will. The Spirit is a calm presence in our lives and a calming presence in the world.

Yes, there are times when I would like the Holy Spirit to sweep down and over and right through each and every one of us infusing us with God’s wisdom and knowledge and love. But that is not how the Holy Spirit usually works, as I think is made evident in what John says Jesus said as Jesus breathed on each of those disciples. Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

I dare say that it is easier to speak in tongues than it is to forgive someone who has sinned against us, who has deliberately hurt us. The most difficult task we have as a Christian is to forgive others. The only way we can do that, Jesus knew, was in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. For left on our own, to our own desires and devises, we would not forgive easily or readily. We would not. I am convinced that it is only in and through the power of the Holy Spirit that you and I can summon up the faith and the will and the courage to forgive those we truly do not want to forgive.

Look at the history of the world. Look at our world today. We would rather go to war than forgive someone who has offended us. We would rather hurt another and risk hurting ourselves in the process than quietly lay aside any need to avenge the hurt we have received. And we have. But peace, true peace, begins with forgiveness. If we cannot forgive another, we will never be able to live in peace with the other, be that other a person, a nation or a world.

Sometimes we think we cannot forgive. Perhaps the greater problem is that we do not want to forgive. And, of course, we feel justified in this unwillingness. All we have to do is tally up the pain and hurt the other has inflicted and anyone with any sense would agree with us. And that is true. How can anyone change if bad deeds are left unpunished? How do we expect people to become better if they do not suffer for their sinfulness? Can forgiveness and love alone change another?

Well, Jesus obviously thought so. That is why he gave us the Holy Spirit, to give us the grace and strength and courage to at least try. Jesus still breathes on us, in us, through us in the Holy Spirit. We, too, can breath on others the breath of love and forgiveness. If forgiveness does not begin with us, where will it begin? When will it begin? Jesus says to us today in no less a way as he said it to those first disciples: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

We can retain the sins of others. We can be unforgiving. We can demand punishment. We can even inflict punishment. We have that right, that ability, even that authority. Or, in the power of the Holy Spirit we can forgive. What will we do? What will we do?