June 8 sermon: Dangerous Assumptions

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be 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 tongues 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 their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs - we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'  (Acts 2:1-21)

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     Some people say that, as the title of a well known book suggests, everything they ever needed to know they learned in kindergarten. I'm not too sure about kindergarten, but I will say that a lot o the stuff I ever need to know, I learned from sitcoms on television – like a little bit of learning I picked up in this scene from a well-known sitcom of the 1970's. It's a short scene from "The Odd Couple," in which Felix and Oscar have been charged with ticket scalping. Felix has chosen to serve as their defense counsel, and he's about to question a witness:

You Tube Clip – The Odd Couple - “Assume”

     I don't think that anyone could ever have explained the dangers of making assumptions better than Felix Unger in that clip from “The Odd Couple.” In fact, it's very possible that on that first day of Pentecost so many centuries ago, Peter might have appreciated having Felix around. Some dramatic and amazing and even miraculous things were happening on that first day of Pentecost, as the Holy Spirit fell upon the followers of Jesus and signs appeared. Visions and sounds and strange speech. Nothing seemed normal, and as people are often tempted to do, some who were present and saw unusual things happening jumped to a quick conclusion based on nothing more than a dangerous assumption: Some people asked  “'What does this mean?'” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “'They have had too much wine.'” Like the young lady on the stand in the Odd Couple episode, many of those present chose to jump to a conclusion – and they based their conclusion on what's an all too common principle: rather than expecting the best, too often we choose to assume the worst. The early disciples of Jesus were acting in an unusual manner. For some the only explanation was that they were drunk. And in answer to those assumptions, Peter chose to become the defense attorney:  “Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you”

     I'm not sure, being here centuries later, that the particular events of the Day of Pentecost need to be explored that much. But I work on the principle that Scripture leads us to themes and ideas rather than to specifics, and that Scripture is about the spirit rather than the letter of what's written. For me, the point of the Day of Pentecost isn't that the disciples suddenly found themselves speaking in a variety of languages that people from scattered parts of the Empire could hear in their own language. That's interesting, but I really am not sure it's the point. The point is that there are signs of God's presence everywhere, and that it's too easy for us to dismiss them by making assumptions that whatever the sign is, it can't be from God. What happened in this story to lead people to false assumptions in the first place? Yes, it was the disciples of Jesus speaking in tongues. More to the point, though, it was that the people of God were acting in surprising ways – ways that shocked those around them. And the people who saw them chose to assume the worst. This couldn't be God – so they must have been drunk. It was an unfair assumption.  What was really happening was what would be written about later in Ephesians: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

     It still happens today. There are a lot of false and dangerous assumptions that get made about Christians. Some people “assume” that if you're a Christian you must be some dangerous religious fanatic – a “Jesus freak” to use the term that was coined in the 1960's. Others “assume” that you're going to beat them over the head with the Bible, because that's all Christians ever do, is beat people over the head with the Bible. Some people “assume” that all Christians are frauds and that Christian churches are scams who are just trying to take advantage of the gullible. Some people “assume” that Christians are stupid people who reject the teachings of science. Some “assume,” because of the scandals that have received so much publicity over the years, that all clergy are – well – dangerous and not to be trusted. Over the years, I've come across all of those assumptions that people make. And sometimes Christians make “assumptions” about other Christians as well. So, to use the example that came up on the first day of Pentecost, come Christians “assume” that if you don't speak in tongues you don't have the Holy Spirit, and other Christians “assume” that if you do speak in tongues you're just doing it for show and it isn't real. And Christians also make a lot of assumptions about those around them.

     In times past, some Christians “assumed” that slavery was a fine institution because, after all, they also “assumed” that blacks were inferior to whites. In a debate on emancipation in the US Congress during the Civil War, Fernando Wood – who had been the Mayor of New York – said “ The Almighty has fixed the distinction of the races; the Almighty has made the black man inferior, and sir, by no legislation, by no partisan success, by no revolution, by no military power, can you wipe out this distinction.” And there are a lot of other examples. There are Christians who “assume” that women are inferior to men. There are Christians who “assume” that AIDS is God's punishment against homosexuals. There are Christians who “assume” that poor people are to blame for their own plight because they're lazy. You know – they justify that with “the Lord helps those who help themselves,” ignoring the fact that those words aren't found in the Bible and that they contradict the basic message of the gospel, which is that the Lord helps those who CAN'T help themselves! If some people make false and dangerous assumptions about Christians, Christians do the same about those around them.

     But today is Pentecost. Today we celebrate the coming and the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And the desire of the Holy Spirit is that there be unity among God's people, and as it's written in Ephesians 4:3, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” The Holy Spirit seeks to bring people together; the dangerous assumptions we sometimes make keep us apart. What happened at Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit – by allowing the message to be heard in all the languages of the Empire – broke down all the divisions that had been created and all the negative assumption people made about whoever they considered “others.” The Holy Spirit broke down all the divisions of a huge multicultural and multilingual Empire so that the message could be heard by all. Then people began to rebuild those divisions with the “dangerous assumption” that the disciples were drunk and so the even could be ignored. But we should never ignore the work of the Holy Spirit. It seems to me that if there's one lesson to be learned from this story – it's that we should look for the presence of the Holy Spirit in everyone we encounter, and that rather than assuming the worst about those who are different from us, we should strive to expect the best from them – and to give the best of ourselves to them and to God!