“Speaking the Language of the Father in Peace and Unity”
The collective pride of man gathered all of his might and wisdom to construct an impressive tower reaching into heaven itself. And God noticed. “The Lord came down to see the city and tower which the sons of men had built.” This mighty work of humanity was about as noticeable as a child looking at a tiny bug on the ground. The sinful desire of man to be gods had gone far enough.
And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Many generations, a global flood and some time later man wanted to make a name for himself. They did not council with God, but with themselves. The separation of the Fall had reached a critical point as far as God was concerned, and He was going to do something about it. It was time to break the pride of man, again.
The children of man were united in their sin, so the Lord God in His infinite wisdom came down into the corrupted creation to confuse the language of man, and to scatter them across the face of the earth. No more could the fallen children of Adam be of one mind, one heart, and one voice. The future of humanity on earth would be filled with mistrust, lies, deceit, anger, hatred, murder and wars. It should be no wonder that we have communication problems yet today, husband against wife, parents against children, and everyone against authority.
Hard as we try, with the best of intentions, the efforts of man will not ever, ever unite the people of this earth. There are some who think we would have peace and harmony throughout the land if we just spoke the same language. English is becoming the universal language of business and politics, but do you want to know a secret? It won’t work. Don’t tell those people working for peace and harmony because those are good things to work for. What we don’t understand and cannot accept, is that the efforts of man cannot create unity. It is something which must come from outside of sin.
The Son of God came down from heaven to bring unity. Jesus was in fact unity itself. Did you hear it in our Gospel for today? He says whoever loves Him will be loved by the Father, AND they, the Father and the Son will “make Our home with him.” This is such a far cry from what they did with man at Babel, you have to be asking, “What happened?” “How could God make His home with me?” And “What does this mean?”
Blessed Dr. Luther offers us this understanding of what it means to have God dwelling in us, “Now, to have God dwelling with us here on earth means nothing else than that all we do, speak, think, and endure will be God pleasing, whether we eat, drink, work, rise up, go to bed, or pray, study, sing, or read; it will all be pleasing to Him. It might indeed be called a heavenly kingdom, if only grace were to reign in our hearts, and our eyes be wide open to believe it. When God dwells with a person, that individual becomes mightier than death, devil, hell, thunder and lightening, and all evil. That is not only a precious comfort but also a wondrous delight and glory.” (House Postils, Vol. 2, 181:10)
Jesus, the Son of God, entered creation to redeem it, to buy it back to Himself to bring words of life that unite! The price was higher than we could pay, so He paid it in divine blood. By His death on the cross for your sin, Jesus gives to you the peace from God because He comes in the name of the Father speaking the words of the Father, doing the Will of the Father.
For this peace to be understood, man needed to have the language of God, and that is what the Holy Spirit brings. He teaches and brings remembrance of the words of Jesus, which are the words of the Father. The Helper is in unity with the Father and the Son, for as the Son was sent in the name of the Father, so is the Spirit sent in the name of the Son. There are not three Gods but One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, perfect unity which makes their home in you. In the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer, the confusion and chaos of Babel is undone.
Through the words of our Epistle God tells us what He is doing. It is no coincidence that countries from all over the known world are recorded for us. These people are representatives of the work of God at the tower of Babel. Notice they don’t all hear in the same language as if the Holy Spirit enables them to understand the disciples’ language, but they each hear in his OWN language the word of God through the disciples.
This gift of the in-dwelling of God has been given to you in Holy Baptism. Christ is the head, and the Church is the body and Bride of Him. In her unity with Him, she gives birth to new believers through Baptism. She feeds her children with heavenly food in the Lord’s Supper. She cleanses and binds the wounds of her children in Holy Absolution, and through the Word she guides, nurtures and encourages them to believe and speak the language of God.
That is the miracle of Pentecost, speaking the language of God. His Word, given to us as a precious gift through His Bride the Church, Mother of all believers. As young children learn to speak the language of their parents by listening and repetition, so we learn by listening and repeating the sounds of our parents. At first they are mere sounds, which become words. In time the words gain meaning, and then they begin to express thoughts. Phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs come together to tell a story, the story of our salvation out of sin.
It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we, redeemed children of God can truly love one another. On our own we cannot understand the story of our salvation, but it is Christ in us. Husbands and wives cannot truly love one another or be united apart from Christ. It is the same with children and parents, because apart from Christ, we are our own little gods. But because true love and unity dwells in us and speaks through us, a believer loves and communicates in a way unbelievers cannot. You learn this from your Mother the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church through her songs, her prayers, and her liturgy.
Yes, tonight we celebrate a miracle and blessing of believers, children of God speaking the language of the Church that is the language of the Holy Spirit. Which is the language of the Son that is the language of the Father. So you see, when we speak the language of the Church, we are speaking the language of the Father in peace and unity. Thanks be to God!
Amen.
