Necessary Roughness

One of the most profound theological insights I have ever heard, I heard at Memorial in Houston more than a year ago. I had seen an African pastor employed by the Texas District frequently on the campus, and I feel terrible that I cannot remember his name.

On one of the few Sundays where I was actually in Houston over the weekend, he preached. His dialect made him hard to understand at times, but in his sermon he said something to the effect of:

How do we know when the Holy Spirit is at work? Turn on the television, and you may hear a preacher cast out demons or heal people in the name of the Holy Spirit! But this is not the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit always points to Christ. The Holy Spirit never talks about himself. Where Christ is preached, there the Holy Spirit is at work.

The greatest miracle of Pentecost is not that flames appeared on everyone’s head, nor the provided universal translation. The greatest miracle that day was that Peter accused these “lawless men” that they killed Jesus, and yet three thousand people were baptized in the name of Jesus.

We don’t see the tongues of flame or multitudes bewildered that they understood a Galilean any more. That’s OK. The important miracle still remains, that people who cannot stop sinning and believe in Jesus on their own are called, gathered, enlightened, sanctified and kept in the true faith. The Holy Spirit enables us to believe, contrary to tales of karma or angelic scribes on our shoulder, that whoever repents and is baptized for the forgiveness of sins will be saved. He does this through the preaching of the Word and the gifts of his sacraments.

Personally, I’ll take that miracle over fire on my head any day. Happy Pentecost.