Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 8 June 2025.
Juan Bautista Mayno (1581-1649): Pentecost (Source)
• First Reading: Acts 2: 1-21 (The Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost. Peter addresses the crowd)
• Second Reading: Romans 8: 14-17 (Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Not slaves, so that you live in fear again, but adoption to sonship: ‘Abba, Father.’)
• Gospel: John 14: 8-17, 25-27 (Jesus promises the Holy Spirit)
I think that most of us have had those moments when our lives seemed to be going in one direction but that there was a feeling that something else was going on.
That sense that the total otherness of the universe was making itself – Himself known to us: direct, personal and undeniable.
Maybe not very dramatic but a definite turn of events and perspectives. God was not just a good idea and a source of moral teaching but now was far more than that. And yes, each of us has our own story. Maybe not too much ‘Flash, bang, wallop’ but a deep and inner change.
God had – and has His own agenda for us: He certainly has His own voice. And we knew it.
Looking at the lessons about the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, we find that they were meeting together: praying, reflecting, renewing and strengthening relationships.
And then it happened: something wholly new but shared. Not just personal – although it definitely was that – but corporate as they experienced it together.
And they found that it was consistent in pointing to Jesus Christ and no-one else, nowhere else. This was a new sense of His direct and personal presence among them, almost as they had known Him before but now ascended, glorified, majestic.
And just as Jesus was the first fruit of those who have died, so the assembled disciples were now the first fruit of His resurrection.
Indeed, first fruit of His ascension as well since He was now visiting them in power and authority to proclaim His life and death and resurrection.
We may speak of the birthday of the church – yet that points us to the church rather than to the mission which defines its purpose. Without that mission then it becomes another well-meaning organization.
With that mission then it becomes the voice and heart of Jesus Christ in whatever place its members are present and are honouring Him in their lives and words and actions.
And yet, and yet and yet: just as Jesus was tempted so are we.
Jesus was tempted to avoid the cross and to take to all sorts of alternative strategies. So are we.
Feed the people – use the political system to gain and exercise and keep political power – entertain the people. Anything but the cross – or the message of forgiveness of sins. Anything but the call to repentance and faith. Anything that diverts us from that inner reflection on how our lives diverge from – and rebel against – the perfect love and will of God.
But the Holy Spirit was given so that the disciples of Jesus, in every age and continent, may focus on Him and His message.
For there is no other Name under heaven by which our sins and failures and rebellions may be recognised and set before God with the request that we may be set free from their attraction and hold over us. There is no other Name by which we may be forgiven and renewed. But it is a personal journey into those dark recesses of our souls and one which we would prefer to avoid.
And so the Holy Spirit has been given to the disciples of Jesus to lead them on this personal journey of faith as they also proclaim that this is the way in which God has reconciled us with Himself.
For this is the context in which the disciples of the Lord have been granted spiritual gifts and areas of serving, by which the gospel may be proclaimed and the life of the body of believers edified and enhanced.
The power of the Lord to equip the people of the Lord to do the work of the Lord. Seen this way, it makes complete sense.
So yes, as we look at the Beatitudes in Matthew’s gospel it is the agenda of God that matters most.
Those who know deep within, their need for God, far beyond any personal resources.
Those who mourn at the rebellion of the world and its coming judgment in the sight of God.
Those whose self-control is rooted in their submission to God.
Those whose hunger for righteousness is not a desire for political revenge by the powerless but a desire for the complete and total holiness of God in all transactions and relationships.
The merciful who perceive needs and move to meet them.
The purity of heart that sees all things through the lens of God and not their own emotions and appetites.
The peacemakers whose motives come from the total peace – the Shalom of God rather than surrenders forced onto the powerless.
And yes, it all adds up to opposition in the world which neither sees nor knows God.
But this is all in the purposes of God – to see the world as He sees it and to proclaim His mercy as He offers it.
This is where the Holy Spirit is consistent and unremitting in pointing us to Jesus – and to none other – for there is none other to point to in heaven or on earth or under the earth.
