The First Sermon – May 30, 2021, Trinity Sunday

Psalm 29, Acts 2:22-42
May 30, 2021

The Disciples couldn’t have begun to imagine what was about to happen!  And neither, I think, could the people who witnessed it!  As I read last week from the beginning of Acts 2, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind.”  I believe that sound was heard throughout the city.  I never thought about that before.  But that was why the people came together.  That’s what Luke tells us.  “At this sound, the people came together.”

And notice, it does not say, “A mighty wind came from heaven.”  It says it was “the sound of a mighty wind.”  That was how Luke described it.  It was some kind of loud roar, a miraculous, supernatural sound that was heard throughout the city and startled everyone!  And they all came rushing out.  And they gathered together, and then they heard the voices of all the disciples speaking in all their languages!  That was the scene.  Maybe you can picture that.

Imagine people coming out and gathering in the streets after some powerful natural event, like an earthquake or a tornado.  Maybe you’ve seen that kind of thing on the news.  And imagine what it would be like if what took place was something completely unknown!  People know what an earthquake is.  They know what a tornado is.  Imagine them looking around at each other, not knowing what was going on, everybody talking with one another, and asking questions.  “What just happened?”  “Has anybody seen anything like this before?”

It says in our reading from last week that “They were bewildered.”  “How is it,” they asked, “that we hear these people speaking, each in our own language?”  And then Luke gives us the list of all these places the people were from – a list that has been the bane of lay readers ever since!  I rattled them off pretty quickly last week!  Except that I stumbled on the word “Asia,” which is probably the easiest word in the list!

So the people were bewildered.  They were dumbfounded.  And somebody had to explain things.  And that somebody was the “obvious somebody.”  It was Peter.  And so Peter stood up and addressed the crowd.  And what follows is what has come to be known as the very first Christian sermon.

I’d like us to think about Peter’s words today.  And remember that this is Trinity Sunday, the day we celebrate the “Trinity.”  And “Trinity” is a word that does not actually appear in the Bible, anywhere.  But, as a way of describing God, it’s found everywhere.  And it’s here – in this first Sermon.  And yes, this is a sermon about a sermon!

The first thing Peter told them, is that this was God’s doing.  It wasn’t people going crazy in some way.  It wasn’t people who were drunk, as some said.  It was God’s doing!  And then Peter cracked the first joke in the first sermon.  “These people are not drunk,” he said, “It’s only 9:00 in the morning!” No!  “This is God’s doing.”  In fact, “this is what was spoken of in the prophecy of Joel.”  And he quoted Joel – on the spot!  Which is pretty amazing!  “In the last days God will pour out his Spirit on all people.”  This was a miracle of God they were witnessing.  And it was something big!

That’s the first thing they needed to know.  The second thing he told them was that “it’s about Jesus.”  Oh yes, it’s about Jesus, again.  Jesus had caused so much excitement and controversy in recent months.  He had drawn huge crowds.  He had performed miracles.  But now he was gone.  That part of the story was over.

But it wasn’t over, Peter told them!  Yes, Jesus was executed – which many, or most of them knew.  But now, he was back!  He had been raised from the dead.  And he was now “exalted at the right hand of God.”  That was an amazing claim!  We know it because we’ve heard it all our lives.  We’ve said it countless times in our creed.  These people were hearing it for the first time.  And many of them had been part of the story of Jesus in recent years.  Can we even imagine what they thought now?

The third thing he told them was about this event – this miracle they had just witnessed.  This was the promise that had come “from the Father.”  It was the promise of the Holy Spirit.  “And he has poured out this, which you see and hear.”  This event, the sound, the fire, the good news in many languages, this was a miracle of the God the Father. And it was only the beginning!  It was only the beginning of this new way the Holy Spirit would now be working in the world!

So, this is the power of God the Father that they witnessed.  It was about Jesus the Son who was raised and is exalted.  And it was the promise of the Holy Spirit.  So, this first Sermon is a Trinitarian Sermon!  Father, Son, Spirit!  So happy Trinity Sunday!

And once again, we know of these things!  But it was all new to these people!  They needed to have this specific explanation!  Because I’m sure this all seemed “fantastic” to them.  Fantastic meaning incredible, but also fantastic meaning “fantasy-like.”  Could this really be true?  Well, the evidence was right before their eyes.  They had heard the sound and witnessed the disciples speaking in all the languages “under heaven.”

But this was, in the end, a sermon.  This wasn’t just a lecture.  It wasn’t just a history or a theology lesson.  It wasn’t just an explanation of what happened.  It was a sermon.  And as such, it elicited a response.  A sermon should always have a response, something the people are being called to do.  (Otherwise, it is just a lecture or a history or theology lesson!)  And that’s just what they asked in response to Peter.  “Brethren, what shall we do?”

In this case, the answer was, “Repent and be baptized.”  And they did just that.  And think about it!  There were 3,000 baptisms that day!  What did that look like?  And of course, that was only the beginning.  It was the beginning of the long history of the Church, as we know it.  It was the “Birthday of the Church,” as we remembered last week.

So, what is our response?  I think part of it is hearing this story again, the story of our beginnings.  It is remembering from whence we have come!  And it is renewing our pledge to live in the love and joy of the Lord.  That’s what he wants.  That’s what he came to this earth to tell us.  And that’s so easy to forget isn’t it?  This life has it’s struggles, from our own personal struggles, to global pandemic kinds of struggles.  And it’s easy to get lost in the struggle, and the grief, and the turmoil, and to forget the joy of the Lord.

Let that be our response.  To remember that we are part of this great movement here on earth called “The Church!”  It is the most influential movement in history.  Nothing else even comes close in comparison!  And let our response be to remember what we have been called to do.  To live in the power of God the Father, to remember the love and sacrifice of Jesus the Son, and to know the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  One God in three persons.  And may we live to show those things to the world.

Prayer

Eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, help us to know of your presence in our lives, and help us to respond to your call.  Help us to know the peace and joy and hope that only you can give.  And help us to live the lives you would have us live.  For these things we pray Jesus’ name, Amen.