Mark 1:4-11 / Acts 19:1-7

“The Real Thing”

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” 4Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— 7altogether there were about twelve of them. (Acts 19:1-7 NRSV)

That’s exactly why Pastors get nervous when other preachers, particularly those called “District Superintendents”, start poking around the churches they serve.  You Teachers know what I’m talking about. There is always that possibility that they’ll ask some question that will reveal a shortcoming in “the flock’s” understanding of an important theological concept.  It sounds innocent, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”  Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” translation from Greek to English provides focus and some clarity. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?  Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart?  Did he get inside you?”  Sounds to me like he’s talking about the difference between “knowing about” God and “knowing “God.  He’s asking about the difference between a faith of the head and a faith of the heart.  The Holy Spirit offers us a faith that comes from God living inside us.

“The Flock” gave the answer that makes every Pastor squirm, “No, we’ve never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  Luckily Apollos wasn’t there.  He’d gone across the gulf to Corinth (most likely for some important workshop on making disciples)  Paul had some kind of relationship with the people of Ephesus.  He visited them on one of his trips.  The letter titled “Ephesians” that made the canon of the New Testament has a footnote revealing the oldest manuscripts lacked the name “Ephesus” and suggest it was a circular letter meant for all the churches in the region.  Maybe Paul gathered the group and started their journey on “The Way” then Apollos came and stayed for a while.  An earlier reference to Apollos suggested that maybe he didn’t have all his story right.   Aquilla and Priscilla once had to take him aside to teach him some things about “The Way” he didn’t know.  Maybe he forgot the part about the Holy Spirit.  Maybe he was more a follower of John the Baptizer.  The Ephesians knew about John’s baptism.

Paul taught that John’s was a baptism of repentance in preparation for another who turned out to be Jesus.  It signified a changing lifestyle.  When asked what they should do, he told who ever had two coats to share with anyone who had none.  He told the tax collectors to collect no more than the amount prescribed and he told the Soldiers to not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations and to be satisfied with their wages. (Luke 3:10-14)

Those are the things people do to get ready for God’s presence.  When the presence (Jesus) comes the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.  I wish I could skip that part.  However, my prayers and questioning (and the Holy Spirit I think) this week revealed something that made sense to me.

If the Holy Spirit gives us the power to take God into our heart, to allow God to get inside us then we start seeing the world the way God sees the worlds.  The gospels tell several stories of people gaining sight when Jesus touched them, a sight which changed the way they saw things and the way they lived things.  Is it possible that speaking in tongues is speaking in ways that God would speak?  Could it maybe be that when we start talking about returning good for evil and turning the other cheek and the last being first and first being last and resurrection, the powers and principalities of the world hear it as gibberish, as nonsense, as foolishness as speaking in tongues?

If that’s the case then of course speaking in tongues and prophesy will become part of our lives.  It is the result of allowing Christ to become our Savior and Lord.  Have you ever envisioned what it means when we say that Jesus is our Lord?

I see old movies with Kings/Queens and Knights and such and the special ceremonies played out when a brave person was “Knighted”.  The one to be honored knelt before the King/Queen with no protection on their head while the Ruler brandished a sword over their head, finally touching his shoulder with the blade and naming them.  The whole thing was to symbolize the giving of one’s life to the Ruler who could decide, in a moment of complete power, to lop off the Knight’s head.  That’s what it means to claim that someone is your Lord.  Your life is no longer your own but belongs to your Lord.  You buy in to the Lord’s visions and hopes and loves and are protected by the Lord’s power and might.  The Holy Spirit is the carrier of God’s presence in us here and now.  It gives us God’s eyes and  God’s mouth and God’s heart.  Without it we know about God but we don’t really know God.

Today we take the opportunity to reaffirm the covenant we made with God at our baptism.  Some of us have already done that several times.  Perhaps the first was when we confirmed the faith into which we were baptized when our parents and the community of faith promised to show us God when we were infants.  And so…

On behalf of the whole church, I ask you:

Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?

According to the grace given you, will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world?

Then remember your baptism and be thankful.

The Holy Spirit work within you, that having been born through water and the Spirit your may live as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Amen.

(While we sang the last song [“Forever” during UpWords & “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” at The Celebration] everyone was invited to come to the baptismal fount, reach into the water and take a shell to remember their baptism, those not yet baptized were encouraged to talk with their pastor about that possibility)

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