Scripture: John 20:19-23; Jeremiah 29:11; Acts 17:28 Series: 2023
A Pentecost sermon on John 20:19-23 arguing that the Holy Spirit is not a ‘God of the gaps’ answer to unanswerable questions (a deist, Unitarian distortion) but the transformative power of mercy, the love between Father and Son sent to be Advocate and Comforter. Wilson contrasts thinking deeply about God with treating church as a feel-good boost, and urges hearers to ‘receive the Holy Spirit’ by saying yes to God, mercy, and growth. Jeremiah 29:11, read in its harsh exile context, shows God is faithful within brokenness rather than denying pain. The sermon closes with a benediction and prayer to receive and offer the power of mercy.
Illustrations: aquinas-faithful-old-woman, engineer-wont-think-at-church, god-of-the-gaps-science, car-wreck-unscathed, jeremiah-29-11-exile-context, peter-preaching-pentecost
May 28, 2023
Pentecost
It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.” John 20:19-23
How do you explain God? This seems like it would be my job, and I will get to it in a way. But I want to start by thinking about how you would answer that question. It is not a trick question. If we don’t know how to talk about God, what is anybody doing here. I mean, this isn’t a quiz. The Christian faith is not a series of exams leading to eternal approval from God.
The great theologian, Thomas Aquinas, said that all of his written theology (which is vast) was just an attempt to write down what the faithful old woman already knows in her heart. I think that that is as true today as 800 years ago. There is no reward in heaven for the person who reads the most books, but there is a way that Christians can use that as a cop out to avoid thinking deeply about God.
Some folks have high stakes careers in engineering or business or another highly complicated field, and then they go to church and don’t want to think too hard. Thinking seems like work and we don’t come to church to work. Gonna get a boost of feeling good on Sunday morning and then go back to thinking during the week, keeping track of our finances, my golf game, plans for the future, etc. If you love someone, you think about them. Your partner. Your children. Your friends.
And yet, if we don’t want to think about God now, why would we ever want to spend time with God in eternity?
How do you explain God?
One of the ways that God became discussed during the rise of modern science, in the 16th and 17th century, was a filler of the gaps of our knowledge. New observational techniques were able to discern certain movements in the stars and the planets and the clouds, and God would explain everything else that couldn’t be explained by those techniques. This became known as the God of the gaps theory. I’ve heard this very thought described today by well-intentioned people. God is the answer to tough questions. As well, when anyone has a tough question for God, you can just throw your hands up and say, “It’s a mystery!”
The God of the gaps is the foundation of deism, not Christianity. It is about God as this divine power, not the word made flesh, not the Holy Spirit, present with us. God is this impersonal divine power that can kind of explain things when something good happens that you otherwise could not explain. You get in a car wreck and you walk away unscathed, so you give credit to God because you don’t have any other reason.
It is deist. It is Unitarian. It is not Trinitarian. It is not about Jesus Christ, and it is especially not about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an answer to the questions we don’t know.
The Holy Spirit is the presence and assurance and grace and mercy that connects us to God and to each other. This connection to God is also God. After the resurrection, Jesus said he was going to send the Holy Spirit. There’s a procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son. Jesus is the Message from God the Father. The Spirit is the Messenger, and all three are God equally.
The Apostle John calls the Spirit, the Advocate and the Comforter. These are two powerful qualities. The Advocate speaks for us, the Comforter speaks to us. It can be easy to fall into this tempting idea that the Holy Spirit and God fill in the gaps of our experience in a passive way, but this is not who the Spirit is in the Bible. The Holy Spirit offers power, not explanations. Power in mercy, not power in control. Power in mercy. It’s a transformative power, not a passive power. On this Pentecost Sunday, we need to remember that this power is here offering mercy. God is offering you power. This is what Jesus sends us at Pentecost. The power of mercy. Mercy is transformational. Forgiving someone truly changes you. Truly receiving forgiveness changes you. It doesn’t just answer questions. It brings about new questions. Who am I? How should I live? What should I do?
When we pray for the Holy Spirit to come, it changes the status quo of our lives. When Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, it changes the status quo of his followers. They will not look the same. God doesn’t just answer our questions. God shapes us into asking new questions, into living new lives continually. The Christian faith is not a completed thing. God meets you where you are but God doesn’t leave you there. The people in the upper room that night with Jesus had heard his message before, but they received the Holy Spirit and they were different. At Pentecost, Peter preached on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many had heard the message before, but they were transformed by the Spirit.
Many of you may have heard the message of Jesus before. This phrase, Holy Spirit, might be familiar to you. You might have some kind of cognitive understanding of what the Holy Spirit means. You may connect to it. There may be stories you heard as a child, or you may be from traditions of the church that talk more of spiritual gifts. But don’t you want to go deeper? Why be satisfied with the surface of the heart of the faith? Why stand outside the temple when the Holy of Holies has been opened up for us? The Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son sent to us to be with us. God is with us. The love of God is not so distant as to be un unknown or unknowable to us. The Spirit is moving and present, conveniently present, offering life. Jesus says, receive the Holy Spirit. We have been given the authority to receive the Holy Spirit. Receive it, take it. Receive the power. God, remember that God is not just about making you feel good, but transforming you into who you need to be.
What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit? Say yes to God. Say yes to mercy. Say yes to growth. Say yes to stepping out in faith. Say yes to God because God has said yes to you.
So we come back to this question of how to talk about God. To speak about God as a Christian is not to speak of God as a filler of gaps or a divine wish-maker, but as Paul says, the source in whom we live and move and have our being. God is not really big and really far away, but present with us as the Comforter, for us as the Advocate.
A Bible verse that brings a lot of comfort to a lot of people is Jeremiah 29:11. It’s a great verse: for I know the plans I have for youth as the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm. It is a beautiful verse that is found in a really hard and challenging part of the Bible. Jeremiah is a prophet of exile. Jeremiah tells the people of Israel, the people of Judah, that the exile is coming because they have disobeyed God. He tells them that they are about to suffer because they have disobeyed God. It is a hard book to read. Jeremiah 29 is not the end of the book. The prophet doesn’t offer this verse and then ride off into the sunset. It is in the middle of things. Worst things happen after. Jeremiah 30 talks about all the tears and pain that is going to happen. But what Jeremiah 29:11 points to is that God is faithful in the midst of the brokenness of this world. The faithfulness of God is not found in denying pain and suffering. Oh no. We see that especially in the cross. Jesus came not to deny pain and death, but to defeat it. And not just for a moment, but for all time. We live now in the in-between, between his resurrection and coming again. Death has been defeated, but the game is not up. This is why the Holy Spirit was sent to be our advocate and to be our comforter, to be God with us and for us. God is not just the answer to a question, but the presence in which we move and live and have our being. The Holy Spirit is not just an answer to a question, but the giver of the power of mercy, the full presence of God for us. This Pentecost Sunday. May you receive the power of mercy. May you be unafraid of mercy. May you offer mercy. May you hold close to the God who holds close to you.
Let us pray, Heavenly Father, you sent your spirit not just to be with us but to empower us. May we receive your spirit. May we receive your power. May we offer mercy to our neighbors. May we offer mercy to our friends and former friends. May we offer mercy to those who have hurt us. May we offer mercy to ourselves. In the name of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. Amen.