Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost

LISTEN (coming soon)

Jesu Juva

“From Jesus’ Heart to Yours”

Text: John 7:37-39; Acts 2:1-21; Introit

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

What the prophet Joel proclaimed and Jesus promised has now been fulfilled. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured out in fullness upon the Church.

We heard Joel’s prophecy today from Peter’s preaching in the reading from Acts, that in the last days, God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh. 

And the past few weeks we have heard Jesus’ promises. When He had promised His disciples a Helper, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who He would send them from the Father (John 14:26; 15:26). And when right before He ascended, as we heard just last week, He told them they would be clothed with power from on high. And then He instructed them to stay in the city until that happened (Luke 24:49).

And today we heard when it did. The Day of Pentecost. Jews from all over the world had gathered to celebrate the Feast. A Pentecost feast, it turns out, unlike any other. For just as Jesus had transformed the great Feast of the Passover, filling it with new meaning, with Himself as the new Passover Lamb, and with a new deliverance - not from the slavery of Egypt but our slavery to sin - so now He transforms the great Feast of Pentecost, from the beginning of the wheat harvest to the beginning of the harvest of souls, with the work of the Holy Spirit. 

And so led by the Holy Spirit, and empowered with the Holy Spirit, the disciples would now go out to all the world to proclaim Jesus as Saviour and Lord. To proclaim the promise, that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. A calling upon made possible by that same Holy Spirit working faith in hearts through the Word. Working faith in Jesus crucified, risen, ascended, victorious, and reigning as the one true God.

That is to say, Jesus glorified. For our faith is not just in a mighty God, a sovereign God, a transcendent God, but in a dying God. A God whose glory is not just to be mighty, sovereign, and transcendent, but whose glory is to lay down His life to save the world. That’s why many couldn’t figure Jesus out. They expected big and powerful Messiah, not Jesus. They expected their Messiah to smite their enemies, not be smote, crucified, by them! So Jesus . . . He can’t be. 

So the people were thirsty. Thirsty for life, thirsty for God, thirsty for hope. The same ol’ same, ol’ was, well . . . the same ol’, same ol’! Day after day, year after year, nothing was changing. And if it was, it wasn’t for the better. The glory days of Israel . . . they wanted them back! The days of Kings David and Solomon, the days of peace and prosperity, they were a long time ago. Hard to imagine them ever coming back.

And it’s really the same today. Today, too, people are thirsty for life, thirsty for God, thirsty for hope. We’re chasing after life and hope but instead of finding them, we just get more thirsty. And tired. Nothing seems to change. Or if it does, not for the better. The internet came with such promise . . . until it got filled with pornography, and scammers and phishing schemes and trolls and misinformation and influencers and algorithms to addict us to it. AI, too. What’s real? What’s not? How do you know? Who’s informing it? How is it taking over? So maybe you, too, long for the good ol’ days - thirst for the good ol’ days! - when things were simpler, safer, saner. And for the glory days of the Church - a church filled with people, and when the Church had influence in our society. Days that are probably not coming back. 

Thirsty. That’s a pretty good description of our world, isn’t it? In so many ways you can picture the devil offering us a drink, then pulling it back. Here’s a drink! Or, there’s a drink! But never actually giving it to us. Or if he does, giving an empty cup. And then filled with evil glee at the confusion and pain and captivity and emptiness he lures us into.

But Jesus promises a drink. As we heard today, Jesus says If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. I will give you what the world cannot. I will give you what the devil will not. 

And is Jesus able to do that? Well, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Rivers of water that give life - the life and hope we are thirsty for. 

And what is this water? This he said about the Spirit. For the Spirit gives what no one else can - what we need, what we are thirsty for: the gifts of God won for us by Jesus on the cross. 

And so the cross had to come first. For as yet the Spirit had not been given, [like this] because Jesus was not yet glorified. 

Now, the Spirit had been active and working before. He is mentioned often in the Old Testament - from creation to the prophets to overshadowing Mary when Jesus was conceived in her virgin womb. But He had not before been poured out like this. This was new. This was different. Because Jesus had now been glorified in being hung up on the cross. For there, on the cross, in a way like no other, we see the love of God and the glory of God, in all that He would use His might and sovereignty to do for us. And so from there also the Spirit is poured out for us in a way like no other. 

For when Jesus was crucified, we are told that when one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, at once there came out blood and water (John 19:34). Now surely there are physical, medical reasons for that, bit this is not merely a physical report being giving to us - there is also the spiritual meaning for that. That out of Jesus’ side, out of Jesus’ heart - His heart filled with great love for us in laying down His life for us - out of that heart pours the blood of the altar and the water of the font. The very places our hunger and thirst are satisfied. No bait and switch here! No offering and pulling back. Just gifts. The gifts we need. The gifts we can find no where else. The gifts that from the Spirit flow (LSB #498 v. 7). The Spirit poured out from and by Christ crucified.

So what are you thirsting for? Forgiveness, meaning, value, purpose, life, hope, love, peace? The world cannot give these things. Or if it does, only in the smallest measure. And usually only for the shortest time. Until it decides not to. Until it’s standards change, or it’s opinions change, or your usefulness to them ends. And they pull back the cup . . . and you are left thirsty.

But not so with Jesus. From Him comes that river of living water that never runs out. The Spirit poured out to fill us with the forgiveness, life, hope, love and peace of God, and to give our lives meaning and purpose and value. Because if Jesus would lay down His life for you, it was to raise you up as He was raised up, to a new and eternal life. A life you have already begun to live in Him.

Because you have received His Spirit. The pouring out of the Spirit that began on that Pentecost continues still today. The sound of the mighty rushing wind replaced by the voice of those who speak the Word, and the mark of the tongues as of fire replaced by the mark of the cross applied in the water of Baptism. But though the signs change, it is the same Spirit, bringing Jesus and His gifts to you, and you to Jesus. That all you need, all you are thirsting for, you have. 

So if you find yourself still thirsty, still empty, still searching, hounded by sin, tormented with doubts and fears, striving for acceptance, chasing after meaning, what are you trying to satisfy your thirsting and hungering and searching with? Is it with what the world is offering? Where the thoughts and opinions of men are telling you it is? Is it constantly changing? Does the bar keep moving? Are you striving harder and harder but only getting more thirsty, more hungry, and less hopeful, and less peace? 

If so, and I think that happens to all of us from time to time - or maybe a lot of the time! - maybe it’s time for a change; time to be transformed. From the old, to the new. That with Jesus’ new Passover and new Pentecost, there is a new you. In the world but not of the world or filled with the world. In the world but filled with Jesus and His Spirit and His gifts, that you hunger and thirst no more. But when you do, come back and drink deeply of His Word and forgiveness, and eat and drink Jesus’ Body and Blood. And be filled with His life - which has no end.

When Jesus spoke those words we heard from Him today, John told us it was the last day of the feast, the great day. But when Jesus returns for us on the Last Day, the great day, it will not be the last day of our feast, but just the beginning of the Feast! The Feast of heaven. The marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom was has no end. Where, as the book of Revelation tells us (7:16-17), in words very similar to those we heard today . . .

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; . . .
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

No more hunger. No more thirst. Just Jesus. Just life. Life without end. That’s what the Day of Pentecost is all about. Not weird signs and wonders! But this new life. Begun now. And with no end. 

So on this day, we who are thirsty pray: Come, Holy Spirit! Come from the heart of Jesus and fill the hearts of the faithful. Fill us! That from our hearts, too, flow rivers of living water. That filled with You and Your life, that from our hearts and lives, all we think and speak and do, be filled with the Spirit of God. New lives filled with faith and hope and love. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Congregation at Prayer

For the Week of the Feast of Pentecost (May 25-30, 2026)

Invocation: In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Speak the Apostles’ Creed. 

Verse: Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #604 “I Bind unto Myself Today”

Hymns for Sunday: 500, 604, 621, 504, 507, 954, 578

Readings for the Week: [The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the Scriptures for this coming Sunday.]

Monday: John 3:16–21

Why did God give His only Son? Why did we need Him to? What do we do without Him? What can we do with Him?

Tuesday: Isaiah 32:14–20

What will happen when the Spirit is poured out? What had gone wrong that will be set right? What can we look forward to?

Wednesday: Romans 12:9–16

How can we possibly do all these things? Who did live this way? Does this kind of life start with us or is it given to us? How?

Thursday: Genesis 1:1—2:4a

How did God create? What does this teach us about God? What was created last? Why? What does this teach us?

Friday: Acts 2:14a, 22–36

How does Peter preach Jesus? What does He say about Him? How was everything God did purposeful? Is this still true today?

Saturday: Matthew 28:16–20

What was given to Jesus? What did Jesus want His disciples to give? What promise did He also give them? Why?

The Catechism - The Creed: The Second Article [part 2]: And [I believe] in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary . . . What does this mean? I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord, . . .

Collect for the Week: Almighty and everlasting God, You have given us grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity by the confession of a true faith and to worship the Unity in the power of the Divine Majesty. Keep us steadfast in this faith and defend us from all adversities; for You, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregation’s Building Committee.

+ the Lutheran Church in the Philippines, for God’s wisdom, blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, guidance, wisdom, and provision for the Siberian Lutheran Mission Society.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Collect for the Week © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.

Lutheran Service Book Hymn License: 110019268

Sermon for the Ascension of Our Lord

Note: Since I had to be out of town on Ascension Day, rather than skipping this Feast Day, we decided to observe it on this Sunday, in place of the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Not our regular practice! But rather than missing it altogether, this seemed preferable.

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Next Level Christ, Next Level Christians”

Text: Luke 24:44-53; Ephesians 1:15-23; Acts 1:1-11

 

Alleluia! Christ is ascended! [He is ascended indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

When Jesus was in Jerusalem, He was not in Galilee. When He was talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, He was not preaching to the folks in Nazareth. When Jesus fed the 5,000 in Galilee, He was not healing in Judea. When He was asleep in the boat while His disciples were battling a stormy sea, Jesus was not in the Garden of Gethsemane. Duh, Pastor! A person can only be in one place at a time. 

But what if He could? What if Jesus could be preaching here and in other churches at the same time? Feeding here and in the Dominican Republic? Baptizing here and in Ethiopia? Forgiving you here as well as a poor, lost sinner in India? That would be something, wouldn’t it? And not by cloning Jesus, so there would be lots of Jesuses everywhere. But the one and only Jesus, God’s only-begotten Son, here, there, and everywhere, all at the same time. That would be next level. Something greater than God’s glory filling the Tabernacle and Temple. Greater than Jesus eating and hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. The same Jesus, but more. 

Well that’s exactly what we’re celebrating this day. This is exactly what the ascension of Jesus has done. Taken Jesus to the next level.

For Jesus’ ascension is not a spatial thing. That’s usually how we think of the Ascension. We’re down here and Jesus is now up there, in heaven, a place far, far away, looking down on us. We think of Jesus’ ascension like letting go a balloon filled with helium and watching it go up and disappear from our sight. It used to be here. Now it’s not. It’s gone. He’s gone. And we think that way because of our creaturely limitations. That must be how it is because that’s how it is with us. If I ascend to the fifth floor of my hotel, I am no longer on the first floor. Duh.

But that’s not what the ascension of Jesus is, or means. For while Jesus once humbled Himself, limited Himself in that way, living with us as one of us, going through everything we go through - hunger, thirst, betrayal, persecution, death - His resurrection changed that. No longer humbled but now glorified, no longer limited but now exalted, having passed through death to life again, things are different now. Next level. 

And we see this already the night of Jesus’ resurrection. The disciples are gathered together in a room with all the doors and windows locked, and Jesus appears to them. He doesn’t pick the lock on the door or climb in through the window, He just appears to them. Just as the Romans made the tomb as secure as they could but couldn’t keep Jesus in, so the disciples made that room as secure as they could but couldn’t keep Jesus out. He is with them. And not just as a spirit, but flesh and blood Jesus, with a body they could touch. And while we’re not told how Jesus left . . . maybe it was the same way He appeared. He just did. Just disappeared from their sight. That’s what happened to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, after all. Once Jesus opened their eyes and they realized it was Jesus who was with them and teaching them, we are told he vanished from their sight (Luke 24:31). 

For after the resurrection, it is no longer about Jesus coming and going, but Jesus appearing and then disappearing. From time to time assuring the disciples that He’s there, that’s He’s with them, that’s He’s not gone. Things are just different now. Greater. Next level. 

And now with His ascension, it’s not that Jesus is leaving. In fact, in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ ascension, Jesus says exactly that! He tells His disciples: Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). So He’s not leaving. It’s just that from now on, they will not see Him anymore. No more appearances. 

Which it seems the disciples understood. That though now unseen, Jesus was not gone. If we go back to the balloon example for a moment . . . you know what I’ve never seen? A child happy when their balloon flies away! No, they’re sad! They’re crying! It’s gone. Mom, get me another! I’ll be more careful next time. But the disciples were happy. We heard today that when Jesus ascended, when He disappeared from their sight, the disciples worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They knew this was a good thing; good news. That wherever they were, wherever they went, in prison, in Jerusalem, or in Rome, the resurrected Jesus was with them. That Jesus wasn’t gone, but actually, quite the opposite! He was now with them as never before. Next level Jesus. Triumphant, glorified, exalted Jesus. 

And with that, the disciples are changed. They don’t cower in fear anymore. They confess Jesus before the authorities. They rejoice when they are beaten. Life wasn’t easy for them. Not at all! But with Jesus’ ascension, they, too, were changed. They, too, became next level. Not supermen - they still sinned; they still messed up. But they began living as if they, too, had won. As if they, too, had gone from death to life. Because they had. What Jesus did, He did for them. What Jesus did, He gave to them. Forgiveness for their sins, faith for their fears, life for their death. 

And these gifts they would now go and give to the world. And Jesus promised them that what they did, He would be doing. And what they gave, He would be giving. Just as He had been working before, so Jesus would be working now, only now through them, through His Church. He would no longer be seen, but they would. His Church would. 

And so through them, Jesus would be preaching in every pulpit that faithfully proclaims His Word. And baptizing at every font that baptizes according to His command. And forgiving with every Absolution of His spoken. And feeding with His Body and Blood at every altar rightly confessing this reality. No longer in one place only, but in all places where His Word and Sacraments are; where his gifts are given; where He has promised to be. That what changed the disciples change us, too. That their confidence be our confidence.

Confidence even though we cannot see. Even though what we see seems like the world going to hell in a hand basket. And a Church that isn’t far behind. A Church wracked by scandal, shattered into a countless number of denominations, and in many places compromising with a sinful world for the porridge of popularity. And we see this . . . and it seems that Jesus really is far, far away in heaven and not here, not helping them and not helping me. Not helping me when I really, really need Him here with me. In my troubles, in my sickness, in my broken marriage, in my feuding family, in my sadness and sin. Hard to be confident when that’s what we see! When that’s what’s happening to us.

But the thing to remember is that when Jesus was here and seen, things didn’t look much better! He was opposed and persecuted, looked despised and weak, was surrounded by undesirables, scorned by the elite, and finally crucified as a common criminal. His disciples fought with one another, wanted places of greatness, and fell asleep on the job. Some kept trying to drag Jesus into politics and to side with one of the many political factions of that day . . . But there were hints, too . . . signs, that something better was coming. Sinners were forgiven, the sick were healed, lepers were cleansed, demons and unclean spirits were cast out, the dead were raised . . .

So things weren’t as they appeared. And now, living on this side of the resurrection, they still aren’t! One day we will see Jesus again, and everything set right. The angels said that to the disciples - that Jesus would come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. One day we’ll see that! And see Him as He is. But not yet. Now is the time of faith, not sight. But there are hints that we can see. Signs. The Church is still here. Sinners are still being forgiven and baptized. The Word is still being proclaimed. Jesus’ Body and Blood are still being given to bodies and souls thirsting and hungering for righteousness. And you are here. Because Jesus is here, and has brought you here. To be next level Christians. Courageous, confident, and faithful in the midst of a sinful and sin-filled world. 

Which is what all Christians really are. It’s really the only kind there is, even if you don’t seem like it or feel like it. Jesus’ tomb is still empty, and so yours will be, too. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, which is not a space or a physical place - that He’s there and so not here - but a position, an authority. And Jesus, your brother, a man just like you, though also true God, is using that authority for you. Always for you. For your good. For your life. For your salvation. Which might mean suffering or hardship now. But an eternity of life and joy might be worth a moment of hardship or suffering now, don’t you think? So suffering or hardship doesn’t mean you’re somehow less of a Christian! Rather, it just might mean you bringing Jesus into a difficult situation, to a difficult person, to bring truth, clarity, forgiveness, love where it is needed most. That what Jesus did, and would now do through His apostles, and now is doing through His next level Christians. The ascended Jesus who is not gone, but next level. To fill all in all.

So just as after Jesus’ ascension, the disciples worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God, so do we. 

We have come here and worshiped Him. That is, we have come and received his gifts, for that is the highest worship of God - to receive the gifts He wants to give you, His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. 

And now we return to our homes with great joy - not because our homes are places of great joy, because maybe you have chores to do, or struggles and difficulties and challenges. We return with great joy because we are taking the joy of Jesus home with us. That there be joy in joyless places, love in loveless places, and hope in hopeless places. That instead of sin and death, there be forgiveness and life. That’s next level! 

And we are continually in the world blessing God. In our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, proclaiming the goodness of God, and living it. Bringing Jesus to a world in need. 

That’ll never be easy. But it will always be good. And if you don’t think you can do it, you’re right! You can’t! But Jesus can. Next level Jesus. Jesus in you. So come and receive Him now, again. His Body and Blood, His forgiveness and life, His salvation and strength. And then go back out to a dying world as next level Christians, filled with Christ. Don’t stand here looking up, as the disciples did! Up is not where Jesus is! He is here. He is in you. And He goes with you. To give life to a dying world. 

For Christ is ascended! [He is ascended indeed! Alleluia!] 

In order to be with you always.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.