Sunday, May 11, 2008
 

JESUS IS LORD
 

“No one can say: ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit.” That truth, that statement has remained with me during the Easter readings. To proclaim that ‘Jesus is Lord’ is to acknowledge our complete allegiance to Jesus. To see him is to see the Father. We believe that Jesus is God and we hand our lives completely over to him. He is the source of our life, he is the direction of our life, and he is the goal of our life. “I go to prepare a place for you!”

But to proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord’ is not only a proclamation of religious faith. It is also a political proclamation. For the disciples of Jesus’ time it meant, “I choose Jesus, not the Emperor. I will stand up and I will proclaim the values of the Gospel in the face of social and political opposition. Jesus and his gospel will be my culture and my value system and I will proclaim Him to the world as Truth. The Spirit will enable me to do this. Jesus is not just ‘my’ Lord. Jesus is ‘Lord.’ The whole world is God’s.”

In the scriptures, God ‘spoke’ to the world in many ways. Sometimes God spoke in “a tiny whispering voice.” Sometimes God spoke in thunder, lightning and smoke. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles today describes God speaking with a great noise like a strong driving wind, and tongues as of fire coming to rest on the heads of the disciples. The noise and the fire were heard and seen and we are told that the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit. As a result of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles were enabled to speak to the people about “the marvels that God has accomplished,” and the many different people were able to hear the Apostles speaking in their own tongue and language. The miracle was not so much that the people could understand the words of the Apostles. The greater miracle was that the Apostles were enabled to actually speak out about “the marvels of God.” This was the work of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost, for the Jewish people of this time, was a feast celebrating God’s covenant with Israel on Mount Sinai. At Sinai, the People experienced the glorious presence and action of God. At Sinai, Moses received the Law of God. At Sinai, the medley group that came out of Egypt became a single people with a special intimate relationship to God. At Sinai, the people accepted that relationship and committed themselves to a special way of life in faithfulness and acknowledgment of God. They were saying here for the first time, “God is Lord.”

The Upper Room where the disciples were hiding was not as high as Mount Sinai, but it was a latter-day experience of Sinai. In the experience of Sinai the people were created one by the Law of the Lord. In the room, these first disciples became Church by the power of the Spirit. At Sinai, the people were given the Laws that would govern their lives and define them as People of God. In the room, the disciples were given the mission that would define the followers of Christ throughout history: they became proclaimers of the God to the World.

The Upper Room did not just recall Sinai. It also recalled another incident in the Hebrew Scriptures, namely the tower of Babel. That tower represented an attempt by the people to increase human power and pride. It became the symbol of the many divisions of language and culture that divide people everywhere. The new Pentecost proclaimed an end to those divisions. A new creation, a new people, was born in this new Pentecost. The new covenant, born out of this Pentecost, was a covenant for all peoples. It is a covenant without borders, without limitations of language, or nation or race. The whole world is the new chosen people of God.

That is the Good News that should define us as Church. We are called to bear witness to this Good News. Sometimes we will proclaim it with rushing wind and tongues of fire. Sometimes we will proclaim the “marvels of God” in a “gentle whispering voice.” Each of us has different gifts of the Spirit. But for all of us, “Jesus is Lord.” And we will live that and proclaim that to the whole world. If we go out and show the world the love of God, the Spirit will ensure that our words are heard and understood.
 

Rev. Kevin P. Casey, S.J.

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