Acts 2: One truth, many languages

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.  When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.  Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?  Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?  Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”  Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Acts 2:1-12

Many years ago, a friend once said to me "I have to remind myself sometimes that God's not English".

What a glorious day - the day of Pentecost.  And it starts with a miraculous sign: the Holy Spirit, appearing symbolically as tongues of fire, enables the disciples to speak in other languages so that the multicultural crowd that surrounded them could hear the gospel in their own language.  The people did not have to conform to a particular culture and language in order to hear the gospel - the gospel came to them.

And yet how often do we expect people to fit a certain mould before they can hear of the wonders of God?  I'm not talking here about conforming to the will of Christ as they give their lives to him, but conforming to a language, a set of cultural expectations, a certain type of appearance. 

In the person of Jesus, God himself came down and spoke in the language of humanity by becoming human.  He became a human being so that we could see, within the frames of reference of our own understanding, what love looked like.  And more than that, he came to us so that we might be saved through his death.  God did not sit in heaven waiting for us to come to him - he came to us.

And so, we should go.  This does not necessarily mean going a long way geographically - sometimes it's just a few steps, or bending our knees to talk to child.   It's putting aside our comfort zone and learning the ways of others so we can bring the gospel to them. 

The miraculous sign at Pentecost is generally seen as an reverse of the events that happened at the Tower of Babel, where the people tried to build a tower to Heaven, and God scattered them by making them speak different languages (Genesis 11:1-9).  At that time, a people who started off speaking a common language were scattered when their languages were diverged.  But at Pentecost, people of many different languages were united by one truth.

Because that is what the church is, or should be: unity in diversity.  Peter stood up and addressed the crowd, preaching the Gospel of Jesus, and that he is Lord and Messiah.  We are one body, with Christ at our head, with one aim: to know him, make him known, and glorify him.  And yet it is a diversity - and it has to be that way.  Because accepting someone who is the same as you is easy - we are hardwired to seek out those who are similar (this is why 'unconscious bias' is such a problem for businesses who want to be more diverse, and minority groups who want to be accepted).  Accepting someone who is different requires us to lay aside our way of doing things - it requires sacrifice and it requires love. 

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