Happy Pentecost! And what a better time for the season of Pentecost to fall than the beginning of summer. As you well know, the day of Pentecost is celebrated as the day that the Holy Spirit came down and was given to the disciples, and by extension, us.
So we have the Holy Spirit among us. So what? What does this mean (“Was ist das” as Luther famously says in his Small Catechism). Well it means a number of things for us. But one of the things it means is that we can now have confidence that not only do we have Christ’s promise with us, but we can freely share it! We need not be worried about whether or not someone is worthy to hear the Word, or if we are worthy to give it! Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians,
“3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:3
This means that as we are confessing Jesus to be Lord, it is not of our own words. It is not us trying to be a holier people, rather we know that it is the Holy Spirit that is driving us toward Christ! And this is good news! What better news do we have than the freedom to know that the Holy Spirit is constantly turning us towards the salvation given to us by the death and resurrection of God’s only Son!
While summer is usually filled with lots of activities, there is a certain freeing feeling. This is what we have with the Holy Spirit. We are not let off the hook to sit around and do nothing because we have been set totally free. Our neighbors still need us in every sense of the word. People still need our help, kindness, and love. What changes when we have the Holy Spirit dwelling among us is the confidence and peace that we do not need to worry about being good enough for God’s mercy and grace. We can sit down at the end of the day and know that no matter what you did or did not accomplish during the day, God has called you His own. You have been given the Holy Spirit to call you, gather you, enlighten you, and make you holy.
This is most certainly true.
