Filled with New Wine
- Acts 2:1-21
- or Ezekiel 37:1-14
- Romans 8:22-27
- or Acts 2:1-21
- John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
- Psalm 104:25-35, 37
This Sunday we celebrate the Day of Pentecost. The importance of Pentecost cannot be overstated. We observe Pentecost as the birth of the Church. It is certainly that. But it also has to do with the birth and rebirth of all humankind. The psalmist wrote:
You hide your face, and they are terrified;
you take away their breath,
and they die and return to their dust.You send forth your Spirit, and they are created;
and so you renew the face of the earth.May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in all his works. (Psalm 104:29-31)
God had hidden his face from Judah. They did not recognize Jesus as God. On the Day of Pentecost God gave them a second chance:
When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. (Acts 2:1-4)
in a vision, Ezekiel saw the Spirit recreating life/. this was the Old Testament, but it was a prelude to the New:
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” (Ezekiel 37:1-6)
In the vision God breathed upon the dry bones and they became alive. All was lost but then the breath of the Spirit replenished and restored the dry bones.
The faithful followers of Judaism from all over the believing world were assembled in Jerusa to celebrate Shavuot, the Season of Weeks:
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs– in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:1-13)
The ones who sneered were not too far from the truth. Jesus said:
No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 1Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved. (Matthew 9:16-17)
The old wineskins of Judaism would not fit to contain the good news of Pentecost that the disciples experienced. The scribes and elders of Ju8daism in Jesus’ day had turned it into an impossible set of rules and human traditions to follow. Judaism had become a burden. Jesus came to the earth to lift that burden.
On the Day of Pentecost, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ felt that burden lifted. So much so that their despair turned into joyful exuberance. This was the birth of a brand-new worship experience. It was the birth of the Church, the new body of Christ.
How do we respond to such exuberance? Does this sort of joy and excitement have a place in our church? Old wineskin cannot contain new wine. Jesus said;
No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins. (Matthew 9:17).
Are we ready for exuberance? That might depend on whether we drink the new wine the Spirit.is pouring out. He continues to pour new wine.
Is our church an old wineskin one? Perhaps it is because we have not experienced Pentecost. Let us call upon the Holy Spirit. He is calling on us. Will we receive His gift for us?
Paul wrote:
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, (Ephesians 5:18-19)
Preaching the Lectionary 