Sermon Illustrations For Day Of Pentecost (2023)
Illustration
Acts 2:1-21
The church in America is losing members big time. And a 2022 Gallup poll revealed that only 31% of the American public really trusts the church. Martin Luther offers a word of comfort in these circumstances:
It is not we who sustain the church, nor will it be our forefathers, nor will it be our descendants. It was and is and will be the one who says, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world...”
For you and I were not alive thousands of years ago, but the church was preserved without us, and it was done by the one [Who is Jesus Christ]...
Again, we do not do it in our lifetime, for the church is not upheld by us. For we could not resist the devil... and the sects and other wicked folk. For us the church would perish before our very eyes and we with it (as we daily prove), were it not for that other man [Jesus Christ] who manifestly upholds the church for us. (quoted in Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, Vol.I/2, p.xi)
Famed modern reformed theologian Karl Barth offers some interesting thoughts on how and why the church can lose credibility. It happens, he says, when the church gets too caught up on itself and its own activities and programs, is not focused enough on Christ, its true purpose and raison d’être:
The historical existence of the church is legitimate only insofar as it refrains from giving specific weight to its own possibilities, developments, and achievements, from interesting its members in these things and therefore in itself instead of pointing simply to that beginning in direct and exclusive proclamation of Jesus Christ. (Church Dogmatics, Index Vol., p.297)
These insights, drawn from the Pentecost story give hope, Martin Luther once said in a sermon. He correctly noted:
Our Pentecost message should remove all terror of sin and death. The more joyful you are and the more certain and sure the faith in your heart is, the nearer the Holy Spirit is to you and the more you benefit from the new Pentecost. (Complete Sermons, Vol.6, p.160)
Mark E.
* * *
Acts 2:1-21
A gentleman in the church where I serve is a builder. Because of the nature of his work, he always has a pair of work gloves in his truck. One Sunday, we used those work gloves as an object lesson about how the Holy Spirit empowers followers of Jesus.
Think about a pair of work gloves. They are strong, rugged, and able to bear up under the most difficult circumstances. While they sit in the cab of the truck, though, they lay on the seat, lifeless. The gloves cannot do anything by themselves. The only way the gloves are useful and demonstrate their full capacity is when the hand of the worker is in them.
I thought about that as I considered this Pentecost passage in Acts 2. The disciples were a tough, rugged group of followers, but without the power of the Holy Spirit in them, they were unable to accomplish what Jesus wanted them to do. As the hand powers the work glove, the Holy Spirit empowers the believer. Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us?
Bill T.
* * *
Act 2:1-21
I love the celebration of Pentecost. It’s not just because the church is festooned with red paraments and I can wear the red stole my husband gave me at my ordination, it’s the celebration of the Holy Spirit. Often we forget the Holy Spirit, the Advocate that was sent to accompany and strengthen us after the Ascension of Jesus. We forget that along with the chaos the wind of the Spirit can bring, is the empowering presence of God with us. The disciples encounter the presence of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire. Yet, it is more than that. Peter preaches his first sermon at Pentecost. He is inspired to proclaim God present and remaining with us, Jesus crucified and raised. Peter inspires many with his faith. How does the Holy Spirit support and empower your faith? What are you called to say or do about your faith when the Holy Spirit moves in and through you? Take a moment. Breathe in the Holy Spirit. Then, my friends, act on your faith.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Numbers 11:24-30
If this is not your first rodeo, you’re getting ready for your umpteenth preaching Pentecost (It’s number 44 for me this year) and while the story of the birth of the church is inspiring and remains a signature event in the liturgical calendar, Numbers 11:24-30 offers an alternative that could both serve as a standalone scripture, and which will also blend well with the classic Acts 2 text.
Numbers 11:24-30 is wedged between a passage in which the people complain about the menu. Moses then implores on their behalf because their diet of manna is boring, and they miss meat. The divine response is a plague after which the people eat their fill of quail. In this passage that follows Moses and seventy of the elders receive the Spirit of God and respond ecstatically – the meaning of the word “prophesy” in this context – although they do not have this experience again. The key learning, I think, is the fact that two others, Eldad and Medad, also experience the presence of the Spirit, and prophesy in the camp. Someone runs over to Moses and the elders and snitches on them. Joshua pleads with Moses to stop them. Moses, however, is not worried about protecting his franchise, and expresses the wish that everyone would experience God’s Holy Spirit.
I wonder if this passage would speak to the over-organized church. We need church structure to provide order in our lives together, but there are moments when we need to be uncomfortably joggled out of our complacency. Maybe we’re too used to God’s daily blessings of spiritual manna and need a flock of quail to delight us.
True, most things should go through channels, but when the prophetic voice is spoken in our midst, by an elder, a child, or a person of any age, we need to recognize those moments and be prepared to act.
This passage is a reminder that nobody owns the Holy Spirit nor has anyone cornered the market on prophet utterance. God is ready to speak with thunder, and through the still, small voice as well. Listening and discernment on the part of the larger congregation is the key.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
The language of “Holy Ghost” still operates in wide segments of the American church. People grow up thinking the Holy Spirit haunts us like a ghost does, so the concept is either scary or like ghosts we came to disbelieve the idea of the Holy Spirit. Except among Pentecostals, the Spirit does not count for much among us. Martin Luther had a good insight about how faith is dependent on the Holy Spirit (v.3). In one of his catechisms he wrote:
I believe that by my own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts ,and sanctified and preserved me in true faith. (The Book of Concord [2000 ed.], p.345)
In another context, Luther compared the Spirit to a nurturing hen. He wrote:
As a hen broods her eggs, keeping them warm in order to hatch her chicks, and as it were, to bring them to life through her, so scripture says that the Holy Spirit brooded, as it were, on the waters to bring life to those substances which were quickened and adorned. For it is the office of the Holy Spirit to make alive. (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.9)
Modern theologian Karl Barth offers another helpful image for appreciating the work of the Spirit. He wrote:
... the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, that his power is on certain men, that he comes to them as such, that he is “poured out” on them, that he “sits” on them and “fills” them. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/1, p.649)
Mark E.
* * *
John 20:19-23
A 2021 poll conducted by the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University found that over one in two American Christians do not believe in the Holy Spirit. In this climate, we need to preach more on the Pentecost message, on texts like this about the giving of the Holy Spirit to the faithful. If we are clearer on what the Spirit does, then we will more likely begin to see the Spirit in our lives.
John Calvin says about the Holy Spirit that the Spirit is “the power of God.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion [Westminster Press ed.]. pp.142-143) Whenever God’s power is manifest in your life, the Holy Spirit is present and active. This links with v.22 how Jesus gives his disciples the Spirit by breathing on them (v.22). The Hebrew term for breath (nephesh) can also be translated “Spirit,” and so it is appropriate to speak of the Spirit as the breath of God. Just as we depend on the air we breathe to live, so there is no Christian life without the “air” of the Holy Spirit. There is also no forgiveness of sins without the Holy Spirit. Martin Luther put it this way once:
Therefore, although this power to forgive sins belongs to God only, we should nevertheless know that he exercises and imparts this power through this external office... for this purpose he then also sends to the Holy Spirit, namely, in order to forgive sins. (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/2, p.391)
Want to see the Holy Spirit in action? You will see it in the forgiveness of sins.
Mark E.
* * *
John 7:37-39
John Calvin offers thoughtful reflections on what happens to you when you receive the Spirit. Commenting on this lesson he wrote:
Still he does not say that, on the first day, believers are so fully satisfied with Christ, that ever afterwards they neither hunger nor thirst; but on the contrary, the enjoyment of Christ kindles a new desire in them. But the meaning is, that the Holy Spirit is like a living and continually flowing fountain in believers... we cannot possess a perfect fullness of them [gifts and graces] in the present life. But believers, while they make progress in faith, continually aspire to fresh additions of the Spirit, so that the first-fruits which they have tasted carry them forward to perpetuity of life. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVII/2, pp.308-309)
Good things flow from the faithful who have been saturated or watered by the Holy Spirit (vv.38-39). Martin Luther offered thoughtful comments on what the Holy Spirit is and does:
These words testify and prove that the Holy Spirit is not an ordinary spirit, such as a creature, or something apart from God... Yet he is the same true, real, one God, because he is to do what works God alone does, such as enlightening the hearts within, bringing people to true knowledge, beginning, arousing, comforting consciences and keeping them undismayed... (What Luther Says, p.661)
The ancient African monk Macarius the Egyptian (who profoundly influenced John Wesley) well summarized Luther’s points regarding how the Spirit comforts us. Macarius wrote:
There, the Lord consoles us through the working of the Spirit in our every tribulation to save us and communicate to us all his spiritual and charismatic gifts... All these expressions indicate through enigmas something of the joy and consolation given by the Spirit. (Pseudo-Macarius, p.226)
Mark E.
* * *
John 20:19-23
I heard of an elderly couple who lived in the town where I preached who had an old gas boiler in their basement to heat their home. The boiler may have been the original with the house. It was the kind where the pilot light was on, but there was no heat. That kind of heating system is not good.
Followers of Jesus who are not empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit are a lot like that old boiler. The pilot light may be on, things may appear okay, but there is no heat. The disciples, if they were to accomplish what Jesus wanted them to do, would have to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. They would not be able to do it by their own power. Jesus told them to “receive the Holy Spirit.” Nothing is more important for a follower of Jesus than to rely on the power of the Spirit.
Bill T.
* * *
John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39
If this is not your first rodeo, (and if this opening sounds the least bit familiar you’re not going crazy – I’m stealing it verbatim from my comments on the First Lesson for Pentecost Sunday) you’re getting ready for your umpteenth preaching Pentecost (It’s number 44 for me this year) and while the story of the birth of the church is inspiring and remains a signature event in the liturgical calendar, the Second Lesson offers two alternatives that could both serve as standalone scriptures, and which will also blend well with the classic Acts 2 text.
The sheer muscular physicality of Acts is part of its power, but the problem comes when some insist this is the only way that the Holy Spirit enters our lives, and that if you haven’t had such an experience personally, whatever that might mean, you’re somehow Christian, Second Class, if you’re a Christian at all. The fourth evangelist tells quite a different story in John 20:19-23, an intimate, even tender moment when the resurrected Jesus appears in the midst of his disciples, with the doors locked, “for fear of the Judeans,” (And here’s a parenthetical comment: the Greek word ‘Ioudaion, often translated “the Jews”, is also the word for “Judeans.” The nationalists among the Judeans were the ones who were threatened by Jesus. Keep in mind that at this point all the disciples are Jewish. Translating the word as “the Jews” invites us to think of all Jews as a monolithic, even ominous group who were automatically the enemies of Jesus when that is not the case. Jewish believers in God ran the gamut in outlook, biblical interpretation, and worship practices, much as we Christians do today.) and the first words he says are “peace be with you.” You might draw in some of the things Jesus says about peace, not as the world gives, from the Gospel of John. Most important, it’s good to remember that the word translated “Spirit” in both the Hebrew and Greek language is a wonderfully ambiguous word that also means “wind,” ‘breath,” “breeze” – you can’t pin down the Spirit, and this peaceful Pentecost, as I like to call it, is every bit as authentic as the rush of a mighty wind in Acts 2. It’s a comfort for Christians who are sometimes challenged, “Are you baptized by the Holy Spirit?”, to be able to respond peacefully, and with a smile, yes.
The prelude to this text occurs in the other reading, from John 7:37-39, where Jesus quotes Isaiah 12:3, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (That’s the meaning of the Septuagint Greek translation of Isaiah. The Hebrew texts is translated “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,” which is a lot of fun to talk about as well.) The Spirit, the breath of life is present in us already, flowing from the believer’s heart. In this text Jesus speaks to the near future, because he had not yet been glorified, which is John’s way of talking about the crucifixion. We live in a world where Jesus is glorified and the Holy Spirit flows from our heart like rivers of living water. That Spirit is present everywhere. As Paul will tell the Athenians later in the book, this truth is found in one of their pagan poets: “For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’…” (Acts 17:28).
Either one or both of these texts speak to the Holy Spirit’s presence in many ways in our lives, both dramatic and comfortably familiar.
Frank R.
The church in America is losing members big time. And a 2022 Gallup poll revealed that only 31% of the American public really trusts the church. Martin Luther offers a word of comfort in these circumstances:
It is not we who sustain the church, nor will it be our forefathers, nor will it be our descendants. It was and is and will be the one who says, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world...”
For you and I were not alive thousands of years ago, but the church was preserved without us, and it was done by the one [Who is Jesus Christ]...
Again, we do not do it in our lifetime, for the church is not upheld by us. For we could not resist the devil... and the sects and other wicked folk. For us the church would perish before our very eyes and we with it (as we daily prove), were it not for that other man [Jesus Christ] who manifestly upholds the church for us. (quoted in Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, Vol.I/2, p.xi)
Famed modern reformed theologian Karl Barth offers some interesting thoughts on how and why the church can lose credibility. It happens, he says, when the church gets too caught up on itself and its own activities and programs, is not focused enough on Christ, its true purpose and raison d’être:
The historical existence of the church is legitimate only insofar as it refrains from giving specific weight to its own possibilities, developments, and achievements, from interesting its members in these things and therefore in itself instead of pointing simply to that beginning in direct and exclusive proclamation of Jesus Christ. (Church Dogmatics, Index Vol., p.297)
These insights, drawn from the Pentecost story give hope, Martin Luther once said in a sermon. He correctly noted:
Our Pentecost message should remove all terror of sin and death. The more joyful you are and the more certain and sure the faith in your heart is, the nearer the Holy Spirit is to you and the more you benefit from the new Pentecost. (Complete Sermons, Vol.6, p.160)
Mark E.
* * *
Acts 2:1-21
A gentleman in the church where I serve is a builder. Because of the nature of his work, he always has a pair of work gloves in his truck. One Sunday, we used those work gloves as an object lesson about how the Holy Spirit empowers followers of Jesus.
Think about a pair of work gloves. They are strong, rugged, and able to bear up under the most difficult circumstances. While they sit in the cab of the truck, though, they lay on the seat, lifeless. The gloves cannot do anything by themselves. The only way the gloves are useful and demonstrate their full capacity is when the hand of the worker is in them.
I thought about that as I considered this Pentecost passage in Acts 2. The disciples were a tough, rugged group of followers, but without the power of the Holy Spirit in them, they were unable to accomplish what Jesus wanted them to do. As the hand powers the work glove, the Holy Spirit empowers the believer. Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us?
Bill T.
* * *
Act 2:1-21
I love the celebration of Pentecost. It’s not just because the church is festooned with red paraments and I can wear the red stole my husband gave me at my ordination, it’s the celebration of the Holy Spirit. Often we forget the Holy Spirit, the Advocate that was sent to accompany and strengthen us after the Ascension of Jesus. We forget that along with the chaos the wind of the Spirit can bring, is the empowering presence of God with us. The disciples encounter the presence of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire. Yet, it is more than that. Peter preaches his first sermon at Pentecost. He is inspired to proclaim God present and remaining with us, Jesus crucified and raised. Peter inspires many with his faith. How does the Holy Spirit support and empower your faith? What are you called to say or do about your faith when the Holy Spirit moves in and through you? Take a moment. Breathe in the Holy Spirit. Then, my friends, act on your faith.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Numbers 11:24-30
If this is not your first rodeo, you’re getting ready for your umpteenth preaching Pentecost (It’s number 44 for me this year) and while the story of the birth of the church is inspiring and remains a signature event in the liturgical calendar, Numbers 11:24-30 offers an alternative that could both serve as a standalone scripture, and which will also blend well with the classic Acts 2 text.
Numbers 11:24-30 is wedged between a passage in which the people complain about the menu. Moses then implores on their behalf because their diet of manna is boring, and they miss meat. The divine response is a plague after which the people eat their fill of quail. In this passage that follows Moses and seventy of the elders receive the Spirit of God and respond ecstatically – the meaning of the word “prophesy” in this context – although they do not have this experience again. The key learning, I think, is the fact that two others, Eldad and Medad, also experience the presence of the Spirit, and prophesy in the camp. Someone runs over to Moses and the elders and snitches on them. Joshua pleads with Moses to stop them. Moses, however, is not worried about protecting his franchise, and expresses the wish that everyone would experience God’s Holy Spirit.
I wonder if this passage would speak to the over-organized church. We need church structure to provide order in our lives together, but there are moments when we need to be uncomfortably joggled out of our complacency. Maybe we’re too used to God’s daily blessings of spiritual manna and need a flock of quail to delight us.
True, most things should go through channels, but when the prophetic voice is spoken in our midst, by an elder, a child, or a person of any age, we need to recognize those moments and be prepared to act.
This passage is a reminder that nobody owns the Holy Spirit nor has anyone cornered the market on prophet utterance. God is ready to speak with thunder, and through the still, small voice as well. Listening and discernment on the part of the larger congregation is the key.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
The language of “Holy Ghost” still operates in wide segments of the American church. People grow up thinking the Holy Spirit haunts us like a ghost does, so the concept is either scary or like ghosts we came to disbelieve the idea of the Holy Spirit. Except among Pentecostals, the Spirit does not count for much among us. Martin Luther had a good insight about how faith is dependent on the Holy Spirit (v.3). In one of his catechisms he wrote:
I believe that by my own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts ,and sanctified and preserved me in true faith. (The Book of Concord [2000 ed.], p.345)
In another context, Luther compared the Spirit to a nurturing hen. He wrote:
As a hen broods her eggs, keeping them warm in order to hatch her chicks, and as it were, to bring them to life through her, so scripture says that the Holy Spirit brooded, as it were, on the waters to bring life to those substances which were quickened and adorned. For it is the office of the Holy Spirit to make alive. (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.9)
Modern theologian Karl Barth offers another helpful image for appreciating the work of the Spirit. He wrote:
... the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, that his power is on certain men, that he comes to them as such, that he is “poured out” on them, that he “sits” on them and “fills” them. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/1, p.649)
Mark E.
* * *
John 20:19-23
A 2021 poll conducted by the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University found that over one in two American Christians do not believe in the Holy Spirit. In this climate, we need to preach more on the Pentecost message, on texts like this about the giving of the Holy Spirit to the faithful. If we are clearer on what the Spirit does, then we will more likely begin to see the Spirit in our lives.
John Calvin says about the Holy Spirit that the Spirit is “the power of God.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion [Westminster Press ed.]. pp.142-143) Whenever God’s power is manifest in your life, the Holy Spirit is present and active. This links with v.22 how Jesus gives his disciples the Spirit by breathing on them (v.22). The Hebrew term for breath (nephesh) can also be translated “Spirit,” and so it is appropriate to speak of the Spirit as the breath of God. Just as we depend on the air we breathe to live, so there is no Christian life without the “air” of the Holy Spirit. There is also no forgiveness of sins without the Holy Spirit. Martin Luther put it this way once:
Therefore, although this power to forgive sins belongs to God only, we should nevertheless know that he exercises and imparts this power through this external office... for this purpose he then also sends to the Holy Spirit, namely, in order to forgive sins. (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/2, p.391)
Want to see the Holy Spirit in action? You will see it in the forgiveness of sins.
Mark E.
* * *
John 7:37-39
John Calvin offers thoughtful reflections on what happens to you when you receive the Spirit. Commenting on this lesson he wrote:
Still he does not say that, on the first day, believers are so fully satisfied with Christ, that ever afterwards they neither hunger nor thirst; but on the contrary, the enjoyment of Christ kindles a new desire in them. But the meaning is, that the Holy Spirit is like a living and continually flowing fountain in believers... we cannot possess a perfect fullness of them [gifts and graces] in the present life. But believers, while they make progress in faith, continually aspire to fresh additions of the Spirit, so that the first-fruits which they have tasted carry them forward to perpetuity of life. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVII/2, pp.308-309)
Good things flow from the faithful who have been saturated or watered by the Holy Spirit (vv.38-39). Martin Luther offered thoughtful comments on what the Holy Spirit is and does:
These words testify and prove that the Holy Spirit is not an ordinary spirit, such as a creature, or something apart from God... Yet he is the same true, real, one God, because he is to do what works God alone does, such as enlightening the hearts within, bringing people to true knowledge, beginning, arousing, comforting consciences and keeping them undismayed... (What Luther Says, p.661)
The ancient African monk Macarius the Egyptian (who profoundly influenced John Wesley) well summarized Luther’s points regarding how the Spirit comforts us. Macarius wrote:
There, the Lord consoles us through the working of the Spirit in our every tribulation to save us and communicate to us all his spiritual and charismatic gifts... All these expressions indicate through enigmas something of the joy and consolation given by the Spirit. (Pseudo-Macarius, p.226)
Mark E.
* * *
John 20:19-23
I heard of an elderly couple who lived in the town where I preached who had an old gas boiler in their basement to heat their home. The boiler may have been the original with the house. It was the kind where the pilot light was on, but there was no heat. That kind of heating system is not good.
Followers of Jesus who are not empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit are a lot like that old boiler. The pilot light may be on, things may appear okay, but there is no heat. The disciples, if they were to accomplish what Jesus wanted them to do, would have to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. They would not be able to do it by their own power. Jesus told them to “receive the Holy Spirit.” Nothing is more important for a follower of Jesus than to rely on the power of the Spirit.
Bill T.
* * *
John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39
If this is not your first rodeo, (and if this opening sounds the least bit familiar you’re not going crazy – I’m stealing it verbatim from my comments on the First Lesson for Pentecost Sunday) you’re getting ready for your umpteenth preaching Pentecost (It’s number 44 for me this year) and while the story of the birth of the church is inspiring and remains a signature event in the liturgical calendar, the Second Lesson offers two alternatives that could both serve as standalone scriptures, and which will also blend well with the classic Acts 2 text.
The sheer muscular physicality of Acts is part of its power, but the problem comes when some insist this is the only way that the Holy Spirit enters our lives, and that if you haven’t had such an experience personally, whatever that might mean, you’re somehow Christian, Second Class, if you’re a Christian at all. The fourth evangelist tells quite a different story in John 20:19-23, an intimate, even tender moment when the resurrected Jesus appears in the midst of his disciples, with the doors locked, “for fear of the Judeans,” (And here’s a parenthetical comment: the Greek word ‘Ioudaion, often translated “the Jews”, is also the word for “Judeans.” The nationalists among the Judeans were the ones who were threatened by Jesus. Keep in mind that at this point all the disciples are Jewish. Translating the word as “the Jews” invites us to think of all Jews as a monolithic, even ominous group who were automatically the enemies of Jesus when that is not the case. Jewish believers in God ran the gamut in outlook, biblical interpretation, and worship practices, much as we Christians do today.) and the first words he says are “peace be with you.” You might draw in some of the things Jesus says about peace, not as the world gives, from the Gospel of John. Most important, it’s good to remember that the word translated “Spirit” in both the Hebrew and Greek language is a wonderfully ambiguous word that also means “wind,” ‘breath,” “breeze” – you can’t pin down the Spirit, and this peaceful Pentecost, as I like to call it, is every bit as authentic as the rush of a mighty wind in Acts 2. It’s a comfort for Christians who are sometimes challenged, “Are you baptized by the Holy Spirit?”, to be able to respond peacefully, and with a smile, yes.
The prelude to this text occurs in the other reading, from John 7:37-39, where Jesus quotes Isaiah 12:3, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (That’s the meaning of the Septuagint Greek translation of Isaiah. The Hebrew texts is translated “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,” which is a lot of fun to talk about as well.) The Spirit, the breath of life is present in us already, flowing from the believer’s heart. In this text Jesus speaks to the near future, because he had not yet been glorified, which is John’s way of talking about the crucifixion. We live in a world where Jesus is glorified and the Holy Spirit flows from our heart like rivers of living water. That Spirit is present everywhere. As Paul will tell the Athenians later in the book, this truth is found in one of their pagan poets: “For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’…” (Acts 17:28).
Either one or both of these texts speak to the Holy Spirit’s presence in many ways in our lives, both dramatic and comfortably familiar.
Frank R.
