Title: What the Holy Spirit Makes
‘Speech’ is the most important basis for communicating and understanding each other in human society. Of course, just by looking at your eyes, you can connect your heart and express yourself with your body, but words are still the clearest and most accurate means of communication. That's why it's so important that babies learn as they grow up. What the family likes in the first words of a child who says 'mother' or 'dad' is that they really recognize each other, that you can escape from guessing with laughter with moderate crying, and that it is the best evidence that the baby is growing. I think this might be it.
The two passages we read today, Genesis and Acts, contain a theologically paired story. If you put the two texts together, it can be summarized as saying that what used to be a single language, but after many twists and turns, now we can communicate in many other languages as well. If so, what were the ups and downs?
And the story flows faithfully to these words, as if it were a prophecy. Verse 5 tells us that God in heaven comes down to see the city and the tower. I'm trying to build a tower that 'reaches the sky', but the sky doesn't seem right. God has to come down to see it. What kind of danger did God feel when he saw it? In verse 6, God says, ‘If they do what they want to do, there will be nothing they can’t do’. The reason is because they say the same thing and they communicate with each other. And, as if to show the celestial council, to someone, ‘Let us go down and shuffle their words. They decide not to understand each other’ and eventually scatter them all over the land. Since they couldn't speak the language, they stopped building the city, and they split up among those who could speak the language and live separately. And the story says that the name of that place was called Babel, because God mixed up the words of the people there.
In fact, this story is given at the end of the so-called original history and prehistory from Genesis 1 to 11, and is called a causal narrative about why they cannot communicate with each other in many languages. The word Babel has absolutely nothing to do with the meaning of 'mix, mix'. Babel originally means ‘gate of God’ (bab-el), and it is a term used to refer to Babylon, which was highly civilized at that time. In the eyes of the biblical writer, the descendant of Abraham, who left civilization to go to Canaan at God's command, Babel was a symbol of titanism that revealed the arrogance of the huge building, and the cause of the generation of various languages that did not communicate with each other was the construction of such a city, namely, God. It was interpreted as originating from rebellion against Korea and heroic giantism.
After the Babel incident, YHWH chose the Hebrew people from among the various peoples who lived their lives in their own languages, and from Genesis 12, YHWH God communicates only with the Israelites.
Before talking about the events of the book of Acts, I would like to tell you a little bit about the background. The Gospel of Luke, which is paired with the book of Acts, covers the events of Jesus' ascension in some detail. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus ascends into heaven from Bethany, a public place in a majestic public place, even giving his disciples a final command. One final request, like a sermon, ends with the verse we read today. “Look, I am sending you what my Father promised. Therefore remain in this city until you receive power from on high.” After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples worshiped Jesus and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, praising God and spending time in the temple every day, Luke's Gospel ends.
The book of Acts, which continues its history after that, once again describes Jesus' ascension into heaven and clearly states what the Father's promises are in detail. It is called the Holy Spirit. “John baptized with water, but soon you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” And the book of Acts tells another version of Jesus' last exhortation. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Last Thursday in Europe is a holiday, which is celebrated as Ascension Day. According to tradition, Jesus was on this earth for 40 days after his resurrection and ascended to heaven. Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples who were gathering in Mark's upper room to pray. It is the day of Pentecost. Next week is Pentecost.
Those who gather in one place on the Day of Pentecost (not sure if it is Mark's upper room) have a great experience. “There was a sound of a strong wind blowing from the sky, and it filled the house,” he said. And the flames rose up, and the fire parted again like tongues, and it fell on each person. That was the event of the coming of the Holy Spirit. And it is recorded that those who received the Holy Spirit began to speak in different languages.
This is the text we read today, but if we continue to read the following, they say that what they were saying was not a strange, unintelligible language, but something that people from all over the world could understand. It was the words that they could understand: Padae, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia Asia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, and even the Romans and Cretans. They were able to understand that what they were talking about was ‘a great work of God’. It is said that those who came from the countryside of Galilee were speaking their own words at some point. The great work that God has done is now not only for those who have followed Jesus and experienced the Jesus event, but has become an amazing event shared by all who were considered to be the whole earth at the time. Through the Holy Spirit, the event of Jesus was revealed to the world and became an event that was communicated to the world.
If YHWH's work of salvation was exclusively directed toward Israel due to the Babel incident, the Pentecost event can be said to provide a foothold for the gospel of Jesus to advance to the world. Through these two stories, you will hear the ironic confession that if it is God who dispersed the language and started Israel's exclusive history of salvation, it is also God who opened the way for the spread of the gospel through communication with that language.
However, the Holy Spirit event does not refer to the return of Babel's first starting point, 'one language, one word'. At the end of the Japanese colonial period, Japan implemented a ban on the Korean language as a policy to annihilate the Korean spirit. The imperial spirit of the colonies was the insight of spirituality through words. And first of all, we still remember the painful history of many Japanese-speaking intellectuals who were either the first victims or sympathizers of this colonial policy.
What the Holy Spirit ordered us to do was communicate, and it was speaking in different dialects, not in one language or the same language. What does it mean to speak in another language?
Spirit is ‘ruach’ in Hebrew. It is wind and energy. It is the energy of life that saves. Ruach is the wind that God created man and breathed into his nostrils. From time immemorial, the easiest way to see if a person is alive has been to see if there is an in-breath in the nose. The spirit is the source of man's life and active force. I think ‘Earl’ is also an expression of this spirit in Korean. It is said that the spirit that saves humans, the spirit that breathes life into us and gives us the strength to do new activities, is said to have made us speak another language.
Not saying you have to listen to me or saying you have to say it, but saying what the other person says, means affirmation, consideration, and respect for the other person.
Often, Jesus’ last command, “Be my witnesses to the ends of the earth when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” delivered in the book of Acts, and the event of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost that we share today are often talked about as theological basis for opening the door to active and aggressive evangelism. Of course, this is not to downgrade the importance of evangelism and missions. However, today's text does not return to 'one language, one language', but it is clear that the Holy Spirit does not force the Holy Spirit to enlist and convert heathens without tolerance through doctrinal self-righteousness. .
This is the work of the Holy Spirit told in today's text. What the Holy Spirit does is communication in different words. What the Holy Spirit does is to break away from self-centered and exclusive thinking and realize the meaning of true communication. What the Holy Spirit does is to accept and acknowledge the difference between you and me. It's really hard to let me go. But the Holy Spirit can do it because it is the power that comes from above that God gives.
Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. It is said that after Jesus ascended to heaven, 120 believers gathered in the upper room to pray. This is the time. I hope that it will be a week to experience the Holy Spirit, who communicates with us, gives us the spirit of generosity, and gives us the true power to share life.