The Taste of New Wine
Acts 2:1-21
by Jim Westmoreland
Today is Pentecost Sunday. Today, we remember the disciples receiving the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. We remember the enthusiasm of the disciples as they received the Holy Spirit and began communicating the Good News of Jesus Christ to a Jerusalem filled with visitors. We remember the results of their work that day, and we celebrate the birth of the Church.
What a day it must have been! The disciples were all gathered together in one place. It was the Jewish festival of Pentecost which came 50 days after Passover. Originally, it was a thanksgiving feast for the first fruits of Spring harvest. Later, it was expanded to include the celebration of receiving the Law, the Torah. All males within 20 miles of Jerusalem were supposed to come to Jerusalem for Pentecost. Others came from the Diaspora, from among the Jews that had been scattered throughout the world. The town was full of people, and that is when it happened . . .
Listen again to Luke as he tells us: "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."
What if that were to happen to us as we gathered this morning? I have a feeling that, if we heard the rush of a violent wind, we'd be thinking "Tornado" and not the Holy Spirit!
The well known Disciples author and preacher Fred Craddock tells a rather funny story about a lecture he was giving: A few years ago, when he was on the west coast speaking at a seminary, just before the first lecture, one of the students stood up and said, "Before you speak, I need to know if you are Pentecostal." The room grew silent. Craddock said he looked around for the Dean of the seminary! He was no where to be found.
The student continued with his quiz right in front of everybody. Craddock was taken aback, and so he said, "Do you mean do I belong to the Pentecostal Church?" He said, "No, I mean are you Pentecostal?" Craddock said, "Are you asking me if I am charismatic?" the student said, "I am asking you if you are Pentecostal." Craddock said, "Do you want to know if I speak in tongues?" He said, " I want to know if you are Pentecostal." Craddock said, "I don't know what your question is." The student said, "Obviously, you are not Pentecostal," and he left.
What do we do with this text about the Holy Spirit? What do we do with our prejudices and fears about charismatic groups we call "Pentecostals?" My solution is to not worry about other groups today, but to look at the experience of the disciples and to take it seriously. They started out gathered together, and then they were out in the streets miraculously communicating with an international crowd in Jerusalem. As the prophet Joel had prophesied, both men and women were preaching God's message, and people heard it and understood it in their own language.
As the disciples came out of their fellowship and worship time and started mingling with the crowds in Jerusalem, they were talking with excitement about Jesus. Verses 12 and 13 tell us, "All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "they were filled with new wine."
When I look at this text and ask what happened and what does this mean, I agree with those who said, "They were filled with new wine." They said it as a "put down." The scripture says they sneered as they said it. They were belittling the disciples. Aren't we tempted to do that too? Isn't it easy to belittle and sneer and "put down" those who don't say it like we do, who are more emotional that we are? Until we can lay aside our prejudices and stereotypes, it is hard to let this text to speak to us.
I believe the sneering "put down," "They were filled with new wine," offers a way for us to let the text speak to us about this event that transformed the lives and actions of these once-timid disciples. There are at least two other references in the New Testament to new wine. The first is at the wedding at Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle. Here, the wine that Jesus produced was valued because it preserved the honor and spared the embarrassment of the host of the wedding because they had unexpectedly run out of wine, and also because it was recognized as superior to the previous wine that had been served. Here was new wine with a superior taste that still sparkled from fermenting. Instead of being embarrassed the host was praised for saving the best until last.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus' teaching about not putting new wine into used wineskins, but into new wineskins. The point is obvious to his listeners. The leather pouch that has already been used as a wineskin has already been stretched by the fermentation process. It cannot be stretched again with new wine or it will burst open. In the new wine something alive and powerful and dynamic is going on. It cannot be kept in a rigid container.
We are tempted to say, I am who I am, and I'm set in my ways. I'm like the used wineskin. Don't try to stretch me or expect me to change. But I must remind us that we are talking about the Holy Spirit. Will we say, "No," when God tries to send the Holy Spirit to lead us and do his ministry among us and through us?
Remember that Pentecost is about God's work, about transformation, about power, about changed lives! We may feel like old wineskins, but, when the Holy Spirit comes, we are changed and transformed like the disciples in Jerusalem. What was once old has become new when we participate with God.
Forget worrying about miracles or speaking in tongues. I believe that one of the signs of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is when we become more aware of God's presence in our everyday lives, when we can look back and see the changes in our lives that God has made. The Spirit is at work in us when those changes are seen as blessings and offered to God in thanksgiving and praise. The Spirit is at work when we are moved like the disciples to share our faith and respond to opportunities to minister to others.
Douglas Maurer, 15, of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. Mrs. Maurer took Douglas to the hospital in St. Louis where he was diagnosed as having leukemia.
The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They didn't sugarcoat the side effects. They told Douglas he would go bald and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression.
His aunt called a floral shop to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the clerk that it was for her teenage nephew who had leukemia. When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful. Douglas read the card from his aunt without emotion. Then he noticed a second card. It said: "Douglas - I took your order. I work at Brix Florist. I had leukemia when I was seven years old. I'm 22 years old now. Good Luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley."
His face lit up. "Oh wow!" he said.
Isn't it interesting that Douglas Maurer was in a hospital filled with millions of dollars of the most sophisticated technological equipment. He was being treated by expert doctors and nurses with competent medical training. But it was a sales clerk in a flower shop, who - by taking the time to care, and by being willing to go with what her heart told her to do - gave Douglas hope and the will to carry on.(1)
Bishop Bob Morgan in his book, Who's Coming To Dinner?, tells a powerful story about a Dutch pastor and his family who, during the second World War, got into big trouble with the Nazis. The Dutch pastor and his family had been hiding Jewish people in their home to keep them safe from Hitler's forces, and they were eventually found out. One night in the darkness, they heard the sound of heavy boots and loud, impatient knocking on the door. They were arrested and loaded into a cattle car to be taken to one of the notorious death camps. All night long the Dutch pastor and his family rode along in heart-breaking anguish, jostling against one another and against the other prisoners who were jammed into the train cattle-car. They were stripped of any form of dignity and absolutely terrified. They knew they were being taken to one of Hitler's extermination centers. But which one? Would it be Auschwitz, Buchenwald, or Dachau?
Finally, the long night ended and the train stopped. The doors of the cattle car were opened and light streamed into that tragic scene. They were marched out and were lined up beside the railroad tracks, resigned to unspeakable pain, as they knew they would be separated from each other and ultimately killed. But, in the midst of their gloom, they discovered some amazing good news… good news beyond belief. They discovered in the bright morning sunlight that they were not in a death camp at all, not in Germany at all. Rather, they were in Switzerland!
During the night, someone, through personal courage and daring, had tripped a switch … and sent the train to Switzerland … and to freedom. And those who now came to them were not their captors at all, but rather their liberators. Instead of being marched to death, they were welcomed to new life. In the midst of his joy and relief, the Dutch pastor said, "What do you do with such a gift?"
Something like that happened to the disciples at Pentecost. They were afraid, confused, unsure, overwhelmed… and then came this incredible gift… the gift of the Holy Spirit, the taste of new wine! It turned their lives around… and empowered by this amazing gift, they went out and turned the world upside down!(2)
Pentecost is about saying "yes" to the Holy Spirit and tasting the new wine of life in Christ. Amen.
Century Christian Church, May 15, 2005 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
1. John M. Braaten, The Greatest Wonder Of All, C.S.S Publishing Co.
2. James W. Moore, Sermon: What Do You Do With Such A Gift?