Acts 2:1-21
The Day of Pentecost
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, June 8, 2025
“God Pours Out His Spirit”
They were surprised, but they should have known. That’s true of many people in Palestine early in the first century. People were surprised at the popularity of Jesus. They wondered aloud about anything good coming from Nazareth, but they should have known the prophecies that foretold his being called a Nazarene. They could have learned about his birth in Bethlehem and associated that with other important prophecies, too. The disciples should have known about the betrayal and suffering and death of Jesus. He told them more than once about these things, but they were still surprised when they happened. They were surprised again when they saw Jesus alive, even though he predicted that for himself and even though the Scriptures had foretold it.
And then, ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, another surprise. Again, it was a surprise that Jesus had told his disciples about. He had told them it was coming. He had been promising (you heard and example of one of these promises today), promising to send the Counselor, his Holy Spirit. He had promised to baptize the disciples with power. Did other people know about these promises? The crowds were surprised, too. Did the disciples know the day when things would happen? Maybe not.
Here’s how Jesus had it happen. The day was Pentecost, a special festival that the people had long been celebrating. In Jerusalem was a crowd from all over the place. That list of place names is one of those parts of the Bible that you don’t want to get called on for reading out loud, because there are some big words and some strange words. But those were the places in almost a big circle around Judea and Jerusalem. The people were in the city for the festival. And this time, it was no ordinary Pentecost. On that day, Jesus did what he had promised. He poured out his Holy Spirit on his disciples. It may have surprised those men, exactly how it happened. It certainly surprised the crowds for a number of reasons. The whole event started with the sound of a mighty wind. Jesus once told Nicodemus that the Spirit of God was like the wind. You don’t know where it comes from or where it goes, but you see what happens when it gusts. That day, it wasn’t a wind that the people noticed. It was the sound of a wind, a violent wind. It gave a sound to something that otherwise would not have it. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit came with a unique sight as well. Tongues of fire that came down and rested over the head of each disciple. There was no mistaking this sign and appearance. Something unique and special was going on. These men were singled out for it.
And then they began to speak. And people from all around that world heard them speaking their own native languages. The disciples had not taken any classes. They were not working on language-learning apps. They were given a gift to be able to speak in an instant a language they had never learned before. They witnessed Babel in reverse. Suddenly, there was no barrier to them sharing wonderful news. That’s what they did. As the crowd noted, they were sharing the wonderful works of God.
That was enough to get some attention. Actually, it got a lot of attention. And that was the goal. That was the purpose of the flames and the wind-sound. That was the goal of proclaiming news in not just a language that people could understand, but in the language of their hearts and of their experience and of their comfort level. They heard their very own language. These men were talking to them. Of course they wanted to hear what they had to say.
On the other hand, it turns out that not everyone was impressed. Some made fun of the disciples and claimed they were drunk, as if that were a valid explanation of what was happening early that morning.
No, what was happening was exactly what Jesus had promised. What was happening was he was pouring out his Spirit on his chosen disciples and apostles. On so many occasions previous, they had been scared and hesitant. So many times even while Jesus was with them, they missed the point of what he was saying and teaching. But the Holy Spirit was providing the power they needed. We heard Jesus tell his disciples in our Gospel last week: “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high”
(Luke 24:49). According to Jesus’ own words as we heard them today, the Holy Spirit would teach the disciples “all things” and “remind [them] of everything [he] told [them}” (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit was making them bold to proclaim Jesus. And that is exactly what happened when Peter stood up in front of the crowd and began to speak to them.
This activity, this event, was not just beneficial, but essential to the growth of Christ’s church. This was God’s design and plan that the disciples would be Christ’s apostles to take his good news to others, to play a role in the writing down and preserving of God’s Word and to provide leadership and guidance to the church.
But the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was not only for those disciples. Far from it. Peter got up to preach to the crowd, and he shared a prophecy from Joel. That prophecy spoke of the last days, really referring to the whole period from Jesus ascending into heaven all the way until he returns. That’s why we hear words about the final judgment. But the point for Peter sharing it was the promise that God would pour out his spirit on all his servants. What the people were seeing was proof of God keeping his promise. What they were experiencing was also proof.
Our reading concluded well before the end of Peter’s sermon. And that also means that we don’t hear the outcome. If we were to read a bit further, we’d hear how God used Peter’s sermon to lead 3,000 people to being baptized that day. The Christian church took a giant leap from a rather small group to a much larger one. And all of that happened through the Holy Spirit.
It’s easy to see the big and loud and unexpected ways that the Spirit was working on that unique day in the history of the church, but the Holy Spirit was just as active in quiet, unassuming ways. All those who believed the words of Peter and the disciples did so because of the Holy Spirit working in their hearts. Like us, they were sinners from birth, unable to choose for themselves to follow Jesus. We’re going to confess together today the inadequacies of our own thinking and choosing. The Holy Spirit overcomes that. He brings to faith. He converts. He takes the good news and places it in our hearts. He takes the work of Christ dying for our sins and rising to life again and makes it our own possession. He empowers us to love and serve others boldly and confidently. He strengthens our faith to fight temptation and moves us to do good works.
As we consider Pentecost, it is easy for us to go to opposite extremes. Maybe at times we expect or demand the big, loud signs and wonders that God has not promised to us. This sort of working served particularly useful purposes in the very early church. This was foundational to the spread of Christianity beyond Jesus’ own disciples and apostles. We have God’s Word in the Bible and his sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. We don’t need the sound of wind and the appearance of fire. What we need is to truly listen to what God has told us. We ought not think that we need something more, something bigger, something in our minds better.
And that means that we need to be careful about the other temptation, too, the temptation to underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit as he works in what we might call regular or everyday ways. Every time his Word is preached, he works in hearts. Every time baptismal water is applied, he is active to wash away sin. Every time his people receive Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament, the Holy Spirit nourishes their souls. These are the means that he uses to create and strengthen faith. These are the means he uses to overcome unbelief, to build temptation-resisting, neighbor-loving servants of Christ Jesus.
Thanks to the Holy Spirit, that is exactly who you are. That’s what we celebrate each year at Pentecost. You have the peace that Jesus promised. You have the righteousness that he won on the cross. You have a new life with him. You have an eternal home. You have the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is amazing. It is wonderful. It is powerful. It is undeserved. I guess in some sense it is surprising, but not so much for us, because Jesus told us. And because he lives, he pours out his Spirit on us.
The Text: Acts 2:1–21 (EHV)
2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the rushing of a violent wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3They saw divided tongues that were like fire resting on each one of them. 4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, since the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak fluently.
5Now there were godly Jewish men from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6When this sound was heard, a crowd came together and was confused, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7They were completely baffled and said to each other, “Look, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them speaking in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, and of Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya around Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; 11Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God.” 12They were all amazed and perplexed. They kept saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others mocked them and said, “They are full of new wine.”
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and spoke loudly and clearly to them: “Men of Judea, and all you residents of Jerusalem, understand this, and listen closely to my words. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. 16On the contrary, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17This is what God says will happen in the last days: I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and a rising cloud of smoke.
20The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21And this will happen: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.