Commiting our work to God-- Meditations at the beginning of Pentecost

Among the various transitions we find ourselves in during this time of the year, is the one between Easter and Pentecost.  As we read through the Acts of the Apostles, we find that after Jesus’ Ascension, the Disciples are waiting on the Lord’s promise of the Holy Spirit… a power they wouldn’t come to understand until it fell upon them.  As they waited, they lived together in the unity born of Christ’s Word and Sacraments, in love for each other and with a common hope in the Risen Christ.

Not long after, Jesus’ promise fulfilled, a great power descends upon them.  This power from the Holy Spirit gives them gifts of healing, speaking in foreign tongues, and even raising the dead—but most importantly, it gives them power to be witnesses to Christ’s saving work in a dark and dangerous world.  The power given to them is manifested in many ways, but the goal of that power was to speak truth in the darkness of their time, so that many might hear the Gospel, believe, and live in Jesus forever.  The greatest miracle that the Holy Spirit did through the Apostles was nothing other than raising dead sinners unto eternal life, by grace through faith in the Son of God.

This power of the Almighty Holy Spirit, continues to move through the Church today, wherever we find the Word of God preached in its purity, and the Holy Sacraments administered according to Christ’s command.  Where the Holy Spirit moves through the means of grace, people are raised from the deadness of their sin and unbelief, and given new life by faith in Jesus’ vicarious atonement for them.  It is a power awesome to behold, and a mystery before which we tremble—that God should give such gifts and power to be administered by poor, wretched sinners, such as ourselves.  But such is the wisdom of God, that He makes His strength perfect in weakness.

But there is another side to this awesome power, given to the Church, and we must grapple with it as we enter into this season of Pentecost.  Not all who hear, will believe—not all who come face to face with Jesus through His means of grace, will repent and believe the Gospel.  God allows His greatness to be mocked and scorned by the sinful world, and His grace to be trampled under the feet of wicked men.  In God’s great love for the whole world, there is not a single soul for which He has not suffered and died, and yet we know that some people will respond to His love with spite and hatred.  God’s love at work in the world is a sacrificial love which suffers itself to be scorned and wounded, so that by all means, some might be saved.  Such is the immensity of our God’s mercy and love for us.

And for we who are grafted into our Risen Christ, our suffering and rejection will reflect that which is given to our Lord.  Sometimes, even the best of our efforts to love our neighbor, will be rebuffed and spat upon, leaving us wounded and bruised, perhaps even martyred.  Part of carrying our cross in the world, is to bear witness to Christ and His love for mankind, even when mankind refuses to listen—even when they harden their own hearts, plug their own ears, and refuse to be healed by our God who seeks them out.  How are we to respond, when we are spitefully used, abused, and mistreated?

Our answer is found in the Cross of Christ.  When He was ridiculed and scorned, He prayed for those who were in the very act of murdering Him.  Upon His resurrection, He brings peace and blessing to those who abandoned Him in His darkest hour.  To a world which condemned Him, He brought the everlasting Gospel of Salvation.  And to we who are grafted into Him by grace through faith, He gives the power of His Holy Spirit, to endure all things for the love of each soul that the Blood of Christ has been poured out to redeem.

In Christ, we commend to our Lord, all the works of our hands, hearts, and minds.  It is He who has done all, suffered all, and won all for us—and not only for us, but for the whole world.  In Him we work, not by compulsion of the Law, but by the impelling of the Holy Spirit and the divine Love which has been poured into us.  Our works are not our own, and neither is our suffering, nor our joy.  All that we have and are and shall be, is hidden in Christ Jesus our Lord, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things.  To Him we commend our labors of love, and to Him we send up our groaning and tears, just as we also send up to Him our thanksgiving and rejoicing.

As we enter into the heat of Summer, and the work of the Kingdom of God weighs heavily upon us in the noontime heat, may we always remember the Living Lord who has suffered all for us, and keeps us together with Him for eternity.  When viewed from heaven’s eternal perspective, this short time of our labors comes and goes like the streak of a meteor across the sky—suddenly here, and then in only a few short decades, it is over.  Nevertheless, we are His, and He is ours; our salvation and our hope and our blessedness are guarded in Jesus forever.  Let the world do its worst, and the devil make his schemes.  We belong to Christ, and our work is committed unto Him.  Blessed be the Triune God, now and forevermore.  Amen.