What went up, now comes down!

What I'd like to do today is to explain what Pentecost is by explaining what it isn't. And, to explain what it isn’t, I'd like to tell you the story of the Tower of Babel.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, while humanity was reconstituting itself after the Flood, the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

Pause. This was not a good idea! While you can understand why they did it--the earth had recently been devastated by the Flood, which was God’s effort to cleanse humanity from the violence and the sin that had characterized it--this was not a good idea!

Humanity wanted to make peace--to find peace--with God! They didn’t want anything like that Flood ever to happen again. So, they decided to take matters into their own hands. They decided to build a tower so high that its top would scrape heaven itself. Then, they reasoned, they would be in the presence of God! They would know what God was doing and, hopefully, they could prevent further disaster from befalling them.

This was their idea but it was not a good one! The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down,” God says, “and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. “Therefore,” scripture says, “it was called Babel--a Hebrew word for jumbled up or scrambled--because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

Today is the Day of Pentecost. And the message for today is, What Went Up, Now Comes Down!

To know what Pentecost is, know what it isn’t! It isn’t the story of the Tower of Babel. But, keeping the story (and the images) of the Tower of Babel in your mind will really help in understanding the true power and the miracle--and the challenge--of Pentecost. What went up, now comes down!

The tower of Babel was all about humanity trying to storm heaven. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.”

This wasn’t the last time people have tried to claw their way into heaven! In fact, it’s rather commonplace. Any time we make a list of rules, laws, beliefs, or actions that, by holding onto, we think we can march our way into the presence of God, we are building a tower of Babel.

Any time we play those games--He’ll surely love me if I do this! God will surely accept me if I act like this!--we’re building a tower of Babel.

God will not have it! Therefore, ... "the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

The story of the Tower of Babel comes from the 11th chapter of Genesis. In the 12th chapter, however, God begins his own plans of bringing God and humanity back in harmony again.

Out of all the scattered people on earth, with all their many languages, God makes a covenant with just one: Abraham and his wife Sarah.

Admitting that they were no wiser, no better, no more righteous than others on earth, God chose this couple to make a covenant with. “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” And then God gave them a mission: “In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God kept his part of the covenant (God always keeps his part of the covenant). Humans, however, did not fare so well.

We kept building Towers of Babel (we keep building towers of Babel)! We keep searching for what we can do to storm our way into heaven. “He has to accept me if I do this! He has to love and save me if I do this!”

The good news of Pentecost, however, is that what went up, now comes down! Maybe the images of the wind blowing and the fire alighting on top of people’s heads is disguising it for you. Make no mistake, however. What we have here is to companion--the reversal--of the Tower of Babel.

What went up, now comes down! Instead of humanity trying to build and claw its way up to God, now God is dramatically descending down to humanity. Instead of God knocking down our towers and scattering and confusing our languages, look at this!

At the sound of the mighty wind, the crowd gathered and was bewildered. Do you know why? The reverse of the Tower of Babel had just taken place! Each one heard the spirit-filled disciples speaking in their native language. Not in the disciples’ native language; no matter where they were from, they heard Jesus’ disciples speaking to them in their native language!

Here’s how scripture put it. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?”

More than a dozen countries and regions are named (nearly the whole known world), and then the miracle of Pentecost is named. “In our own languages,” they say, “we hear [Jesus’ disciples] speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

What went up, now comes down! Because of Pentecost--because God has come down to humanity in and with the Spirit--no one need fear God. No one need--and no one should--try to claw and climb up to God.

When we--and I do mean we--when we share with others what the Bible calls “God’s deeds of power,” we are helping others recognize God in their midst and in their lives.

What went up, then comes down! You could say to someone you know, “There’s this song we sing in my church, I cast all my cares upon you, I lay all of my burdens down at your feet ... That really helps me,” you could say, “When I’m really worried or upset, I try to lay all of my burdens at God’s feet. And, do you know what? It really seems to help!”

You could say, “You know how you say you don’t believe in God? How God is angry, threatening, and judgmental? I don’t believe in that God, either! I believe in a God who comes down to us to help us. I believe in a God who already knows, loves, and cares for us! I believe in a God who already loves you!”

The Tower of Babel was about us. We were scared. We were frightened. We thought what we needed to do was to climb our way up to God. But that was wrong. And so God scattered us and gave us many languages.

Pentecost is about God. What went up, now comes down! God came down to us in Jesus. And now God is coming down to people through the Spirit.

So, please: let other people hear about the wonderful things God is doing. In Jesus’ name. Amen!