June 13, 2025

Today's Reading: Acts 2:1-21

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 27:12-23; Luke 23:26-56

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.” (Acts 2:1)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus conquered death, and we figure everything’s got to be different now. The Pharisees were still running the temple. Caiaphas still offered sacrifices there as High Priest, refusing to believe he had already sacrificed the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The city was still under Roman occupation. The crowd still didn’t do anyone any favors by paying attention to them. Remember who this crowd is. They cried for a revolution when Jesus rode into town on a donkey. They cried for a cross when He didn’t deliver. On Pentecost, the Twelve didn’t seek a crowd eager to hear them; the crowd heard a great noise and went to add to it. Pentecost wasn’t the sanctioned and safe beginning of an enthusiastic church that took over the culture that we imagine.   

We know the miracle of Pentecost—that tongues of fire danced over the apostles’ heads while they preached in languages they never knew. The disciples were brought by God, not to preach to those who gathered together cheerfully after making all the right choices in the middle of it. They preached to the sinners who cried out for the death of God. They preached to the terrified. They preached to the confused who did their best and second-guessed it every step of the way. They preached to those who heard what God would call good and mocked it, then called the messengers drunk for it. They preached to us.  

This is the crowd God sends preachers to. Peter preaches hope, not in an action plan for the future. Not in being on the side that made the right choices. Not even in being the ones who boycotted Target the first time things got weird. He preaches to the ones who put Jesus to death. He tells them Jesus died because of them and for them. Of the sins of all the sinners gathered that day, the selfishness, the arrogance, the anger, the idolatry are covered in the blood of God, which pays the price for the evil they work. The sinners are forgiven. The path forward is, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” It gives a new identity. Every nation gathered in Jerusalem was given a new identity that joined them together. Baptized. Christian. Those who called upon the name of the Lord and were saved.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord, With all Your graces now outpoured On each believer's mind and heart; Your fervent love to them impart. Lord, by the brightness of Your light In holy faith Your Church unite; From ev'ry land and ev'ry tongue This to Your praise, O Lord, our God, be sung: Alleluia, alleluia! (LSB 497:1)

- Rev. Harrison Goodman, Higher Things Executive Director of Mission and Theology.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

In Clarifying the Great Commission, Rev. Daniel Christian Voth identifies common omissions from our collective understanding of Jesus’ farewell discourse—omissions that turn Christ’s promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation into a legalistic command. Come and discover a richer understanding of The Great Commission.