Pentecost: Spirit, Mary, Church
Homily for Whitsunday
The Rev. Marq Toombs+ Curate
The Collect. O GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Today is Pentecost Sunday. This is the day we celebrate the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh. Jews and Gentiles. Parents and Children. Clergy and Laity. Those nearby and far away.
Pentecost is the day we commemorate the reversal of Babel’s curse and the blessed restoration of a common language and community in the Church of Christ.
We remember that just as three thousand idol-worshipers were lost and slain in the wilderness under Moses (Exodus 32), so three thousand disciples were baptized and saved in the City of God’s Peace under Jesus Christ (Acts 2:41).
We reflect on the difference between the three thousand souls who once fled from the face of their enemies in fear (Joshua 7), and the three thousand who turned away from the world to trust the Face of their Savior Jesus Christ (Acts 2:41).
We recall that just as three thousand souls once were led astray by a wicked ruler to seek and destroy their king David (1 Sam. 24; 26), so three thousand souls were cut to the heart and led by the Spirit to bow down and kiss the Son – to embrace the true and better David as Lord and Christ (Acts 2:41).
But today is Pentecost Sunday. And of all the things we could reflect on I want you to reflect on this and rejoice in your Mother with the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit.
Luke the Physician wrote two books to a follower of Jesus named Theophilus: The Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. His name means ‘friend of God’ or ‘lover of God’. Luke wrote these books in order that he and every lover of God (including you) might know the certainty of the things we have been taught concerning Jesus – and continue in the faith of all that Jesus began to do and teach.
At the center of this story sits the Blessed Virgin Mary. Theotokos. The Mother of our Lord. The Mother of God. The Mother of the God-man Jesus Christ. She bookends the story of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
In the Gospel according to Saint Luke, the story opens with angels appearing to a few men and women.
Then the Spirit descends from heaven and overshadows the Blessed Virgin Mary. Jesus is conceived in her womb, carried in her body, and born in the flesh forty weeks later. By the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary gives birth to her Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ the God-man.
Likewise, in the Acts of the Apostles, the story opens with angels appearing to a few men and women.
The Virgin Mary, the apostles, and other family and friends are gathered in the upper room to devote themselves to prayer. Like a pregnant woman they are expecting – waiting and expecting — for Jesus to send the promise, God in the Spirit. Suddenly,like lightening from a clear blue sky, like labor pangs striking the belly of an expectant woman, the Spirit descends from heaven in a whirlwind wind and firestorm.
The Spirit is poured out on Mary, the apostles, and all flesh — on Jew and Gentile, Male and Female, Old and Young alike.
According to the story of the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary is the new Eve, the spiritual mother of all the living, the mother Jesus gave to the disciples whom he loves. If you love him, and he loves you, he has given you his mother.
Mary was present with Jesus from womb to tomb and beyond by the grace of the Holy Spirit. She was present at the incarnation when the Spirit overshadowed her and Jesus was conceived in her womb. And she was present after the ascension when the Spirit was poured out by Jesus on the Church at Pentecost.
Mary is a true disciple of her Son our Savior Jesus Christ. As such, she is a type of the Church who is our Mother. If you want to know what it means to follow Jesus, look to your mother Mary. If you want to know what the true Church of Christ looks like, look to your mother Mary.
Just as one child was born of Mother Mary by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, so now many children are born again of Mother Church, by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
Now that the Spirit has come and overshadows the Church and dwells in our hearts, we may add our voices to the voice of Mary. We may sing with her the holy song that she sang. Consider how the Magnificat takes on new shape, new dimension, new meaning in the mouth of the Church who sings along with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Consider how the Magnificat as Mother Church sings these beautiful words:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
We see the Magnificat fulfilled in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But thanks to the power and presence of the Spirit poured out on us we also see the Magnificat fulfilled in the life of the Church of Jesus Christ, which is his Body and our Mother, by the power and promise of the Holy Spirit.
The promise is for you and your children.
So how shall we now live?
“As Mary, filled with the Spirit, once set out to bring the Good News to her cousin Elizabeth (Lk 1:39-45), so now the Church, filled with the Spirit of Pentecost, sets out to bring the Gospel to the world.” (Fr. Patrick Gaffney, Mary in the Acts of the Apostles)
To our friends and our family. To strangers and aliens. To those nearby and far away. And we do this by word and sacrament, by works of love and service.
Let not your heart be troubled. In this world you do have trouble. But take heart: Jesus has overcome the world. And he has poured out the gift of the Spirit for you.
The Spirit has come down. Now let us rise up and go forth, in the power of the Spirit for the salvation of the world!
