THE POWER OF LANGUAGE

Pentecost Sunday

May 19, 2013

Genesis 11:1-11

Acts 2:1-21

(prayer)

In 1799, during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, on a military expedition to Egypt, a soldier was working on shoring up the defenses of an old Ottoman Empire era fort.  He noticed that one of the stones that made up part of Fort Julien had some inscribed writing on it.  A closer examination discovered that the text was carved in three languages:  ancient Greek and two Egyptian languages: Demotic (used ~650 – 400BCE) and Hieroglyphics (used from as early as 4000BCE).  Fort Julien was near the Egyptian town of Rashid (on Nile delta near the Mediterranean Sea), which the French referred to as Rosette.  This multilingual piece of granite has become known as the Rosetta Stone.

Because Ancient Greek was known, scholars were able to learn how to begin to translate Egyptian Demotic and the Hieroglyphics.  The Rosetta Stone was one of the most significant archeological discoveries of the last few hundred years.

It has become symbolic of the value of understanding – the power of language.

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If you saw the facebook event for today’s service, you may have noticed that the picture I used was a screen shot from the 1967 Paul Newman movie Cool Hand Luke, right about the point that the warden (aka ‘The Captain’) beats Luke down – and says the iconic line: “What we got here...is...failure to communicate.”

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So many problems in our world come down to a simple failure to communicate.  There are times, we simply don’t understand each other, but too often, we choose not to listen.  We are so set in our ways, in our experiences, in our desires, that we forget our interconnectedness. 

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The reading from Genesis 11 comes from what is sometimes referred to as the pre-history section of the Bible’s first book.  In the next chapter (12) when we begin to hear about the travels of Abraham, the events become easier to assign to a period of historical time that we can measure. 

But the first eleven chapters are different – they are a series of legendary stories that describe why the world is as it is.

There are four of these stories:

ÿ   The creation of the world and the beginnings of life: chapters one and two (seven day creation; making of first humans);

ÿ   The start of human civilization apart from a perfect paradise: chapters three and four (exclusion from the garden; murder of Abel; the descendants of Cain);

ÿ   A re-creative re-boot of the human race: chapters five to ten (Noah and the Flood);

ÿ   The Tower of Babel: chapter 11 (which we read today).

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It is likely that the basic stories existed long before they were solidified and fleshed out written form. 

For some people, I know the precise historicity of these ancient Genesis stories is a controversial issue (either you think they are literally true or they are more symbolic), but I suspect that everyone can agree that they were more important to the ancient Hebrews because of what they meant, rather than the events they describe.

Leading up to the story of the Tower of Babel, in chapters five to ten (as I said) is the story of Noah.  You may recall that Noah was said to have been the one righteous man in an era of human wickedness [note the big themes that are characteristic of these pre-history stories; the extreme language of all or one].  Earlier I called this a re-creative re-boot of the human race.  It is as if God is so bothered by the direction of humanity – human civilization has become so different from the good creation of Genesis one and the perfect garden of Genesis two, that God decides to start over.

By the end of Noah’s story, a literal historian would have to admit that all humanity on earth could trace their family line back to Noah – everyone had a common cultural-religious heritage and spoke one language. 

That is the context of the Babel story.  The people that settled on the plain of Shinar were a united people – highly industrious and motivated.  They built a grand city, with a massive tower as its central feature.

[Aside: one of the most common (but untrue) assumptions made about this story is that the people were trying to build a tour to reach “heaven” – where God was.  The Hebrew word for heaven is “Shamayim” (שָּׁמַיִם): technically it is plural (‘im is a plural suffix), but the same word is also used in the singular – heavens or heaven.  Later in Judaism heaven (singular) became known as a place of holiness where God and angels existed.  But in the beginning of Genesis, it simply means the heavens (plural) above the firmament of the sky, where high clouds and stars and the sun and moon existed and moved over the flat earth, which was surrounded by an infinitely deep ocean.  The fairest interpretation of the tower of Babel is not that they were trying to reach God, but that they built it very high – an impressive skyscraper – a civic show piece.]

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The re-creative re-boot with Noah had this unintended consequence: God was nervous about the negative potential of the human race, so the divine decision was to tinker again with creation - slow the people down a bit, by making it harder to communicate.

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In and of itself, it is a very strange story.  But think of it in the context of the purpose of the pre-history stories – they help explain why the world is as it is.

I like to imagine that this story was first told on a grandfather’s knee: 

“Grampa, if Noah’s family was the only one to survive the flood, they would have all spoken the same language, right?  Then, why are there so many languages in the world today?”

“Well, kiddo, there was this great city on the plain of Shinar...”

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The implication in the story is that language has power – power to create and develop; power to expand knowledge - as ideas are shared. 

That power can be very positive and... it can be abused for selfish purposes (as the story of Babel assumes).  When the ability to share a common language (either through the same tongue or translation) is lost – the potential opportunities for cooperation diminish significantly.

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Contrast that with the Pentecost story in Acts.

The Festival of Weeks was a spring harvest festival.  The bible doesn’t give us any hint whether it was a year for bumper crops or drought, but we do know that a large number of pilgrims were in Jerusalem from all over the eastern Mediterranean region and western Asia.

A few weeks ago, I spoke about the fact that while many of the Hebrew people lived in Judea and Galilee, there was also a significant population from other parts of the known world (called The Jewish Diaspora).

As some of you know, I was in NYC recently – the most cosmopolitan city I have ever been to.  A simple ride on the subway allowed me to hear a variety of languages and view obvious outward signs of a mix of cultures.

It is an exciting experience for me every time: to be reminded how varied our human family is.

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 Although, I also observed that for the most part the cultures didn’t interact a lot – everyone was having their own conversations – most of which I couldn’t understand.

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I imagine the scene at that festival in Jerusalem was similar.  And I imagine that people sort of stuck to their own groups beyond attending the services at the Temple.  Maybe there was some pleasant eye contact or the occasional multi-lingual mingling, but my guess is that people stuck to others with whom they shared things in common.

The power of language (or lack thereof) did not allow them to do anything more.

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The followers of Jesus were still practicing self-isolation.  Like they were (in the first days after Jesus’ crucifixion) they are not out and about among the festival goers.  Some of them had likely returned home in the intervening fifty days, but here they were, back in Jerusalem, huddled all together in a house.  Even though they had experienced the mystery of resurrection, they seemed to be acting still out of fear.

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Then they heard the sound – like a gust of violent wind was flowing through the house – but it wasn’t wind (the air wasn’t moving).  The sound was just getting their attention when they saw... well they didn’t know what it was, it was a light of some kind, like a flame, but it wasn’t on fire.  And it divided into many parts and touched everyone in the room.  Was it like a slow moving lightning that did not thunder or burn? 

This was too specific of a situation to be random – something extraordinary was going on.

Then this was followed by the sound of words – some of them were talking in strange languages... this was not the sound of earth, but the sound of heaven - they were convinced of that. 

The Holy Spirit was at work among them; they felt that much, for sure.

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At some point, it was noticed that there seemed to be some commotion in the street outside.  The crowds had noticed the wind-like sound and when people drew close to the house, they could hear the strange words that the disciples were speaking – only they weren’t strange to the people in the street, they were familiar. 

Some in the crowd were amazed at how well these Galilean disciples could speak their native tongue – even their accents were excellent.

Then they realized a strange thing beyond the words – the disciples seemed to be speaking all the crowd’s native tongues. simultaneously.  But... that’s impossible.  What does this mean?

After the mysterious sounds faded away, they told the story of what had happened to newcomers to the scene.

It sounds like you’re all drunk!

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Then Simon Peter spoke.  And he tried to explain what he thought had happened.

This is a sign, Peter said, that God is in a saving mood.  Remember the words of Joel, the prophet: people of all walks of life having visions, dreaming dreams, prophesising.  Joel said that this will happen ‘before the coming of God’s great and glorious day!’  Today must be that day!

I imagine that somewhere in the back of Peter’s mind was one of the first messages he heard Jesus preach:  We are near to the Kingdom of God.

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·      Babel – one people, one language – speech confused.

·      Pentecost – many peoples, many languages – speech understood.

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The power of language on display.

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When I conduct marriage preparation with couples, we always talk about the value of good communication.  I remind couples that it is not as simple as just listening.  It is all about “understanding”.  The message that is intended in one person’s minds should find that same message understood in the other person’s mind.

Between a meeting of minds can happen, there are many obstacles that the message must navigate:

Ø  The words we chose;

Ø  The assumptions we make about language, what words mean, and any number of filters we put our message through before it comes out of our mouth;

Ø  Once out there it is bombarded by the environment – distractions in the room, background noise;

Ø  Even if it’s made it was to the other person’s ear relatively intact, it has to go through all of their assumptions and filters, before that person can interpret what they think that message means.

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You all know (from conversations that you’ve had) that this process rarely works flawlessly.  At one time or another, we have all had to claim the defense: “But that’s not what I meant!”

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Listening is about having a conversation – discussion back and forth, until we reach the goal of understanding, not just hearing!

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The people of Babel could not understand each other, so their progress was stalled.

The people on Pentecost saw new possibilities that they did not even realize existed.

For Jesus’ disciples, the days of huddling quietly in houses of isolation were over.  Their message would go global.

The power of language on display.

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God sends the Spirit for the sake of life. God sends the Spirit to birth Christian community in Acts 2, and to empower mission that laid before the Pentecost followers of Jesus.

Jesus’ final teaching to his followers on the night of his arrest reminds us that God sends the Spirit to be a companion, an advocate, a helper - moving us from scattered isolation into gathered community.

God sends the Spirit to move us forward in faith.

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Today, seven weeks after Easter Sunday is Pentecost Sunday:  it has become a significant day within Christianity, as the harvest ‘Festival of Weeks’ (50 days [or seven weeks] after Passover – also known as Pentecost) was to the Hebrew people of Jesus’ day.

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Today, we do more than read about an experience that Peter and the others had almost 2000 years ago.  We are challenged to believe that we are people of an active Spirit – that the helper/advocate [Greek: παράκλητος - paraclete] Jesus spoke of on the night of his arrest, is a present reality in our journey of faith, here and now.

So, what is your experience of God’s Spirit.  

What is your experience of God’s Spirit in your life.

What is your experience of God’s Spirit in your life in your congregation here at St. David’s.

What is your experience of God’s Spirit in your life in the world?

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Part of my understanding of the passages we read today is that (although united in one Spirit) our experience of spirit can be as varied as we are.  God is big enough to exist within that variety.

Using the imagery of the Acts reading, the Spirit comes to us where we are (in our own native tongue, so to speak).

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My hope and prayer for all of us this day (and always) is that we may be open to the winds of God that can move us in the ways of Jesus’ mission of compassion and justice.

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[prayer]

Let us pray:

May we feel your spirit, O God in the birthing and re-birthing of our faith.  And God, with the spirit’s help, send us forth in mission.  Amen.