Pastor Tom Johnson, May 23, 2021
In our reading from Romans, Paul reminds us that all creation groans for redemption. God hears the howl of the wind through the pines, the waves against the rock, the growl of bear, the song of the mourning dove. All creation groans because there are no words to express the sadness and grief of a beautiful but broken world. As the people of God, we groan for redemption. We long for God to intervene in this world. We yearn for Jesus to come in the power of the Holy Spirit to right every wrong and make all things new. We sigh and groan. There are no words.
As human beings, we often distinguish ourselves from other living things great and small that God created. We like to think of ourselves as being far more intelligent, creative, and with superior linguistic abilities. The latest edition of Websters Dictionary has 470,000 words. It seems we have a word for everything. But sometimes there is a nameless feeling that haunts us. Or there are no words to describe what eludes us. We yearn and hope for that which cannot be spelled out or articulated by the human tongue. There are words that describe those from all around the world who gathered in Jerusalem on Pentecost: bewildered, amazed, astonished, and perplexed. All these words describe people who do not have the words—even in their dozens of languages—they have no words to articulate their spiritual journey.
We all have a limited capacity to hear and to speak even what is deeply stirring in the core of our souls. It can be overwhelming. It can be a lonely place to be—not to be able to share what is weighing so heavily on our hearts. We may feel trapped in the pool of our own emotions and struggles. We may feel that no one can understand because we cannot explain. We may have feelings of unworthiness or inadequacy because we do not have the ability to put our feelings, needs, and yearnings into intelligible speech.
The day of Pentecost is a gathering of Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism from all over the known world. They are bringing back what the Tower of Babel created—the confusion of tongues—a cacophony of prayer, worship, and yearnings from different tribes, nations, peoples, and tongues. The great miracle of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit who takes away this curse of not being understood and the confusion that plagues us. The Holy Spirit gives the Galilean disciples the supernatural ability to speak in a diversity of languages. And the effect is clear: who they are is validated. They are intimately known by God. The are profoundly understood. And now they can hear the fulness of the good news of Jesus—the might acts of God through his eternal Son.
What Paul reminds us of is that this miracle extends to us every day. Who we are is validated by God who calls us each fearfully and wonderfully made. He knows the number of our days, the hairs on our heads, and the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The Holy Spirit is completely fluent in our murmurs, groans, and sighs. Not even we ourselves may understand what we are experiencing, suffering, or yearning for. Thanks be to God that the Holy Spirit knows us more profoundly than we know ourselves. As Paul says, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
God knows us to the very core of our immaterial being. We do not need to agonize or have any pressure to put our prayers into flowery speech. Our whimpers, gasping, and unarticulated breathe is more than enough. We are known so intimately that God does not need for us to articulate our condition or yearning. Even our groans without words are received by God as prayer. The Holy Spirit‘s work in our lives transcends our inability to speak different languages and even to utter words at all.
The Holy Spirit hears and answers our unintended, wordless prayers. As Jesus says in our Gospel, the Holy Spirit is our advocate—our translator—our heart-reader who helps guide us in our life in Christ. He helps us speak to God. He helps us to be known and understood by God. He helps us listen and understand the height, the depth, the width, and the length of the love of Christ— love that surpasses knowledge (Eph 3:18, 19). We are intimately known. And we begin to know that which transcends knowledge—that which cannot be known by mere human understanding. As Psalm 34 (v. 7) says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Our scripture today invites us to be amazed and pray. Pray—even if the words are babel, groans, or sighs—no, especially if they are breaths and sounds too profound to be put into words.
Come, holy Fire, comfort true,
Grant us the will Your work to do
And in Your service to abide;
Let trials turn us not aside.
Lord, by Your power prepare each heart,
And to our weakness strength impart
That bravely here we may contend,
Thru life and death to You, our Lord, ascend.
Alleluia, alleluia!
(“Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord” LSB 497, v. 3)
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