Acts 2:1-21

There is a story about a little boy who woke up one night after a frightening nightmare. He was convinced that there were all kinds of monsters under his bed and in every corners of his room. He ran to his parents’ bedroom and after his mother had calmed him down, she took him back to his own room and said, “You don’t need to be afraid; you aren’t alone here. God is right here with you in your room.” The little boy replied, “I know that God is here, but I need someone in my room; someone that has some skin on!”

Today we celebrate Pentecost and usually when we do that we speak about languages and fire. However, today I would like to approach this celebration from a different perspective; I would like to put together Christmas and Pentecost and talk about Incarnation. Incarnation is defined as, “a person who embodies in the flesh a deity, spirit, or abstract quality.”

In Christian theology, Incarnation is the belief that in Jesus Christ, God “was made flesh.”  John 1:1 and 2 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” That is what we celebrate in Christmas, that God came down and we saw him in Jesus. John 14:9 says, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 10:30 says, “I and the Father are one.”

According to John 1:18 part of the purpose of the Incarnation was to make God known. “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” We know God because Jesus of Nazareth incarnated Him. We know about Gpd’s love and mercy because of Jesus. We know about His commitment with His creation because of Jesus. Now the question is: Did this Incarnation end last Sunday when the Church celebrated Jesus ascended to heaven?     

If we carefully read chapter 2 in the book of Acts, we will see that the incarnation did not just suddenly came to an end when Jesus ascended to heaven. The incarnation is still going on – it is physically real today as it was when Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine.

When the Holy Spirit came to fill those believers on that very first Pentecost, God once again took on flesh. God again took some skin. Not exactly as happened when Jesus was born – for Jesus is God – and we all know that no other human being can be God! In Pentecost God took on flesh when He poured His Spirit over His followers. When He came and made our bodies His temple. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”

During the celebration of Pentecost God sent the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit filled those present in the Upper Room and God was made visible once again; He has put on our skin. And by giving us the Holy Spirit, God awakens in each of us the gifts God needs to continue to be present in this exhausted old world. During the first Pentecost, God became dependent upon human beings in a whole new way – and God has been dependent on us ever since. He needs our bodies to continue healing, loving and reaching others to His kingdom.

The season of Pentecost begins today. Sometimes it is called the Season of Ordinary Time because nothing too exciting happens in the liturgical calendar. During the next six months the vestments and alter linens will be always green until the Season of Advent arrives, and once again we find ourselves waiting for the coming of the Messiah.

As much as I love the seasons of Advent and Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Easter, I suspect that in many ways, the long, seemingly boring season of Pentecost is perhaps the most important season of the church liturgical calendar because it’s the season when God once again can be seen, it’s the time when God fills us up with the Holy Spirit so that we can be renewed as Body of Christ and continue to make sure that God has skin. It is the season when we are called to allow those gifts with which God has blessed us, to be used so that those who need God in their lives – a real, physical God with skin – will be able to find and see God in us and through us as happened with Jesus 2000 years ago.

During this Season of Pentecost, we must act in such a way to make sure that the incarnation continues through us the Body of Christ so that all those in our communities who need God’s unconditional love will be able to find it by finding a God with skin through us. A God … who will hold them when they need to be held, who will even fix a leaky faucet for them. A God who will stop for a cup of coffee and share time with those who are lonely, who will comfort and reassure them when they are afraid,

A God… who will laugh with them when they are delighted, who will run an errand for them when they are homebound, who will pick up the phone to let someone know that they are being thought of. A God who will mourn with them when they grieve,

A God… who will house them when they are homeless, feed them when they are hungry, and visit them when they are in prison, who will sit silently with them when they simply need a quiet companion by their side.

When Jesus begun his ministry he made his the words of Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor… to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”

Sisters and brothers the Spirit Isaiah and Jesus are talking about, the Spirit who helped them to do all what is described in Isaiah 61, is the same Spirit God sent over the disciples and us during Pentecost. We have embodied the Spirit of the Lord. Through the Holy Spirit God has Incarnated in us for the same reason he did in Jesus of Nazareth: to show God.

          Just remember many people is in the same condition of the little boy from the story I shared with you at the beginning. They know God is with them; they know God is real. However sometimes they need to see God; they need God with some skin on

          Remember what Teresa de Avila said:

          Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which He looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are His body.

Let us celebrate Pentecost making God visible.