The Promise of Pentecost and the Call to Mission (Sermon)
This was one of those Sundays that I ended up skipping my prepared sermon outline and going in a different direction. I ran the audio recording through a transcriber to produce this manuscript of the sermon as I preached it: May 17, 2026, Seventh Sunday after Easter (Year A), at Ebenezer UMC and Black Creek UMC. This is the text of the sermon as preached at Black Creek.
Next Sunday is Pentecost. We sometimes refer to that day as the birthday of the church because that is when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the people gathered in Jerusalem at the temple for the Jewish festival of Pentecost. Part of the celebration of that festival was to commemorate the giving of the law through Moses. And so, here people were gathered to hear the preaching of the apostles, and they received the word of God through that preaching as the Holy Spirit was poured upon them.
Today, this Sunday before Pentecost, we look at what took place just before that, when Jesus met with his disciples for forty days after his resurrection. For forty days, he spent time with them—praying with them, eating with them, sharing with them, teaching them, and preparing them for the mission that was to come.
“Go into all the world and make disciples for me. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them all the things that I have taught you.”
He reminds them, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. And now I am giving you this authority to do this in my name.” This is your mission. This is who we are as the church. This is what we are to be about.
The “Face Palm” Question
And so, here in these last few moments with the disciples, they come together and ask him a question: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Now, I want to stop for a moment right there, because that is a face-palm moment. You know, I think Jesus invented the face palm because he repeatedly told his disciples things and they just didn’t get it. He told them at least three times—because we have it recorded three times in the scriptures, and he probably told them even more—”I have to go to Jerusalem. I’ll be turned over to evil men. I will be crucified, but on the third day, I will rise.” And they still didn’t get it.
Peter said, “If they all turn and run, I will be faithful to you, even to death. I’ll die with you, Lord.”
And Jesus said, “No, you won’t. You’ll deny even being a part of my life three times before the cock crows.”
“No, I’ll go with you even to death,” Peter insisted.
And yet, what happened? Three times he denied knowing Jesus, and the cock crowed. I can just see Jesus turning around and shaking his head.
And so here they are. They have witnessed the resurrection. They have witnessed the promise of God fulfilled in Jesus. They have witnessed their Master risen from the dead. They have witnessed him sharing bread and fish and everything else around the table. They shared in conversation, and they shared in the teaching he continued to give to prepare them. He was telling them, reminding them, “You will be my body. You are the body of Christ, redeemed by my blood, and I am sending you with the authority I give you.”
And the question they ask is, “Is this now the time you’ll restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Misunderstanding the Messiah
Remember on Palm Sunday how we saw what happened? Jesus says, “It’s time for me to ride into Jerusalem.” After all, he is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. He gives them very specific instructions: “I want you to go to this place, find a donkey, and bring it to me.”
Now, I don’t know what the disciples were thinking. Why is he after a donkey? Kings should ride in on a steed. At the very least, he should be on top of a horse. Even better, he should be riding on the back of a chariot armed with spears and swords and everything needed to overthrow Rome! Will you now restore Israel to the kingdom? Will you do this? So, when Jesus rides in on a donkey, people are standing there at the city watching. They’re probably thinking, Well, it’s not a horse, but it is an animal. He is riding in. And they were shouting and throwing down their cloaks, their overcoats, their garments, and palm branches for the donkey to ride over. And what were they shouting?
“Hosanna!”
What does hosanna mean? Save us. Save us. Because here was the person they were hoping would be the Messiah.
Isn’t that what the two disciples on the way to Emmaus said to Jesus? When they were walking along talking, Jesus asked, “What are you talking about?” They didn’t recognize him. They said, “Are you the only one from Jerusalem who doesn’t know what’s going on? How Jesus, a great and wise teacher, was turned over to the authorities and crucified? We had hoped that he would be the one who would deliver us from our oppression.”
You see, even as they say that, they have an expectation in their mind for what a Messiah is supposed to be: You will come and deliver us from the Romans. Well, Jesus came to deliver us from something far more powerful than the Roman Empire. He came to deliver us from another dominion—a dominion of sin, death, and destruction.
And so here are these disciples: “Is this the hour, Lord? Are you going to do this?” And he face-palms. He says, “It’s not for you to know the times or the periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” Remember, even earlier he said that not even the Son knows; only the Father knows this. And yet, for two thousand years, people keep talking about how this is the time, these are the end days, this is going to happen now. And it hasn’t happened yet, because God does things in his own time. God does things according to his own will.
Distracted by the Wrong Dangers
It reminds me of when I lived at the beach and people would constantly talk about sharks. “Sharks in the water!” Before getting in, parents would look out and say, “Hold on, wait, let me look for sharks. Let me see if there’s a fin floating around. We don’t want to get bit by sharks.”
Even though over all those years and decades, there had been very few—maybe two or three—shark attacks. Yet every year, every summer, people get killed crossing Highway 12 trying to get to the beach. What’s more dangerous: the sharks, or the cars on the road? We get hung up over things that are not important and miss those that are.
Peter reminds those who are listening to the reading of his letter: You’re going to suffer. That’s inevitable. You’re going to suffer, but do not despair. Cast all your anxieties on the Lord because he will deliver us. Even in this moment of weakness, when our adversary, the devil, is prowling around like a lion looking for people to devour, be strong. Be strong in the Lord. Be steadfast and endure.
The Blueprint for Witnessing: Four Circles of Mission
So the disciples ask, “Lord, is this the time when you will deliver your people and restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Jesus says, “Okay, folks, listen very carefully to what I have to tell you. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And now I am going to give you a specific authority. This is what you’re to do: You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit when he has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. You will be my witnesses.”
Witnesses are very important in the Bible. The scriptures talk a lot about them. For example, in the Old Testament, there is a law stating that you may not convict someone on the testimony of just one witness. You must have the testimony of at least two witnesses, because otherwise, it’s just one person’s word against another.
The importance of the testimony of two becomes central to Jesus as he teaches, prepares, and trains his disciples. When he sends out the apostles, and later when he sends out the seventy-two on their mission, does he send them out solo? No. He sends them out in pairs, in twos. They are to go and witness that the kingdom of God has come, and that people are invited to be a part of it. Once you were no people, Peter says, now you are God’s own people. “You are to be my witnesses. Take that authority, be my witnesses, and go.” And he gives them four distinct groups: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
1. Jerusalem: Those Closest to Us
You are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem. What does he mean by that? He means the people we are the closest to—our family members.
Let me tell you this: I know from experience, and I hear it from others, that sometimes it is easier to witness to complete strangers than it is to your own family. You know what I mean? Because they know who you are. They know your sinfulness. They know your weaknesses. They know exactly where you have fallen down again and again. But they have also seen you being brought back up by the grace of God to continue. Still, it makes it hard to witness to family, to your closest friends, and to your co-workers.
And yet, this is the first group that Jesus gives us. This is the first group you are to bear witness to. The people who are around you in your life right now—these are the people you first witness to for me. This is your Jerusalem.
2. Judea: Those Who Are Like Us
Second, he says, “I am sending you to Judea.”
Judeans were people who shared a common heritage. When we talk about the biblical narrative, we use different phrases and words to describe them because they were called different things at different times. From the time of Abraham on, they were known as the Hebrews. When we talk about their time in Egypt, we talk about how God saw the oppression of the Hebrew people and sent Moses to deliver them—to lead them through the sea, into the wilderness, and to the Promised Land.
These Hebrews then became Judahites as they settled in the land of Judah and Benjamin. Later, when the ten northern tribes split off from the two southern tribes, the north came to be known as Israel, and the south was called Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel was eventually destroyed by Assyria, who scattered those ten tribes across the world—and to this day, we don’t know where they are.
But the southern two tribes remained until Babylon came and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, tore down its walls, and destroyed the temple. The Babylonians took the cream of the crop—the political leaders, the religious leaders, and the people of wealth and status—and dragged them into exile in Babylon for seventy years, leaving behind everyone else. To make things worse, they brought in outsiders from other parts of the world to settle the area because they wanted to get everyone discombobulated. It’s easier to control discombobulated people than it is to control organized people.
The people of Judah who returned from Babylon began to be called Jews. When Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon, he told them, “Go back and rebuild your temple, rebuild your walls, rebuild your city. I’m even going to give you money to do it.” And he sent them back.
These people—our Judea—are the people we identify with. They are the people who look like us, talk like us, and have similar backgrounds. After sending us to our family, closest friends, and co-workers, God sends us to our Judea. We naturally associate with them because we speak the same language.
3. Samaria: Those We Have Rejected
But then he goes a step further: “Third, after your Jerusalem, after your Judea, then I’m going to send you to Samaria.”
Now, we know what they thought about Samaritans. Remember how the Babylonians left behind the lower classes, the “people of the land”? When Cyrus sent the Jewish exiles back from Babylon to rebuild the temple, those local people wanted to join in the rebuilding. But they were told, “No. You’re impure. You intermarried with outsiders. You aren’t pure like us; you can’t be a part of this.”
Because they were banned from worshiping at the temple in Jerusalem, they worshiped at their own temple in Samaria. They came to be known as Samaritans.
It is no wonder that when Jesus was passing through Samaria and stopped at a village well, the woman he spoke to was completely astonished. First of all, a Jew was speaking to a Samaritan, and secondly, a man was speaking to a woman out in public!
Jesus said to her, “If you knew who I was, you’d be asking me for water, because I can offer you living water.”
She started debating theology: “Well, our ancestors worshiped here in Samaria, and your ancestors worship in Jerusalem, but we believe that there is a Christ who will come who will deliver his people.”
And do you know what Jesus said? “I am he. I am that person.”
Not only did she believe him, she ran back to her village and said, “I want you to come and meet a man who knows everything about me and still loves me. Come meet a man who indeed is from God—more than that, he is the Christ, the Messiah!”
The villagers were ecstatic. They believed her because they saw something so powerful in her changed life. They went out to Jesus and said, “We believed her word, but now we want to see for ourselves.” And through their direct relationship with Jesus, they came to know him.
Do you know what they called Jesus? They were the first people in the entire Bible to call Jesus the Savior of the world.
Think about what that means. Jesus wasn’t just sent to a particular tribe. He wasn’t sent just to a group of people who looked alike, thought alike, and shared the same history. Jesus was sent into the world because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. So this third group Jesus sends his disciples to is the very group they had despised, disliked, and deemed unworthy of fellowship. Their ancestors had denied them the opportunity to build and worship at the temple. But Jesus says, “Now I am sending you to accept these people, to receive them, and to embrace them with my love. You are my body. You are my arms, my hands, my feet. You are the voice of grace and love from God in their lives. You will love the people you once hated, the people you would have preferred to just disappear.”
4. The Ends of the Earth
Finally, he commands them to go to the ends of the earth. Christ is King. God’s kingdom has come on earth in Christ, and he is inviting everyone to become a part of it. He is sending us to be his messengers, his voice, and his embrace.
Yes, we are earthen vessels. We have leaks, cracks, and chips. But nevertheless, God has chosen to fill us with the Holy Spirit and use us as instruments of grace in the world around us.
Don’t Just Stand There
After Jesus shared all this with the apostles, he was taken up into heaven. They went and gathered in a room with the other disciples, with the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. But as he was ascending, they were all just standing there, staring up into the sky with their mouths open.
Suddenly, two men appeared among them—undoubtedly angels. They said:
“Men of Galilee, why are you standing there with your mouths hanging open? Didn’t you hear what he said? He wants you to go! Don’t just stand there—do something! Go in his authority to share his message, to proclaim his love, to announce forgiveness, and to declare that the kingdom of heaven has come near and they are invited to be a part of it.”
Maybe that is exactly what the angels are saying to us today. Why are you just sitting there? God has a plan for you. His plan is for you to go and share this message with your Jerusalem, with your Judea, with your Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Share the message of God. Embrace people in the name of God. Love people for the sake of Christ, so that we may truly be God’s people.
Once we were no people, but now we are God’s people—a holy nation, a royal priesthood. That is who we are. We can do this because Jesus says we can, and because God is making it possible.
Don’t just stand there.
Go in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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