N.T. Wright on Pentecost

Its Pentecost Sunday, the one day of the year where we are all Pentecostal … to some extent or other.

Any way, here’s a great quote from N.T. Wright’s Pentecost sermon from 2009:

The claim of Pentecost, from Acts 2 and Ephesians 4 and Romans 8 and all those other great Spirit-texts in the New Testament, especially John 13—16, is precisely that the rule which the ascended Lord Jesus exercises on earth is exercised through his Spirit-filled people. No doubt we do need ‘comforting’ in the modern sense of that word, cheering up when we’re sad. But we need, far more do we need, ‘comforting’ in the older sense of ‘strengthening’, strengthening-by-coming-alongside. Just as, in human ‘comfort’, a strange thing happens, that the sheer presence, even the silent presence, alongside us of a friend gives us fresh courage and hope, how much more will the presence alongside us and within us of the Spirit of Jesus himself give us courage and hope not simply to cheer up in ourselves but to be strong to witness to his Lordship, his sovereign rule, over the world where human rulers mess it up and ignorant armies clash by night. So being ‘exalted to the place where Jesus has gone before’ is precisely not about being snatched away from this wicked world and its concerns. On the contrary, it is to be taken in the power of the Spirit to the place from which the world is run. ‘God raised us up with him,’ declares St Paul, ‘and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’. And only when you continually remind yourself what this means will you understand why he goes on to say that God’s plan is to unveil his many-splendoured wisdom through the church before the surprised and alarmed eyes of the principalities and powers. The whole letter to the Ephesians is all about this, and in case you think it sounds a bit easy, a bit cheaply triumphalistic, read the letter through to the end and you’ll find that it commits us to unceasing and vigilant spiritual warfare, taking the whole armour of God and being prepared to suffer for our cheerful witness to his kingdom..