For centuries Lutherans have been interested in being tidy, at least as far as Holy Scripture is concerned. In the sixteenth century, harmonies of the Gospels began to proliferate. Harmonies were homogenized accounts of the four Gospels and on occasion, the Acts of the Apostles. The harmonies purported to filter out the conflicting “facts” of the various New Testament books, thereby rendering a smooth, clear account of Jesus’ life and ministry unencumbered by the differences of viewpoint among the Gospels. Lutherans published several of them and began appending them to their worship books. This trend lasted into the twentieth century. Some of the books you may have inherited from your great-grandparents likely include such a tale.
While a generic account may seem a good idea, it really does violence to the writings of the Evangelists. As Luke observes at the beginning of his Gospel, “many” were moved to set down orderly accounts of the wondrous acts of God these eyewitnesses had seen and experienced. Each brought a perspective, specific experiences, and insights to their accounts. These deserve to be heard. Eyewitnesses shared with others, who shared with still more people, who finally got around to sharing with us. Had we the opportunity to speak with the disciples about Jesus we would gain a substantially different understanding about him than had we spoken to the woman at the well, the man born blind, or Nicodemus. They, too, brought valid testimony and witness to bear on what we now receive in faith.
The courts do not let the accused get together lest they drum up alibis – a suspicious type of Harmony. Parents rightly suspect their children of collusion upon returning home to find a window broken and their scruffy darlings looking oddly guilty. It takes some time to sift out what happened from their hastily invented cover story.
The wise folks who brought together the biblical canon [the collection of writings constituting the Bible] allowed the discrepancies to remain. One hopes those biblical scholars wanted all the Evangelists to have their say. We should be as generous even though it means doing our homework rather than accepting a watered-down, bland text called a harmony. This is particularly the case for the Festivals of the Ascension and of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon God’s faithful.
The first reading for Pentecost is from the second chapter of Acts. Last Thursday’s Ascension follows the chronology given in the first chapter: Christ is taken up into heaven forty days after the resurrection. The second chapter continues to count the days until the fiftieth, when “a sound like the rush of a violent wind” ushers in the Holy Spirit. Tidy, indeed, and as the author says, researched to give “an orderly account.” Another story emerges as the Gospel of John is read some minutes later.
20…After [Jesus] said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. [John 20:20-22]
John’s writing [the last of the Gospels written] reveals he was not as familiar with Gospel stories known to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He had other things to relate to folks since he was writing for a different group of believers. Some things are familiar – the hands and side — and then a much quieter bestowal of the Spirit as Jesus exhales, not the roar of Luke’s account. Thomas is nowhere to be found. The Spirit’s quiet presence empowers the disciples to forgive sins. Interestingly, this encounter with Jesus happens on the evening of his resurrection, not fifty days later.
The Spirit’s lively presence in our lives cannot be controlled by fixation on tidiness, exact dates, or attempts to limit the Spirit to words on a page. Jesus tells Nicodemus in chapter three of John, “8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Instead, the Spirit invites all of us to rejoice that God has called us into a crazily diverse, gifted community of believers empowered by the Spirit to go out into all the world, whenever and however each person’s gifts make possible. Rejoice, too, that the Spirit continues to be poured out on faithful people to continue telling this Good News to a hungry world.