2023-09-19 A Meditation on Wandering Souls

“2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”” (Ac 2:1–13 ESV)

Cultural vagabonds, we can feel like the poor regarding any sense of right interpretation, of languages properly heard and acted upon, of how “things are done ‘round here”. The soldier is called upon mightily, nevermind their service, their dutiful allegiance to the flag, their sacrifice, also to interpret and be on the front line. To be an embedded interpreter. To give the gladsome tidings at the checkpoint. To invest some heart into the matter. To be ambassadors for Christ.

Vagabonds’ blight, properly outfitted yet still homeless, our army points to a legitimacy prior to right interpretation: the legitimacy that says, all men and women may be tested; all that is heard may fall under the rubric of test, silence and devotion may be what are most prized… or instead maybe the lesson is that anything mentioned by way of allusion is to be taken as fact. As though we could no longer use imagined what-ifs, points of illustration, minor confessions of ideas even though emphatically ideas not acted upon. All these are in regard to right knowledge of culture and language. All these are the invite to a little less artistry and a little more purposeful plain-speech and direction. We drive one side of the divide crazy with teachings and minor authority on some subjects, and in turn are driven crazy with how “things are done ‘round here”.

All paranoid ideations begin to melt upon the gladsome tiding or the meal shared. People are people, and we learn an important life lesson: that some men and women are particularly tried, emphatically tested, trying just by way of their own prerogative to “do the right thing”. They are indeed on our side. They are indeed in consternation at what evil and jealousies and threats surface “out there”. They are simply humans doing human things.

Therefore the mandate, the cultural no-matter, the end of ambassadorship and beginning of an arms race, a forward battle, a breach of trust: how long can this be postponed? How much can we give space to proper little principles: Matthew 18:15, in reference to a bad “code of silence,” “shunning”:

“15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (Mt 18:15–17)

And the God-given right to testify in our own defense, how poverty-stricken we are not for realizing sooner what deeds out of a canvas of deeds are “fallen upon a rock”, “evident to all”, rather than those deeds that get brushed under a carpet of just being “life as life is lived”. Each of us is a theologian; each of us knows trials and temptations and blatant sin. Each of us tries to establish a good track record, in light of the perennial need for a Gospel that begins with penitence, that listens to the first words out of our mouths, not obsessing, but knowing that here and now we are preaching a “gospel” with those words, and are they found submissive? Are they found meek? Are they found glorious unto God?