Sermon at Saint Margaret’s Anglican Church, Budapest

(2026.05.24)Pentecost, Year AActs 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23

A couple days ago I watched a video of the launch of SpaceX Starship – a towering beast of a rocket that harnesses together 33 rocket engines to form one mammoth super-rocket. It was so powerful it seemed to even shake my monitor.

It also reminded me of the remote-controlled Chevy Corvette I got for Christmas as a kid. Unfortunately, my brother’s Camero was a bit faster, so I needed a way to add more power. Not fully understanding Ohm’s Law, I found some spare wire, duct-taped six of those old, bulky “D-cell” batteries across its top and connected them to the compartment housing 4 puny AA batteries. If only I would have been able to squeeze 33 D-cells onto it…

While the launch was not quite as impressive as the Starship’s, I did succeed in inadvertently recreating that iconic movie scene from “Back to the Future,” where the car disappeared, leaving behind only tracks of flames…

Ultimately, the fate of both vessels – Corvette and Starship – climaxed with a gush of wind and fire – and then a baptism of water.

Today, on Pentecost, we celebrate being filled with a supernatural power that surpasses even the rumble and roar of 33 rocket engines. However, to understand its importance, we need to go back to the opening pages of the Bible.

God creates the universe, fills the earth with beauty and goodness, plants and animals, and creates humanity by breathing into Adam and Eve. “Breath”, “wind”, and “spirit” are the same word in Hebrew and Greek – God breathes spirit, breathes life into these people he loves.

But that people rebels.

Instead of dwelling together with God in paradise and living out the life he intended for them, they fall prey to the temptation that has plagued humanity ever since: they want to be like God, without any external limits, to be in control of their own lives – ultimately, to be in control of their relationship with God.

So, they defy the command not to eat the fruit. They grieve the Holy Spirit that God had breathed into them and consequently, die. Not completely, but essentially. They go on “living” for a number of years, but their communion with God’s Spirit has been fractured.

Humanity has been alienated from the life of God, cast out of the Garden into the wilderness – with no way back. Two angels with flaming swords stand as enforcers of the curse.

Yet God promises that one day things will change. One of their great-great-great-great-great-grandsons will eventually crush the head of the serpent that deceived them. This Messiah – or “anointed one” – will lead to a Great Reversal, where humanity will be rescued from sin, death, and destruction, and be offered a second chance – to be reunited, reconciled to God.

All of Scripture, either directly or indirectly, addresses the two questions that follow from this: who and when? Who will this Messiah be? And when will the new reality, the “Age to Come” begin?

Up until Pentecost, the disciples had largely worked out the answer to the first, that Jesus was the Messiah. But it is surprising how confused and fearful they remained, even after Jesus appeared to them following his resurrection.

With Pentecost comes the answer to “when?”

Through various prophets over the course of millennia, God provided greater insight into his plan. Not only would the Messiah overcome evil by reestablishing God’s rule and reign on earth, his Kingdom marked by justice and peace – but God would remake humanity. He promised to give us a new heart and spirit, to replace our heart of stone with a heart receptive to God’s love, and one that could love him in return (Ezekiel 36:26).

Furthermore, at the end of “this present age”, God would pour out His Spirit on all his people – not just on particular individuals at particular times for particular reasons, like Moses or Samson. God would breathe his Spirit back into all his sons and daughters, restoring them to life anew.

John the Baptist prepared the way for this to happen, baptising people with water for repentance. However, he prophesied that the Messiah would soon come and baptise people with fire and the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11; see Acts 1:5).

Remember, in Hebrew and Greek, “breath”, “wind” and “spirit” are deeply interwoven, sharing the same linguistic root. Consequently, when the disciples experience a rush of wind from heaven and tongues of fire over their heads at Pentecost, they immediately know that this represents a fulfilment of John the Baptist’s prophecy. Jesus is the Messiah, and the time is now. The end of the Present Age has arrived, and the Age to Come is set to begin.

Interestingly, the Gospel of John provides an extremely truncated version of Pentecost that is framed quite differently from Acts. Not wanting to waste time rehashing the well-known events of that startling Sunday morning, he instead draws attention to a key theological insight.

First, after showing the still doubting disciples the wounds on his hands and side, “Jesus breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (Jn 20:22).

In the Greek, it simply says “Jesus breathed”; “on them” is implied. Connecting this event to the cross, where Jesus breathed his last and gave up his spirit (Mt 27:50; Mk 15:37; Lk 23:46; Jn 19:30), here the emphasis is on Jesus breathing anew. He is alive. And his resurrected life, his breath, his Spirit – he breathes into them.

Reflecting on this reality later, Paul writes “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2Cor 5:17-18) and in Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:19-20).

At Pentecost, God fulfilled his promise to give us a new heart and a new spirit, and it went beyond a mere baptism with fire and the Holy Spirit. God breathed into us his own Spirit, we received the Holy Spirit, who now lives within us and is transforming us from the inside out.

It is as if the angels with the flaming swords have been removed from the entrance to the Garden – the veil in the Temple separating God from his people was torn asunder. The Age to Come has dawned.

While that process will not be fully completed until Jesus returns, the immense power within us continues to shake the heavens and earth. In Pentecost, the arc of Salvation History has come full circle. The Great Reversal of the curse has begun. God is remaking not only us, but the whole cosmos.

Given the state of the world, that can sound unrealistic. Indeed, we live between the ‘Now’ of Pentecost and the ‘Not Yet’ of Christ’s return – where things have changed but are certainly not yet perfect.

Yet while my little Corvette ended up flaming out, the Holy Spirit never does.

And you might be surprised by what happens if you dare to pray:

“Come, Holy Spirit… transform my life.”