But Peter raised his voice

Acts 2: 14-21, page 119 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slave, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Sermon It’s possible to misread a situation, and that’s just what James Fleming and I did last Friday. James and I were on the way to visit John Satterwhite at the Vanderbilt hospital, and worried as we were about John, James still got out a dollar to give the homeless man standing on the exit ramp selling newspapers. It’s an amazing thing about Nashville, just how many homeless people are able to make a few extra dollars, not panhandling but selling a special newspaper called the Contributor. This paper is sold by them especially and is published at Downtown Presbyterian Church. But there was something to be cynical about, too, as this homeless man wasn’t just selling papers, he was standing next to an 18 pack of Bud Light. “Look at this guy Joe – he’s got himself a case of beer,” James said. With this observation our image of him changed. I rolled down my window to hand him the dollar and get the paper, though I felt a little different about it than I had before, and the man said to me, “Hey, do either of you guys want to buy a beer? Somebody gave me that 18 pack of Bud Light but I don’t drink, so I thought I’d try to sell it. I’ll give you the whole thing for five bucks.” Just sitting in the car with the windows rolled up you can come to conclusions about all sorts of things, but rolling that window down and hearing what people have to say can change that. This is not so different from what happened in Jerusalem so long ago. Our scripture lesson begins, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.” It’s no wonder the crowd assumed those disciples had been drinking. That’s a rational explanation. This group of disciples, now joined by “certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers,” had all stood before the city of Jerusalem speaking in languages they had never spoken before. “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean? But others sneered and said, they are filled with new wine.” Of course they did. That’s just what people do – some are so bold as to ask, “What does this mean,” while others are so bold as to think they already know the answer. A homeless man standing on the exit ramp next to an 18 pack of beer – the cynic in me doesn’t need to ask what this means because that part of me is bold enough to believe I already know. No questions need to be asked. Nothing more needs to be said. With the windows rolled up I give myself permission to keep on driving, not thinking another thing about it. The problem is, I would have driven off without the truth. Apparently there was a time when more journalists were interested in getting to the truth. Last week Representative Sheila Butt wrote about how much has changed since her days of being the editor for her high school newspaper: “Since that time I have been very aware of trying not to pass anyone else’s thoughts, ideas, or opinions off as my own. Integrity is very important to me. However, with the free flow of massive amounts of information on the internet today, it has become a convoluted issue.” There is a lot of information available out there on the internet, and much of it passes for fact. Unfortunately, it’s not just the internet – but many news outlets are guilty of reporting half-truths, not having gotten to the bottom of anything, but have opened their mouths with authority while only possessing half the story, a premature assumption, or worse, nothing more than an opinion dressed up as a fact. That’s just the nature of our world today. Apparently Mitt Romney, like many of us, did some things in high school that he regrets. He’s been accused of being a high school bully, and the news media is happy to do more than just report on these facts, they’re also happy to beef up this story and to tell you what these facts mean. Unfortunately, many are willing to take their word for it without asking another question. Thankful not to have to think, or grateful for a story that re-enforces what they already believe, so many are willing to take their word for it without thinking another thing about it. And so President Obama is still called Muslim though we all know his pastor’s name and have heard him preach. He’s accused of being a socialist as well; even his citizenship is doubted. In these cases there not much a point in arguing as minds have already been made up. Why take someone seriously when he can be so easily dismissed with just a bit of miss-information or opinion masquerading as fact? Why stop to get the whole story when it’s so easy to explain it away and to go on about your business? But Peter raised his voice. Did he know what he was going to say before he started? Was he worried about the crowds of cynics who assumed he was drunk? Did he still worry that someone might recognize him? Certainly these are all possibilities, but his determination to define this event was stronger than all else and he wasn’t willing to let meaning be assigned by the masters of spin. He begins on the defense, “Indeed these are not drunk as you suppose,” then diffuses the tension with a little bit of humor, “for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.” Then he tells the crowd what this miracle really means: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” There must have been many who still walked away, drove off with their windows up and went on believing what they had before; never putting into question assumptions they had grown used to believing. I can understand that. Life is easier if all homeless people deserve their home on the street. If they’re all drunks and drug addicts I don’t have to worry about them as much, nor do I have to worry about the world that we live in with systems that allow people to sink down into poverty without a ladder to help them climb back out. Life is easier if political opponents deserve to lose. It’s easier to form a campaign on the basis of good versus evil, and it’s easier for voters to choose if the decision is already made for them. Ideas that challenge need never be considered. Radical changes can be so easily dismissed. And you and I are given permission to go on thinking and believing what we always have even though we may well be wrong, even though we may well be missing out on that bit of truth that can change our lives forever. That’s the only problem. Peter raised his voice and those who walked away walked away missing out on the grand declaration that God has not left this world to burn itself out. That God has not left this world to rot away. That God has not left this world to plunge into the abyss – no – “in the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit.” Our world seems happy to let you ignore this testimony. You’re easier to control if you’ve given up such hope, if you never change, if you accept everything they want you to believe. But Peter raised his voice – and he raised it in defiance. He raised it in truth. He raised it that you might be saved. Amen.