The Spirit Poured Out
Delivered by Rev. Jonathan Oh of West Tokyo Union Church on Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2026 during the joint bilingual worship service with Japan Evangelical Lutheran Mitaka Church.
英語のテキストの後に日本語訳があります。こちらはGemma4（ローカル大規模言語モデルAI）による機械翻訳であり、文法的な誤りが含まれている可能性があります。基本的な正確さを確認しております。
Passages:
Acts 2:1-21 (NRSVUE)
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, 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, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘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.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Numbers 11:24-30 (NRSVUE)
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy of the elders of the people and placed them all around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders, and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.
26 Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” 30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
Homily Text:
(Not So) Recent Trend: It seems that recently, nationalism - or more like nativism - has become a trend all around the world - “our people” are here, “you” belong somewhere else, and within the past decade, this sentiment has swept through so many countries, bringing more unknown political parties to the forefront, and a push of policies that are wrapped around national identity, but this isn’t anything new. This has been something that has existed as far back as the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. At first, it was about humans vs. God, with people trying to build a tower that would reach the heavens and compete against God, and then when God scattered the people after the Tower of Babel, as people gained their own languages and people groups, it became nation vs. nation, race vs. race, and that has not stopped for thousands of years. Our fallen world and nature draws into our desire to be greedy, to hoard, to protect and keep.
Issue: I want to be clear - this is not a message against patriotism and national pride. This is not a message that is saying that our identities in our homeland do not matter, because they do. The beauty of God’s redeeming nature is that in the midst of God scattering the people at the Tower of Babel, the incredible view of diversity unfolded. Cultures, languages, and thoughts diverged and blossomed. Even in God’s work of mercy to scatter us so that we do not work against Him, He created something incredibly beautiful. And this is not even a message about pushing for political policies that ignore the needs of its citizens through unsustainable decisions, whether in financing, immigration, or foreign affairs. The issue that we see, though, is the tendency to forget that no matter where we were born, which ethnicity we are, and what our passports say about our nationality, each human being is created in the image of God. Every human is valuable because God created each and every one of us. When we forget that, we make the serious mistake of reacting negatively to something that God created and called good.
Acts: Our passage in Acts shows us that God made good on His promise to always be with us, and that was shown through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Jews had gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks. It was a high festival for the Jewish people, celebrating the grain harvest. Because of the exile and the subsequent control of Israel by various nations after their return, the Jewish people were not all in Judea. It was during this harvest that they all came to Jerusalem. Many of them couldn’t even speak Aramaic or Hebrew - at least natively. But it was on this day that the Holy Spirit was poured out among the disciples who were waiting, and look at what unfolded. As they went out into the streets, they were declaring the incredible works of God, and people were astonished because they started hearing this message in their own native language. There is something amazing about hearing your own language when you least expect it. I remember arriving in Tokyo for the first time, and while you’re in the middle of Shibuya, you suddenly hear someone speaking in English with an American accent (for me, that’s my native tongue), and it gets your attention. And even with my second language, I still get curious when I hear someone walking down the street speaking in Korean. Language is incredibly important, because it, just like our national identity, is deeply tied into who we are.
Gospel: And this is how God breaks through to reach us. He speaks our language. He speaks through our culture and into our culture. No matter where we are from, or which language we speak, God’s message to redeem us through Jesus Christ moves past all of that. This message is not just for the high and mighty. It’s not just for the rich and famous. It’s for all of us.
Numbers: Sometimes, though, we have the reaction that we see in our passage from Numbers. We see another instance here of God’s Spirit pouring out among the elders, and there were a couple of folks who were not with the rest of the group. Joshua, Moses’ assistant, asks Moses to stop them. And that seems like a natural reaction - only those whom God had seemingly chosen should exclusively be the ones to be prophesying. But Moses responds by saying he wishes that all of God’s people were prophets, to declare the incredible works of God, that this spirit is not limited to the chosen few but to all whom God loves and grants grace and mercy. We see that being fulfilled in our Acts passage. God is pouring out His Spirit so that we may be able to declare the works of God - so that all may hear and believe.
Application: Our God is beyond our boundaries, our languages, and our national identities, and God redeems these things so that our boundaries become welcoming borders, our languages become conduits of communicating His love and grace, and our national identities become reflective of God’s vast creativity and an opportunity for us to grow together. When we are consumed by the Holy Spirit, our secure foundation is made firm in Jesus Christ, and that should transform us so that when we declare the grace and mercy of God, the world will hear how much God loves them. Through Jesus Christ, we are witnesses, declaring to our community how great is our God.
So people of God, let us walk as people who have had the Holy Spirit poured out on us. May we walk and speak in truth and love, witnessing to those around us about what God has done and encouraging our community to be the welcoming, gracious people that God has called us to be. Amen.
日本語の翻訳：
(あまりに) 最近の傾向について
最近、世界中でナショナリズム、あるいはネイティビズム（排外主義）のようなものが傾向になっているように見えます。「我々の仲間」はここにいて、「あなた」は別の場所に属している、という考え方です。この10年で、この感情が多くの国に広がり、これまで無名だった政党が表舞台に現れ、国家的なアイデンティティに結びついた政策が推進されています。しかし、これは決して新しいことではありません。これは創世記11章のバベルの塔の時代から存在していたことです。最初は、人間が天に届く塔を建てて神に競おうとした、「人間対神」の争いでした。その後、神が人々を散らされたことで、人々はそれぞれの言語と民族を持つようになり、それが「国家対国家」「人種対人種」の争いへと変わりました。そして、それは数千年の間、止まることがありませんでした。私たちの堕落した世界と本性は、貪欲になり、独占し、守り、囲い込もうとする欲望へと私たちを駆り立てるのです。
問題点
はっきりさせておきたいのですが、これは愛国心や国家的な誇りを否定するメッセージではありません。故郷における私たちのアイデンティティが無価値だと言っているのではありません。それらは重要なものです。神の贖いの御性質の素晴らしさは、バベルの塔で人々を散らされた中で、多様性という素晴らしい光景が開かれたことにあります。文化、言語、そして考え方が分かれ、花開いたのです。神が、私たちが神に逆らわないようにという慈しみをもって私たちを散らされたときでさえ、神は信じられないほど美しいものを創造されました。また、このメッセージは、財政、移民、あるいは外交において、持続不可能な決定によって市民のニーズを無視するような政治政策を批判しようとしているのでもありません。私たちが直面している問題は、「どこで生まれたか」「どの民族か」「パスポートにどの国籍が書かれているか」に関わらず、すべての人間が「神のかたち」に創造されたということを忘れがちな傾向にある、ということです。神が私たち一人ひとりを創造されたからこそ、すべての人間には価値があります。それを忘れたとき、私たちは神が創造し、「良い」と呼ばれたものに対して、否定的に反応するという重大な過ちを犯してしまいます。
使徒行伝
使徒行伝の箇所では、神が「常に共にいる」という約束を果たしてくださったことが示されています。それは聖霊の注ぎ出しを通して現れました。ペンテコステ（五旬節）に、ユダヤ人たちがエルサレムに集まっていました。これはユダヤの人々にとって、穀物の収穫を祝う重要な祭礼でした。捕囚の時代や、その後の帰還後にイスラエルが様々な国家の支配下にあったため、ユダヤ人は全員がユダヤ地方にいたわけではありませんでした。この収穫祭の時に、彼らは皆エルサレムに集まったのです。彼らの多くは、少なくとも母国語としてのアラム語やヘブライ語を話せませんでした。しかし、この日に、待っていた弟子たちの上に聖霊が注がれました。そして、何が起きたかを見てください。彼らが通りに出ると、神の素晴らしい御業を宣べ伝え始めました。すると人々は、自分たちの母国語でそのメッセージを聞き、驚いたのです。思いがけない時に自分の母国語を聞くというのは、とても不思議な体験です。私が初めて東京に来た時のことを思い出します。渋谷のど真ん中にいるとき、突然誰かがアメリカ英語（私にとっての母国語です）で話しているのが聞こえると、ふと注意を引かれます。また、私の第二言語である韓国語を誰かが話しながら歩いているのを聞いたときも、やはり気になります。言語は非常に重要です。なぜなら、国家的なアイデンティティと同様に、言語は「私たちが何者であるか」と深く結びついているからです。
福音
このようにして、神は私たちに到達するために切り込んでこられます。神は私たちの言葉で語りかけてくださいます。私たちの文化を通して、そして私たちの文化の中に語りかけてくださるのです。私たちがどこ出身であっても、どの言語を話していても、イエス・キリストを通して私たちを贖うという神のメッセージは、そのすべてを超えて届きます。このメッセージは、地位の高い人々や、富や名声を持つ人々だけのものではありません。私たち全員のためのものです。
民数記
しかし時として、私たちは民数記の箇所に見られるような反応をしてしまうことがあります。そこでは、神の霊が長老たちに注がれたもう一つの事例が描かれています。そこで、グループの他の人々とは別にいた数人の人々がいました。モーセの助手であったヨシュアは、モーセに彼らを止めさせてほしいと頼みます。それは自然な反応に見えます。神に選ばれたと思われる人々だけが、独占的に預言すべきだと思ったのでしょう。しかし、モーセはこう答えます。神の民が皆、預言者となって神の素晴らしい御業を宣べ伝えてほしい、と。この霊は、選ばれた少数の人々だけに限定されるものではなく、神が愛し、恵みと慈しみを与えられるすべての人に開かれているのだ、ということです。これが、先ほどの使徒行伝の箇所で成就したことが分かります。神は、私たちが神の御業を宣べ伝え、すべての人がそれを聞いて信じることができるように、聖霊を注いでくださるのです。
適用
私たちの神は、私たちの境界や言語、国家的なアイデンティティを超えた存在です。そして神は、これらのものを贖い、変えてくださいます。私たちの「境界」を「歓迎し合う境界線」へと、私たちの「言語」を「神の愛と恵みを伝える導管」へと、そして私たちの「国家的なアイデンティティ」を「神の広大な創造性の反映」であり、「共に成長するための機会」へと変えてくださるのです。私たちが聖霊に満たされるとき、私たちの確かな土台はイエス・キリストに据えられます。そして、私たちが神の恵みと慈しみを宣べ伝えるとき、世界が「神がいかに彼らを愛しておられるか」を聞くことができるよう、私たちは変えられるはずです。イエス・キリストを通して、私たちは証し人となり、私たちの神がいかに偉大であるかをコミュニティに伝えていくのです。
ですから、神の民の皆さん、聖霊を注がれた人々として歩みましょう。真理と愛をもって歩み、語り、神がなしてくださったことを周りの人々に証ししましょう。そして、私たちのコミュニティが、神が私たちに召してくださった「歓迎し合い、寛容な人々」となれるよう、互いに励まし合いましょう。アーメン。