GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
All throughout the Bible God represents himself through his creation. We see this in the Book of Exodus, where God speaks to Moses through a “burning bush.” In the Gospels (Matthew 3: 16, Luke 3:22) we see that the Holy Spirit is represented by the dove, which appears above Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2) we see that the Holy Spirit comes as fire and wind. I want to focus on the “wind” as God’s way of representing himself to us, the reasons why he does so, and what it means to us as people of God.
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus, in speaking to Nicodemus, explains how someone who is “born again,” that is, “born of the Spirit” is like the wind. Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (St. John 3: 8) Here, Christ compares us to wind. Because aren’t we as Orthodox Christians born of the Spirit through baptism? Indeed, yes, we are! If we are born of the Spirit then we are like the “wind.” We can even say we are the “wind.”
If we are the wind then we have the qualities of wind. Here are some examples:
We have the power
Have you ever been in a hurricane or even a really windy storm? My family and I were once driving to Florida, and as we entered the state, we were caught at the tail end of a minor hurricane. Of course, it was not as severe as the core rim of the storm, but it was still fierce. As we were driving the winds made us feel as though we were going to be blown away. Once during a windy storm in Philadelphia, I had the unfortunate opportunity of being outside. The winds were so strong that it pushed me back a few steps. I bring this analog to your mind to point out that we have the same power (in a different way of course) as Orthodox Christians. You are a “power-filled” person. Prayer, fasting, the Bible, make us powerful against addictions, sins, and challenges that we might face. We sometimes don’t realize that we have the power to stand against the temptations of this world and the temptations brought upon by others. Just as the wind pushes the things that it touches with its power, so also, we must push away sin…push away negative thoughts…push away the darkness that comes against our marriage and families. Push away! You have the power inside of you, given by the Holy Spirit, to “overpower” any demonic influence that might have entered your life. Be confident in yourself, for the Lord has said that He is in us and that he will never leave us nor forsake us.
We have no limitations
The wind has the quality of going anywhere. In other words, it has no limits. Often we as Christians, either as individuals or as a Church, set limitations. We as people of God, even though we are redeemed and in the process of sanctification through the grace of the Sacraments, fall back into darkness and despair. We think that we cannot overcome the challenges that keep us away from the love of God. We tend to think that we are not on God’s mind and why He would want to bother with us. For example, we might say, “God can’t heal me.” We put limits on our spiritual thinking that we cannot pray or fast as we are called to. These limitations are set because we think that there are only a “certain type” of people who can fast diligently or pray fervently. This is not true. We have no limitations on prayer; on how close we can get to God; on how diligently we can pray to God. We have the real possibility to become a saint. You can be holy. Within the Orthodox world, due to a racial or cultural mindset, it has set limitations based on race and cultural prejudices. If we can learn anything from the day of Pentecost it is that the Gospel of Christ was radically different than anything before, because it set no limitations based on race or ethnicity. Our church should cast away its limitations and embrace a limitless attitude.