Day of Pentecost
Genesis 11:1-9
June 8, 2025
Once a year we get to hear the story of the Tower of Babel. Unfortunately, many people today believe Genesis 11, the events surrounding this supposed tower, are mythical, a fairy-tale, a story written with a moral purpose, but not an actual historic event.
And though the physical evidence shouldn’t be what convinces any Christian of the veracity of the Scripture, the archeological discoveries, the experts who find artifacts from ancient times confirming the events in Scripture, there exists some remarkable evidence of the tower’s existence, not to mention ancient extra-biblical writings found on tablets which give as much detail of the tower’s existence as Scripture itself.
God’s Word never lies, and it never makes stuff up. God gave us His holy Scripture, not to confuse us or divide us, but to teach us and unite us. In fact, whenever there is division in Christendom, we should never assume it’s because of God’s Word. Sin divides, not Scripture. Human nature destroys the perfect and merciful conversation between God and His people, and we must always humbly remember this, or we surely end up as the people of Babel – confused, lost, and divided.
The story of Babel is a fun story, a Sunday School story, but how does it apply to today, and more specifically, how does it apply to this day in the Church Year, Pentecost Sunday? We’ll get to that for sure, but as far as its applicableness in the 21st century, it applies all too well.
Listen to the Lord’s words: “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
Here the pride and the self-interest abound as people, united by a sinful nature and a desire to defeat God, build for themselves a city and a tower reaching the sky. And if, working together as one sinful people, they can build such a tower – as if it were even possible – then why would they need some God or heavenly Father telling them what to do, controlling their lives, dictating their every move? They seemed to be more like teenagers who were just told “you can’t go to the dance,” than a nation of adults, right?
Reminds me of the historic world fairs that started back in the late 1700’s. They would build monuments and even entire cities showing off the proficiency of human invention and advancement, pridefully displaying what they believed was such godlike achievement. During the age of Industrialization, until about 1940, these world fairs were amazing to see. But as societies changed and postmodern eclecticism became the fad, these world fairs shifted from great industrial invention to social progress, displaying the globalization of culture, embracing and celebrating every and all lifestyles the deprived and godless human mind can conjure up.
Today the world fairs are called World Expos, they happen about every 5 years, and they still focus on celebrating unity in cultural diversity.
The people of Babel sought unity through a singular mind and intent, through a single language, a single purpose – to reach and defeat God by building a tower. Today, our babel is about finding unity in appreciating and celebrating everyone’s lifestyles, life choices, skin colors, dialects, and histories. It’s about saying, “There is no absolute truth, no absolute right and wrong, no objective beauty or virtue, no God, therefore let us embrace our distinctiveness, even if it’s sinful and evil, because there is no evil; there is no sin.”
Today, people seek to be unified in a single collective creed of, “There is no God, no good or evil, no truth, no right, no wrong, live as you please, you are your own god, you are autonomous.”
This is our babel, this is our world today, or as John puts it in Revelation, it is the new Babylon, the great city of depravities, the mother of harlots who sits atop many waters and kingdoms. She is in our schools; she is in our governments; she is on our TV’s and computer screens. Once again, man is attempting to defeat God. Any and every way it can be done, humanity will try because to have a God means submission, means we are not autonomous, means we are not individuals living out our own lives as we see fit.
And the cry for autonomy, absolute control over one’s own body and mind and heart has taken the place of postmodern eclecticism, and is why there is so much division in our world today. Postmodernism, which tried to bring everyone together through their differences, failed, and now Individual Autonomism, or as better known, Cultural or Social Marxism, which elevates every individual as his or her own god, is the new flavor. And yeah, it’s very much in the church.
Think about how we interpret Scripture. You have your interpretation of Scripture, I have my interpretation, and don’t you dare tell me I’m wrong because I am god of my interpretation. Sound familiar? It should, because this is how many Christians approach Scripture and biblical interpretation today. It’s no longer, “let’s all try to get along in our diverse interpretations,” which was bad enough. Now it’s, “we each have our right to our own interpretation, so keep your mouth shut.”
And we do this because it is our nature, our sinful nature, to prop up towers built in the image and likeness of ourselves. And the world wants and encourages us to do it; the devil tells us it’s good.
And folks, nothing is coincidental; nothing is just happenstance. There is clear intent behind it all. It’s not a fluke that schools are taking over the lives of our children, so they have little to no time for church or the Christian faith or even family, and should parents stand up against the schools, they are criticized and demonized by the administrations and the politicians who pay them for having the audacity to say that school is less important than family and faith. It’s not an accident that both parents now must work in order to raise a family and pay the bills, and should anyone suggest that the traditional way of raising a family where one parent works while the other stays home and raises the kids is a better way, the fight for autonomy goes full force.
That ancient tower is once again being built right in front of us and even we Christians seem to help carry the bricks. We are too driven by the same drivel of society, and we think it’s okay, but it’s not.
Consider the language of faith. Should we say, “How little can I get by with being in the Lord’s presence before Word and Sacrament to still go to heaven,” or should instead say, “How much can I be in the Lord’s presence before Word and Sacrament, and what in my life can I change to be with Him as much as possible?” Jesus says in our Gospel today that to love God means to “keep” His Word. To “keep” His word literally means to hold it and cherish it and protect it at all costs. And yet our sinful nature tells us what? That the Word of God is second only to our individual desires and wants and plans and purposes.
Sin always makes us put things, put our lives before the Lord. Sin says it’s okay to live in gray areas, to be Christian but not really do what Christians are called to do, to take up our crosses, but not really follow, to see and recognize the narrow path, but then spend our days dancing away on the wide path. Sin destroys the unity we have with God our Father, and it matters not how fun the sin, how alluring its colors, how reasonable its message, sin always divides and corrupts and displaces. It doesn’t matter how united we might feel in our sinning, sin ultimately leads to despair and separation. The promise of sin, that you can be like God if only you disobey Him and defy His commands – it cannot be done. You cannot build your own personal tower to heaven any more than society hellbent on destroying God in every venue can build such a God-defeating tower.
The people of that ancient city were foolish for trying, and we are foolish for trying. The way our world is going today will ultimately not bode well when all is said and done. God is calling us to repent of this tower building, repent from hewing its bricks, repent of living for the world and doing what the world does and thinking as the world thinks. He’s calling us to think differently, to be free.
There is only one way to freedom; there is only one way to God. And He provides the way. And the tower upon which we must ascend is one made of wood and covered in God’s own blood.
There is only one way to the Father and that is through Christ Jesus who died.
On the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Passover; 50 days after Jesus died and rose again, God brought clarity to confusion. By the work of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles preached His eternal Word, and people of many languages understood the message. And the message was very clear: “Repent and believe, look to Jesus whom you crucified, be baptized and have your sins washed away.” Law and Gospel.
They all understood it as clear as crystal and of the million or so in Jerusalem that day, 3,000 were brought into the kingdom of God by baptism.
3,000 people heard the one, unifying message and that divine message brought repentance and faith, it brought them together as one people, one fellowship, one church. It’s not in our reading today but it does show up at some point, or you can just read ahead to the latter verses of Acts chapter two, but what happened? The people were all together as one, sitting at the feet of the Apostles in one fellowship, one koinonia, one communion, all learning the same things, believing as one, confessing the faith as one, praying as one, partaking of the Lord’s Supper as one, worshipping as one.
Jesus died so that in Him we might be one. One church in Him, brought together confessing the one faith, living in the one baptism of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one hope, serving and loving the one God and Father and loving and serving our neighbor, no not every individual autonomously believing and worshiping as each one pleases, but all individuals coming together as one church, one people, one eternal kingdom with one Lord and Savior, one Word, over all.
It’s what the Christian faith is all about – it’s about being one. And being one with God means we confess the same things; we teach and preach the same doctrines. It means that we daily die to sin and Satan and, remembering our baptisms, we rise to new life in Him, seeking Jesus and His teaching and by the help of the Holy Spirit, applying Jesus and His teaching to our lives.
God is not a god of discord but of concord; He is not a God of division but of unity. His holy and eternal Word brings unity, ends division, and makes us one with Him, and He with us, provided we remain steadfast in this one eternal Word.
This is nothing we could have accomplished on our own; only God through His beloved Son’s death on the cross, could accomplish this great miracle of new life and salvation, of hope and of peace, of unity and fellowship. And here at the Lord’s Supper we confess this fellowship; we demonstrate the unity we have with God and He with us by falling to our knees in humble repentance, and taking His body and blood into ourselves as one people confessing the same Christ and same communion, because, as Jesus says, He has made His home with us; He is one with us, and this makes us forever one with Him. Amen.
