A few years ago I flew to a conference in Newark, New Jersey. I was shocked when I got off the plane at the busy-ness and the sounds in the airport. I say sounds, because as I listened I realized that almost all the people around us were speaking in languages other than English! On that same trip we traveled into New York City and after parking the car in Soho walked to Chinatown where again the sounds of different languages came to our ears.
One of the barriers that must be overcome in the proclamation of the Gospel is language, and right with language comes cultural differences. In Genesis 11 we see why, having all descended from Noah, we have these important differences between us. And the verdict is that, because of mankind’s disobedience to God’s command, God confused our language and scattered us.
God told Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the whole earth. Today we read that people, en mass, came to a plain in Shinar (somewhere probably in modern Iraq) and settled there. In the Fertile Crescent they found good farming, suitable land for raising animals, and they began to build cities – including towers or ziggurats. And the people said to one another, “Let’s stay here. Let’s build a really tall tower so that we can see it from a long way away, and we won’t be scattered all over the earth.”
“Fill the whole earth.” Vs. “Let’s stay here.”
God once again is facing rebellious people, and he must confront them. So He came down and confused their language. They lost the ability to communicate with one another. Now, had they stayed together and worked on it could they have overcome this? Yes. People are multilingual today. But in frustration they separated and were scattered so that they actually began to fill the earth.
An interesting aspect of this is that even now, within our land, speaking our own language, we find that there is still a communication breakdown that takes place when we proclaim the Gospel. Some of that is our own sin (like hypocrisy) confusing our message. Some of that is the sin of the hearer who may not want to hear the Word. Some of it is the work of the devil who tries to snatch the good message away.
How do we overcome this?
Well, we try to be culturally sensitive, and learn to speak the lingo, but when it comes down to it we don’t overcome it. The Holy Spirit does. Just as God confused the languages at Babel, there was a day in Jerusalem on Pentecost that He overcame the confusion of languages to proclaim Jesus as our crucified and risen savior. When we speak of the things of God today, it is important that we remember that it’s not our job to make people hear and believe (although we might need to do some things to make sure we are not sending the wrong messages). The Holy Spirit does that work through the Word and Sacraments, and, yes, through us as bearers of the Word and recipients of the Sacraments.
Father in Heaven, thank You for communicating Your love to me so I can believe in you. Sometimes I send mixed messages to the people around me about Your love. Help me to know Your forgiveness better in my life. Help me to communicate your love clearly so others may believe in your too. Amen.
One of the barriers that must be overcome in the proclamation of the Gospel is language, and right with language comes cultural differences. In Genesis 11 we see why, having all descended from Noah, we have these important differences between us. And the verdict is that, because of mankind’s disobedience to God’s command, God confused our language and scattered us.
God told Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the whole earth. Today we read that people, en mass, came to a plain in Shinar (somewhere probably in modern Iraq) and settled there. In the Fertile Crescent they found good farming, suitable land for raising animals, and they began to build cities – including towers or ziggurats. And the people said to one another, “Let’s stay here. Let’s build a really tall tower so that we can see it from a long way away, and we won’t be scattered all over the earth.”
“Fill the whole earth.” Vs. “Let’s stay here.”
God once again is facing rebellious people, and he must confront them. So He came down and confused their language. They lost the ability to communicate with one another. Now, had they stayed together and worked on it could they have overcome this? Yes. People are multilingual today. But in frustration they separated and were scattered so that they actually began to fill the earth.
An interesting aspect of this is that even now, within our land, speaking our own language, we find that there is still a communication breakdown that takes place when we proclaim the Gospel. Some of that is our own sin (like hypocrisy) confusing our message. Some of that is the sin of the hearer who may not want to hear the Word. Some of it is the work of the devil who tries to snatch the good message away.
How do we overcome this?
Well, we try to be culturally sensitive, and learn to speak the lingo, but when it comes down to it we don’t overcome it. The Holy Spirit does. Just as God confused the languages at Babel, there was a day in Jerusalem on Pentecost that He overcame the confusion of languages to proclaim Jesus as our crucified and risen savior. When we speak of the things of God today, it is important that we remember that it’s not our job to make people hear and believe (although we might need to do some things to make sure we are not sending the wrong messages). The Holy Spirit does that work through the Word and Sacraments, and, yes, through us as bearers of the Word and recipients of the Sacraments.
Father in Heaven, thank You for communicating Your love to me so I can believe in you. Sometimes I send mixed messages to the people around me about Your love. Help me to know Your forgiveness better in my life. Help me to communicate your love clearly so others may believe in your too. Amen.
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