Undoing Babel

Genesis 11:1-9

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. 4 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” 5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Acts 2:1-21

1 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.”

       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.’

There are few places on Earth like Luxembourg, where not only are many languages spoken, but where there isn’t even a single common language.  Aside from English (and so-so Spanish) I have only rudimentary French and I’ve survived quite well for over 9 years.  But I’ve also had the experience may times - including with my neighbor earlier this week - where I find myself unable to communicate with someone.  And occasionally I’ll ponder the strange reality that two humans living side-by-side do not share a language, that humanity is characterized not just my various languages, but by the diverse and often divergent cultures that give rise to them.  We live in an age in which diversity (at least in the abstract) is widely celebrated, and yet - perhaps not coincidentally - it’s also an age of increasing political tribalism, ethno-nationalism, and the like.   Why is it that humans are estranged from one another? - and not just divided, but actively establishing and maintaining those divisions?  Why is conflict a seemingly inescapable part of the human condition?  Like the most overrated song in the history of music, we can’t help but “Imagine” that it was all quite different.  

The story of the tower of Babel in Genesis provides a kind of origin story addressing these questions.  This story is mythological; we shouldn’t take it literally, as if God was looking down from heaven and got spooked by the progress on the tower and decided to throw humanity into disarray.  But this story is nevertheless profoundly true. The fact that such a story exists suggests that, at least since there has been written culture (and probably long before), people have wondered why humanity is not more united, why it does not share a single language?  

The answer to that question, implied in the story, is that a united humanity would get itself into more trouble, that it would exploit its unity to glorify itself.   Nothing would be impossible for them, which is a problem if the things they’re going to do are no good.  They construct the tower, not to reach God, but to make a name for themselves, to insure their own immortality, even, lest they be forgotten.  If humans have power they will use it in a futile attempt to achieve their own salvation, to blaze their own trail to eternal life.  And, indeed, this is what we have seen in every age - not least our own - that men with power seek to erect enduring monuments to themselves, to attain a fame that will outlive them.  In this light, God’s decision to fracture humanity proceeds not from fear or retribution but from concern for our own welfare, like a parent separating two children lest they make more trouble together than they ever could alone.  

Whatever the correct reading, the story reinforces the notion that human disunity, rather than something to lament, is divinely ordained and therefore an immutable fact of life.  Tribal warfare is a zero sum game.  Everyone is just trying to survive.  

It’s no accident that we read this story on Pentecost, for the only way to understand the Acts passage about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that “first” Pentecost is in light of the tower of Babel, as the undoing of what happened there, as the anti-Babel.  But God does not merely restore the pre-Babel condition, but does something entirely unexpected.  

It’s still early in the Christian story - it’s only 50 or so days since the passover, since Jesus’ death and resurrection - and all the believers - who at this point are all Jewish and are in Jerusalem as they would normally be - were gathered together. 

Without any warning, the Holy Spirit came upon them and a tongue of flame rested upon each; they were then able to speak in other languages, and they were startled to discover that they could hear others speaking their own language as well.  At least in this story, “speaking in tongues” is not about the utterance of some otherwise unknown spiritual language, but rather the ability to speak earthly languages they’d never learned.  Rather than giving the ability for everyone to speak a single language - rather than mandating global English, for instance - the Holy Spirit enables people to be mutually intelligible in their own particular languages.  Rather than creating a monolithic human language and culture, the Holy Spirit unified people without eliminating their diversity. 

What do you think (if indeed you think about is!) the Holy Spirit does?  If you’re not sure, you’re not alone.  Most Christians don’t know what to do with the Holy Spirit. I grew up in a Baptist church and got baptized when I was 12.  I somehow knew that there was a relationship between baptism and Holy Spirit in Scripture that I expected to receive the Holy Spirit when I came emerged from the water.  But I remember going to school the next day and feeling disappointed that seemingly nothing had changed.  I was no more aware of God’s presence than before, I felt no more guided, empowered, or inspired.  So where was the Holy Spirit?, I wondered.  

If you’ve been paying attention over the past few months you will perhaps have discerned that a preoccupation of mine is resisting all the ways in which faith, the Christian life, our relationship with God, etc., has become individualized and to instead encourage us to think about these things communally.  So, for instance, when I got baptized I was thinking that I personally would now be a dwelling pace for the Spirit, that some previously empty compartment in me would now be filled, that I would “possess” something I did not before and which non-Christians do not, cannot. I had learned to think of think of the faith in terms of God wanting to do something in my life, and also in your life, but so much in our life together.  

While there are certainly passages of Scripture which lend themselves to this understanding, the more fundamental story - a story most dramatically revealed at Pentecost - is that the place the Holy Spirit shows up, the place the Holy Spirit abides and does whatever it is it does, is within the community of believers, it is within the church.  The Holy Spirit does not descend upon isolated believers but upon the gathered disciples, and what it does there is not merely bless the individual with some spiritual gift for the person to enjoy, but the gift of tongues is given precisely to overcome the boundaries that exist amongst these people.  This was remarkable enough when the church was comprised entirely of Jews, but then, of course, the Gentiles too were welcomed in, the Holy Spirit unifying what everyone assumed would always necessarily remain divided.  The thing God was doing then and which God is doing still is to create a new community through Christ in which anyone and everyone can be part, where their unity is directed to God, to very communion for which they were made.  

So a couple of implications: First, when we think about the Holy Spirit in the world and in our lives, we should understand the Spirit as dwelling in the church, that this is the place, first and foremost, where the Spirit is at work.  To be a Christian, to be baptized, isn’t to receive the Spirit as an individual person but rather to be received into and participate in a Spirit-filled community.    While it would be foolish to claim that God is not interested in working in your life, it is never the less the case that God is much more interested not so much in me or you but in us.  

And so the second implication: Church is God’s big idea for the world.  This sounds dubious given our experiences of church, with all its failures and impotence.  But, for better or worse, if we’re going to believe in the God revealed in Jesus Christ, then we’re going to have to believe in church.  For the whole story is that the God who exists forever as three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, created us in God’s image for community with God and with one another.  This all gets messed up on account of us, but in the fullness of time God brings us back into relationship with God and also with one another, which ultimately is the same indivisible act.   God is one and God makes us one.  The church witnesses to this reality until that time when God will be all in all.  

Perhaps this all sounds unbelievable, but then perhaps we might allow ourselves to believe that what God wants most of all is to do something with us, that if the Holy Spirit is active anywhere it’s right here, and to imagine what we could be, not by trying to build something on our own, but by yielding to and participating in what God wants to do here and now and for all eternity.