For Pentecost Sunday, three assigned readings are Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21 and John 14:23-31. Chosen to peach about is Genesis 11:4, “And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’”

Have you ever wondered why the feast of Pentecost has as its Old Testament reading the Tower or Babel? The usual answer is that both the Tower of Babel incident as well as the event of Pentecost involve foreign languages. Whereas the Babel event led to a confusion among people with the creation of foreign languages, the Pentecost event has the disciples speaking in other known foreign languages so that those from other countries can understand the message of the Gospel. It’s a neat shift from confusion to unity because of Christ. However, the parallel breaks down somewhat in that while Babel involved going from one language to many languages, Pentecost involved speaking in the different languages.

Examining the text, though, from a Law and Gospel point of view, something else begs our attention. The confusion of Law and Gospel normally takes place when the Law is said to have a use that God does not permit. In fact, it is a use that the Law was never given. Yet every other religion of the world, except for Christianity, makes great use of this nonuse of the Law. And that is the Law becoming a step ladder to heaven.

Now while it is true that the heaven which the Tower of Babel folks wanted to reach was not the heavenly place of God but perhaps only the sky with the clouds beneath their planned tower, special attention to verse 4 reveals their true intenion. They wanted to “make a name for ourselves.” This is pure idolatry of self and a breaking of the first commandment not to have anyone above God Himself.

With that in mind, we now see a most interesting distinction between Babel and Pentecost. I call it the ascending vs. descending motif. In every false religion of the world, mankind assumes that his task is to appease or placate an angry god. That is done by some kind of word, thought or work which is then rewarded by the god first liking you, then loving you and perhaps, saving you. Using our chosen analogy, every religion in the world attempts some method of ascending to God.

In start contrast to that, we find Pentecost doing the very opposite. No, we don’t descend to God but God descends to us. The great miracle of the Incarnation led to the death of a perfect human being for all sinful human beings. Pentecost is another part of God’s plan in having God Himself–that is, the Holy Spirit–not simply descending upon the people but entering into their hearts and making their bodies His holy temple. What a great difference is Babel from Pentecost. It’s the difference between salvation by the Law in constrast to salvation by the cross and resurrection; that is, the Gospel.