Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel… Acts 2:14-16 NLT
Luke, recording the Day of Pentecost activities, writes that the crowd didn’t know what was happening with the people that gathered. They assumed the group displayed drunk and disorderly conduct! There was a lot of supernatural activity happening – whirlwind, some semblance of fire resting on individuals, and the loud speaking in other languages. Those are signs of drunkenness? Wow. When God does a miraculous thing among us, that’s when we assume the worst?
Have you ever witnessed a mob, mosh-pit, brawl, rave, or riot? Sadly, these are common images on the news or during spring break and we think nothing of it. And, although they are overwhelming to experience, these public displays are somehow normalized, captured and celebrated. But oh, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit with supernatural phenomenon – that’s weird?
Someone needs to speak up when bad human behaviors are normalized, expected and sometimes celebrated compared to a God moment that is dismissed or scrutinized. Peter did so, he spoke up saying, “these people are not drunk,” as they were assuming. What they were witnessing was yet another promise that God had predicted would happen! Joel 2:28-32 records what WILL happen and DID happen, in the last days. And the morning of the Pentecost Sunday – it did happen! Peter brilliantly uses the moment to share the gospel. Basically telling the crowd, they got it wrong. Seeing the supposed mayhem they assumed the WORST in human behavior, yet they were actually witnesses to another one of God’s fulfillment of His promises.
We get it so wrong when we dismiss miracles as drunkenness. I’ll admit, being in the room when something supernatural happens is a little disconcerting, but believe me, it is far better than being in the middle of a drunken brawl between family or friends. I’ve been in both and prefer God’s revival over human revelry.
Prayer
Dad,
Far too often I have seen people dismiss your miraculous moving among us and readily accept a drunken display of stupidity. It’s frustrating to explain that one is real and life changing, the other is destructive, especially in our relationships with each other. I get upset when folks confusingly trade out truth when one is rejected and the other is accepted. How in the world can we be so drawn to the supernatural when it comes to things of darkness and be repelled by Your Spirit doing a miraculous work among us? We’ve got some serious misconceptions of how the spiritual realm works. Yet you still desire to do the miraculous in us! Thank you for your grace even when we’ve mistakenly misplaced our faith in the wrong place.