No Language Barriers

We are all back on American soil.
After an eight-day trip to Ireland, my older four children added another week to their stay.
Another week to see a bit of Italy.
Two places in Italy: Rome and Venice.

I had been seeing their pictures since they set up a family photo stream.
They were six hours ahead of our time zone.
I knew when their day was over and they had finally gotten back to their hotel.
That is when their pictures from the day would be posted.

It was private time between us.
Across the ocean.
On two different continents.
Virtually connected; sharing experiences across the miles.

They returned home with stories to tell.
They were home though their body seemed to be in another time zone.
I could see the tiredness in their eyes after over nine hours on an airplane.
I could see the growth that happened in that short time; even now in their adult lives.

Bucket lists grew shorter as places they had always wanted to see were seen.
Most things exceeded expectations.
Some things were surprisingly different than they expected.
From quiet, bucolic Ireland to bustling Rome with its crowds of tourists.

One not better than the other, just different.
Each one offered its own unique experience.
To finally see places they had only learned about before, brought that knowledge to life.
They heard tour guides agree with, and sometimes refute, things they had learned.

Seeing the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, and many ruins made history jump off the page.
Hearing the different languages as they walked along was staggering.
People transitioning with ease between Italian, French, German, and English.
Accents giving away their native tongue, yet all people were able to converse.

I laughed when they told me how announcements were made in some locations.
No photos. No videos. Grazie.
No pictures. No videos. Thank you.
We laughed that the person speaking felt the need to translate photos to pictures.

Clarification.
Translating an important message to the people.
Even if you thought you understood, it was important that you did indeed understand.
The language barrier can be a problem.

As a little girl, I thought that if someone spoke another language, I could not hear them.
On a trip to Philadelphia, I heard someone speaking very differently from me.
I asked my mother what language it was and she told me that it was Spanish.
I was surprised that I could really hear them, though I could not understand them.

I remember watching them talk and use their hands as they spoke.
Each person understood the other.
Though I heard the sounds, none of those sounds made sense to me.
It was frustrating to hear but not to understand.

The early church experienced the same problem.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in their own language. Utterly amazed, they asked,”Are not all these men speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs – we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:5-12)

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.
Imagine.
Hearing and understanding.
No language barrier affected the important message that all were meant to hear.

I am sure that my children were able to pick out a word here or two in Italian.
From their school days, two speak German, one speaks Spanish, and one speaks French.
None of them speak fluently though each understands enough to get by without trouble.
None of them speak Italian.

God wanted to make sure that His Gospel message went forth loud and clear.
Not even a language barrier could interfere with His message.
The Holy Spirit made sure of that.
The disciples were ordinary men, fishermen by trade.

None of these ordinary men should have been able to communicate so clearly to so many.
None of these men had the formal education to speak with such ease.
Without the Holy Spirit, it would have been impossible.
With the Holy Spirit, the message went forth boldly and without hindrance.

We worry that we cannot share the Gospel.
We worry that we will not know what to say.
We worry about how the message will be received.
We worry about how the message will be accepted.

We need to stop worrying.
We have been given a Great Commission.
What God gives us to do, He equips us to do.
Nothing can thwart God’s plans.

The Gospel will go forth.
The Gospel will be heard.
There will be no language barriers.
The Holy Spirit will make sure of that.