Gospel for May 30, 2021 Trinity Sunday

Detail from a stained glass by Harry Stammers installed in 1961 in the Blacader chapel of St Mungo’s Cathedral, Glasgow.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 3:1-17
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

As with so many passages in Scripture, this passage is multi-layered.  There is the drama of the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus; then there is the life-changing teaching that Jesus delivers about the New Birth; there is his first reference in John’s Gospel to his own cross; and there is the concise summary of the entire Gospel in John 3:16.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. That would suggest that this distinguished Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin is aware that tongues would wag, and that it might be damaging to his career if he were seen publicly with this controversial rabbi.

Despite the compliments that Nicodemus lavishes on Jesus, Jesus cuts to the chase:

Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.

What ensues is a kind of debate between Jesus and Nicodemus — with Jesus making it very clear that the only way to enter into God’s future is through a clean break with the past:

Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom!  That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Is Nicodemus truly slow of understanding, or is it really more a matter of reluctance to experience this life-giving change, a change that would alter everything in his life?  Only the Spirit — the pneuma, the breath or the wind of God — can give birth to the new life necessary to enter into God’s presence.

Jesus then contrasts his own authority with the lack of Nicodemus’ lack of understanding:

Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things?  Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

Jesus clearly establishes that his own authority is indeed divine:

No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

And Jesus makes it quite clear that his mission on earth is not merely to teach, but to die.  Using a kind of midrashic and allegorical style of biblical interpretation common to Jewish culture, he cites the account of Moses and the poisonous serpents that wreaked havoc in the camp of the Israelites in Numbers 21:8-9.  Moses was instructed by the Lord to make a bronze image of a serpent on a staff and to lift it up — whoever gazed at the image was healed.  Jesus is making the analogy that he himself will be lifted up on the cross:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Then comes the passage that theologians have called “the Gospel in miniature.” This is a complete summary of the message of the New Testament in one sentence:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

This verse identifies the Source of Love (the Father); the agent of that Love (the Son); the object of Love (the world); the means of receiving that Love (faith in the Son and his work);  and the consequence of that Love (eternal life).

And this positive statement is clarified by a negative:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The positive statement clearly states what the love of God has done, in John 3:16. The negative statement clearly states what the love of God does not  intend to do, i.e., condemn the world (John 3:17).

APPLY:  

For our purposes this week, as we celebrate Trinity Sunday, we have to narrow our scope a little.  The focus here is on what God does in order to save the world. Every aspect of God’s nature is manifest in this passage — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The ultimate goal is that we might have eternal life.  The means by which this happens is the new birth, which is actuated by faith.

What is fascinating is that when Jesus begins to explain this process to Nicodemus he doesn’t begin with God the Father, or even with his own earthly ministry.  He begins by describing the work of the Holy Spirit!

It is the Holy Spirit that breathes new life into the believer, and gives the believer new birth.  Isn’t this really true in our own experience?  We may go to church all of our lives, read the Bible from cover to cover, serve on church committees, sing in the choir, even be an ordained minister — and yet, until the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, it is all an abstract, dead letter.  We too must be born of the Spirit.

But Jesus continues by explaining his own purpose in this salvation-drama — that he hasn’t merely come to teach truths, but to die and live the truth.  His whole life, death and resurrection is his message.  And he is not only the Messiah, he is the Son of Man, and God’s one and only Son . As Son of Man, he is fully human; and as God’s one and only Son, he is fully divine.  Jesus is the “God-Man” the Incarnate Word, who reveals the true nature of the Father’s love.  The Holy Spirit brings us to faith specifically in Christ who is the Mediator between God and humanity.

And it is God’s love for all the world that has motivated him to send Jesus into the world. The very world that he has created he will also redeem.

So, Jesus has given us the Trinity in these seventeen verses — but counter-intuitively he begins with the Holy Spirit, then describes his own ministry, and then and only then in John 3:16 summarizes the Grand Plan behind it all:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

RESPOND: 

I’m not sure which concerns me the most — that many professed Christians today have so little regard for the doctrine of the Trinity; or that so few professed Christians know what it means to be born of the Spirit.

Perhaps our indifference to the Triune nature of God has led to an impoverished and anemic experience of God; which would explain why the new birth isn’t being taught or experienced in so many churches.

God the Spirit bears witness to us about God the Son, which brings us to faith in him; and when we have faith, then we have eternal life.  And it is then, to quote Paul , that we have a new relationship with God the Father.  Then:

 we cry, “Abba! Father!”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:15-16).

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I marvel at your cosmic, grand plan to save the world, including me! That you love the world so much that you have come to earth in the Son to teach, to die, to rise from the dead.  That your Spirit has come to breathe new life into me, to give me new birth, and to give me saving faith. Thank you for this life!  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
“Sancta Trinitas” by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for May 30, 2021 Trinity Sunday

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 8:12-17
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage explores the dynamic nature of God in relationship with human beings.

Paul begins with a reminder of human nature — that:

For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

This conflict between flesh and Spirit requires some unpacking.

The flesh is the corrupt and corruptible aspect of human character.  Paul is not a dualist who believes that the material world is by nature evil and the spiritual realm alone is good. Rather, the flesh is the craving, selfish heart turned in upon itself.  Just a few sentences prior to our passage, Paul writes that:

 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).

So what he’s exploring here is how the Spirit moves the believer from death to life; from slaves of their fleshly nature to children of God.  The answer, he believes, is to:

 put to death the deeds of the body.

The dilemma is that the sinner cannot do that for him/herself.  The execution of sin can only be accomplished vicariously through Christ:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:2-4).

And how do human beings appropriate what God has done for them by Christ’s vicarious death on their behalf?  This is where the entire dynamic nature of God is revealed in relationship within God and with human beings.

God’s Spirit testifies with the spirits of those who have been adopted by God for the sake of his Son, and the Spirit declares that they are no longer slaves of sin and death, but now are children of God.  Now these children of God can also declare that God is their Father — their Abba.  Some scholars believe that this Aramaic word is intended to express an intimacy between Father and child, like the child calling God “Daddy!”

So, once these children of God are “adopted” into the family of God, they now enjoy all of the privileges of an heir.  In fact, they are co-heirs with Christ:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;  and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

APPLY:  

These few verses pack a huge wallop!  They tell us about our status as children of God and much, much more — that God is for us in ways that we can’t even begin to comprehend.

What becomes increasingly clear is that the doctrine of the Trinity is far more than a theological construct, or an abstract notion.  The Triune God certainly exists within a unity that is experienced as diversity, One God in Three Persons.  But it is also very true that each Person of the Triune God is dynamically involved in the salvation and restoration not only of human beings but of creation itself!

God the Father sends forth his only begotten Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, as the perfect Man who lives the perfect, sin-free life. This God-Man condescends to our level as humbly as is possible — being made man, and even becoming sin on the cross for our sake (2 Corinthians 5:21); and then re-ascends to the very highest place, even at the right hand of the Father.  And because he has identified with our fleshly nature, he has restored God’s image in us and raised us up with him.  We are adopted as his own brothers and sisters, and therefore become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. 

That means that whatever Christ inherits, we inherit.  This is also illustrated in Ephesians 2:4-7:

But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

In other words, whatever Christ inherits we inherit — eternal life, a throne alongside him, and the incomparable riches of grace!  Incredible!

And how is all of this activated?  Obviously, we are taught deeply by Paul, again and again:

for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

But we know this because of the Spirit of God, the Third Person of the Trinity:

• The Holy Spirit puts to death the sinful nature in us, which we experience through repentance.
• The Holy Spirit breathes the gift of faith.
• The Holy Spirit enables us to be adopted as children of God.
• The Holy Spirit whispers in our spirits that we are children of God and are made bold enough to cry out “Abba, Father.”

The one thing that may give us pause is that one phrase included in this passage:

if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

We certainly like the first part!  But the second part, about sharing in his sufferings?  Ouch.  Not so much.

Maybe Dietrich Bonhoeffer can help us understand this a little better:

To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ . . . The cross means sharing the suffering of Christ to the last and to the fullest. Only a man (or woman) totally committed to discipleship can experience the meaning of the cross. . . Jesus says that every Christian has his (or her) own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while others he does not allow to be tempted above what they are able to bear.   But it is one and the same cross in every case (The Cost of Discipleship, pp. 78,79).

When we identify so fully with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord by placing our faith in him completely, then we vicariously suffer with him and are raised with him.  As Paul says in Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

And only God can accomplish that in us!

RESPOND: 

Years ago,  I happened to preach on this doctrine that all Christians are adopted into the family of God because of our faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the only “natural” child of the Father, based on our understanding of the Trinity.  He is the “only begotten Son of the Father.”

But because of what he has done in his life, death and resurrection, Jesus has introduced us to the Father as his adopted brothers and sisters.  Whatever he gets from the Father, we also will get, because the Father shows no partiality between his children.

After I had finished the sermon, and said the benediction, a woman who was visiting the church that Sunday made a bee-line to me.  At first I thought I was in trouble.  But she told me that she was visiting with a family member, and she had her two adopted daughters with her.

These girls, as adopted children sometimes do, had been going through an identity crisis.  They wondered about their biological parents, and why they hadn’t been kept by them.  And somehow the sermon had spoken right to their feelings.

Some years later, I came across a testimonial from a retired pastor who said that he and his wife had a few kids of their own by birth, and a few by adoption, “but we can’t remember which is which.”

Father, I thank you that I have been adopted into your holy family for the sake of Jesus your Son.  For all that he has endured for me in order to accomplish this, I am truly humbled and amazed; empower me, through your Holy Spirit, to live as your child in this world.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
“Hold me Daddy” by Matthew Miller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
Matthew Miller says this about his pencil drawing “Hold me Daddy”:
“This picture was inspired by a little girl being held by her dad in front of me at church. She just looked so content and safe in her daddy's arms that began thinking of my heavenly Father.”

Psalm Reading for May 30, 2021 Trinity Sunday

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 29
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of praise that covers God’s creative work — from the realm of the angels, to the skies, to the seas, the forests and deserts, and even the temple.  That is an ambitious scope, and somehow the Psalmist achieves it in just eleven verses!

The Psalm begins with a kind of “call to worship,” summoning the sons of the mighty (i.e., angels) to:

 ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.
Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary reminds us that to ascribe is to attribute, assign, impute or credit some quality, cause or authorship to someone.  So the primary task of the angels here is to worship the Creator of all that exists.

The sheer poetry of this passage inspires worship of the Lord, whose very voice is heard thundering over the waters, breaking the cedars of Lebanon, shaking the desert.  When the Lord speaks, all creation leaps and quakes in response!

The imagery is striking. It evokes the power of tornadic intensity:

Yahweh’s voice breaks the cedars.
Yes, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

These and other images present the picture of Yahweh as Lord over all creation — from the surging waters of the seas to the forests whirling in the mighty wind.  And there is the contrast between Yahweh’s tenderness on the one hand, and his power on the other:

Yahweh’s voice makes the deer calve,
and strips the forests bare.

Then there is the line:

    In his temple everything says, “Glory!”

Is the temple that the psalmist describes here nature and the world itself, or is this reference to the temple in Jerusalem?  And if it is the temple in Jerusalem, it evokes in my mind a congregation gathered in the temple as though they are cringing and hiding from the terrifying voice of the Lord.  The cry “Glory!” seems  almost an involuntary cry from the depths of the communal soul of the people, as well as a thunderous shout of acclamation and praise.

Finally, the Psalmist describes Yahweh as King:

enthroned at the Flood.
Yes, Yahweh sits as King forever.

However, for all the terrifying power of God, the Psalmist acknowledges the Lord’s merciful regard for his people:

Yahweh will give strength to his people.
Yahweh will bless his people with peace.

The great and awesome God can also be tender and generous with his people.

APPLY:  

There are times that our worship may become narcissistic and self-absorbed.  At those times we think only about what God can do for me, and all of his benefits for me. 

This Psalm doesn’t leave that open to us.  We are reminded of the power and might of God.  We worship God for God’s sake, not for our own.  The gifts of strength and peace that God gives to his people are almost an afterthought — but only when we put them in perspective with all of the characteristics of an awesome God.

RESPOND: 

There are times in my own life that worship transcends what happens in church on Sunday.  Sometimes, when I’m on a hike and the sun is shimmering on the lake, or the wind is causing the tree limbs in the forest to whirl, or even simply watching the setting sun, I find myself declaring, “Glory!”

We must gather “in the temple” with the people of God to worship; but even nature itself can be a call to worship!

Lord, how often have I heard your voice in the howling wind, and in the lightning strikes seen your power!  I hesitate to ascribe the devastation of tornadoes and storms to your will, but I know that you have created all of the conditions in our world that have such mighty power in them.  Thank you for your strength and your peace.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

“Psalm 29-2” by Dr. Johnson Cherian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for May 30, 2021 Trinity Sunday

Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lord, God of Hosts! Heaven and earth are full of your glory!

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 6:1-8
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

God’s call to Isaiah was dramatic.  It happened at a dramatic time in history, in a magnificent place, and through a powerful vision.

The year that King Uzziah died may have merely been a point of reference, a way of informing the reader about chronology. Although exact Biblical dates are somewhat disputed by scholars, it was likely the year 740 B.C. that Uzziah died. (Uzziah reigned for 52 years as king of Judah, during a very prosperous time.  When Uzziah developed leprosy around 751 B.C., his son Jotham ruled as regent until his father’s death).

However, the announcement of the timing may also be a way of letting us know that this is a critical time in the history of Israel and Judah.

On the other hand, when Isaiah notes that his call occurs in the year of Uzziah’s death, he is likely telegraphing the message that this is a critical time in the history of Israel and Judah. Soon after Uzziah’s death, Jerusalem is besieged by the kings of Damascus and Israel.  And in 721 B.C., Assyria conquers the Northern Kingdom of Israel and begins to menace the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  Isaiah’s prophetic career begins in a tough time for the people of God.

The place that this vision is revealed is within the temple itself, presumably during worship. While it is useless for us to speculate about what causes Isaiah to see this vision, or whether anyone else saw it, it is a powerful moment.

This is what is known as a Theophany, which essentially means “God shows up.”  And how!  Isaiah doesn’t describe the Lord — only the backdrop and the beings that surround him.  His robe fills the temple, and the two angels (Seraphim — which is translated the burning ones) observed the propriety of worship with their six wings — although they each flew with two of the wings, two sets of wings were employed in averting their gaze from God, and avoiding any defilement of his holiness. It is not seemly for any creature to gaze upon the glory of God!

They proclaim in their chant:

 Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!

And the whole temple is shaken to the foundations, as the smoke of the incense filled the temple.

When sinful humans are confronted with the holiness of God there is only one appropriate response — conviction of sin and repentance.  Isaiah is overwhelmed:

Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”

Sinful man can do nothing to purge away his own sin — only God can do that.  The seraphim purifies Isaiah’s lips with a live coal from the altar, signifying that the prophet’s lips are now cleansed so that he may be a vessel for God’s message. The declaration of the seraphim confirms this:

Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.

And then the Lord himself speaks:

Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?

Strange, isn’t it, that the Lord speaks so generally — as though Isaiah is one of many who might respond to his call. It is not specifically addressed to anyone, but the one who will answer becomes clear.

Isaiah, having been purged, and hearing the voice of God, can only volunteer freely, without even knowing what he will be asked to do:

Here I am. Send me!

APPLY:  

Where has the sense of the holiness of God gone?  How casually do we name God in our prayers, invoke him in our ball games, demand of him that he answer our requests!  Where has our vision of God’s transcendence gone?

It seems that when someone encounters God, I mean really encounters God, the first thing that they become aware of is God’s holiness and power and transcendence.  And no matter how well ‘put together’ we might be, however successful, however decent and moral, we see ourselves in God’s light as if for the first time, and we confess with Isaiah:

 Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!

If there is not that recognition of the gulf that exists between God and humanity, I would question whether someone has really been in the presence of God at all.

And then there is the sense that only at God’s initiative can we be cleansed from our sin — not by self-improvement programs, or better education, or forty days of spiritual discipline — good as those things all are!  Only the fire of God can purify us!

And when the call comes, it does come to all who have been purified.  The question is, who will answer that call?  The one who steps forward and says:

Here I am. Send me!

RESPOND: 

It is not lost on me that this reading is selected for Trinity Sunday.  I just feel inadequate to even begin to explore the mystery of the Trinity, when so many who are more holy and more erudite than I have tried and confessed their own inadequacy.

I can point to the Triune declaration of the Seraphim:

Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!

I can point out that when the Lord speaks, he speaks first in the first person singular — “Whom shall I send? and then in the first person plural  And who will go for us?”  Could this be a plural that reminds us that God is One in Three Persons? Is it possible that this is comparable to other passages from Scripture when God speaks of himself in the third person plural?

 Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26).

I tend to think so.

I can say that for me this is a deeply personal passage.  On December 21, 1974, I too experienced a vision of God while I was gazing out over the San Bernardino Valley in California, and knew that God was looking back at me.  And then I knew that not only is God real, but that I now had a purpose — to tell others that God is real and therefore life has meaning.

After this moment of “epiphany,” I went back to my room and read Isaiah 6.  Although my own comparison to the prophet Isaiah is like comparing a gnat to an eagle, I identified so vividly with his experience.  I felt as though I too had seen the Lord high and lifted up.  My life would never be the same.

And what else could I do but echo Isaiah’s response:

Here I am. Send me!

Your holiness surpasses my meager ability to describe! And yet you have cleansed me of sin through your Son, and called me and empowered me to serve you through your Holy Spirit.  Forgive me for those times when I have failed you, and empower me to go where you send me.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Milky way 1/15" by Steven Valkenberg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.