Year A Trinity Sunday 19 June 2011
Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a Psalm 8 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13 Matthew 28: 16-20
Last week I mentioned that the feast of Pentecost occurred at the celebration which commemorated the giving of the Torah to the Israelite people in the desert. The tradition holds that this book was written by Moses, but given by God. Our first reading this week comes from the beginning of the Torah.
If you recall the story, you’ll remember the giving of the 10 commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. He was actually given them twice, as he broke the first lot when he came down the Mountain to find the Israelites worshiping an idol of a golden calf.
Many people are familiar with the 10 commandments and though they don’t know what they are, most people will tell you that they keep the commandments. But many, many more commands were also given by Moses. According to some websites that I looked up there are actually 613 commands. According to one interpretation, one of those commands is that each person should write out the song of the law for themselves... this was written in Deuteronomy 31:19-21.
Moses was the man who spoke with God. God appeared to him first in the burning bush and then, when the Israelites were wondering in the desert, God appeared as a pillar of fire by night and a cloud at day. My point in all of this is to make us aware of the background of our first reading.
Those commands that God gave Moses, referred to by the Jewish people as the Torah, is found in our Christian Bible. The Torah consists of the books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These are the first 5 Books in our Bible. The Torah, though called the book of the law, can be translated as teaching or instruction.
With this in mind we come to our first reading which comes from the very beginning of the Bible. Genesis 1:1-5 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”
This week we our focus is the Trinity. The Trinity is the understanding the God is only one, yet has been expressed in three different ways. It is a theology that divides and confuses, but it is what God is.
Back at the very beginning we read in Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth. This is the very definition of God that St. Paul proclaimed in our readings a couple of weeks ago when he saw a monument to an unknown God. St. Paul preached to the people about this unknown God as being the one and only true God, the one who created the heavens and the earth. Many people these days don’t like to think that anyone created the heavens and the earth. You can never truly know God unless you can believe this fundamental aspect about him – he created the heavens and the earth.
Acknowledging that God created the heavens and the earth is acknowledging that He is above all and beyond all. We acknowledge that he has all power and all authority. Then in the next sentence we get to know a bit more about God when we read that the Spirit of God hovered above the waters. We read throughout the Old Testament about the Spirit of God being with his people, and coming with power to accomplish God’s plan of salvation.
The beginning of John’s Gospel gives us insight into where this third aspect of God comes in. He speaks about the “Word”....
John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
And so we know that back in our Genesis reading, the part where we find Jesus is where God spoke. “...And God said, “Let there be light,” ......
There are places in the Old Testament where there are references to the “Word of God”. The word of God is the expression of God.... we read in the New Testament that Christ is the visible expression of God. In other words, “The Word became flesh”.
We also remember the reading that is read so often at funerals where Jesus comforts his disciples and tells them that in his father’s house are many rooms. He is asked that he might show them the father, but he responds with: John 14:9, 10 “Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?”
We begin with the understanding that this awesome God made the heavens and the earth, and then we get to know him. Some prefer to call this initial understanding of God, the creator, as it is true He is. But over the years we’ve discovered the privilege of a closer relationship and so we call him father, and we understand also the care and love that He has for us. Personally I find the term “creator” somewhat restrictive and not fully encompassing all that God the father is.
Like wise, we know that Jesus is the son of God and some refer to him as the redeemer – that was something that he did for us – he redeemed us – but once again this is impersonal and restrictive as Jesus is also our Brother, our friend and our mediator. We are IN him and he IN us, this is such a bond that goes beyond that of an impersonal term.
The Holy Spirit is the how. How Jesus is in us is through the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is the sanctifier, that is, makes us holy by our union with God. But there is also more to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the teacher, the comforter, the advocate and the one who empowers – just to name a few.
So by now you will have picked up that I’m not real keen on the restrictive words of creator, redeemer and sanctifier in referring to the Trinity. But in reality there are not enough words that can fully explain or contain God. Some object to the understanding of God being so male oriented. I don’t intend to dwell on this – Jesus was male and he called God father, as had been revealed throughout history. That is good enough for me and I’m very sorry if anyone has a problem with that, but God is what he is and not what we make Him.
Jesus was an historical figure. He claimed to be, and his followers called him the son of God. It is probably hardest for people to understand this part of the Trinity when they read about Jesus being on earth and praying to his father. We need to remember that God created the heavens and the earth and is therefore way beyond our understanding. We watch fantasy shows on television and have little problem accepting them, but when it comes to God being one but in three persons we have difficulties.
The theology or formal understanding of the trinity was developed because of the observations and understandings of God as revealed through experience and through the scriptures in particular our Gospel reading.
Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus commanded that people be made disciples by being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I think we need to be reminded of this. We belong to God the father, Son and Holy Spirit. We do not belong to a theological idea about some remote creator, redeemer and sanctifier, but instead to the God who created the heavens and earth – all that is- seen and unseen. We belong to Jesus who walked this earth, lived as one of us, died to redeem us and rose from the dead... a living real person with whom we can have a personal relationship. We belong to the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the father and the son – helps us pray, teaches, through whom the law is written on our hearts, he comforts and empowers.
Trinity – one God, but three persons. One God who is beyond our understanding, yet revealed to us as three persons, through whom, we are united in a relationship of love.
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