Readings: Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18
Reflection by Jeff Koch
“Blest be God the Father, and the Only Begotten Son of God, and also the Holy Spirit. For He has shown us His merciful love.”
We sing a song in our church that begins like this . . . “I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think you’re like . . .” When we speak of the trinity, so many have so many ideas and ways to explain the trinity. No matter how we try to explain this wonderful reality, we seem to fall short and maybe even say some confusing things. In our entrance antiphon above, did you notice? Blest be God the Father and His only begotten Son, and also the Holy Spirit. Now I count three, but the next line says, He has shown us His merciful love. Which one? Which he? All of them! Now, I am not a Hebrew scholar, but I have been told that the Hebrew term אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim) is commonly used to indicate plural nouns, but also has other functions such as indicating abstract concepts, or the concrete expression of an abstract concept. (Genesis 1:1 from notes in the New English Translation) Clear as a bell, right?
I will not try to explain the trinity beyond what I have said above. For centuries armchair theologians have tried to explain the trinity, offering more confusion. And there those who refuse to believe in the trinity because they cannot understand the ONE God in THREE persons. But I think the best way to understand this wonderful reality is to experience this mystery in your life. What is God like? How would you describe God?
We see God in Exodus 34 passing before Moses who wanted to see this God and proclaim His name, “The Lord: the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity (faithfulness).” Moses knowing that he was with a people who didn’t manifest those qualities, but were stiff necked, accusative, condemning, unforgiving, angry and not really faithful, he said, “God, do come along with us in our company.” We need you! Isn’t that the truth! We need that kind of God to be with us to go before us and guide us; mercy, grace, slow to anger, kind and faithful. The world needs to see that kind of God in the midst of all “the thousand stories of what they think He is.” But does God help us understand, by coming among us, in Jesus, the Word made flesh!
“For God so loved the world that he gave us his only son, not to condemn the world but that through him, Jesus, the Son, the world could be saved.” Just as Moses desired, God sent Jesus to live with us to be in our company, to dwell among us and not condemn but to save us. Here is the central truth. Jesus comes to show us the Father! Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 2:9 say that Jesus is the exact representation of God to us. At one point one of the disciples wanted to see God and said, “Jesus, just show us God and we will be fine.” Jesus said, have I been with you this long and you still think you haven’t seen the Father, when you see me, you see the father. As Jesus spoke to the disciples before his death, he said, it is good for you that I leave for if I don’t the Spirit can’t come and when he comes he will teach you all things, he will guide you into the truth, he will remind you of all things. (John 14:26; 16:12-15) There is the trinity at work. To dwell with us, not condemning, but forgiving and loving and showing us mercy. To show us God who, in Jesus, is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness. If you have any other idea of our story about God that is not like Jesus, you are talking about the wrong concept of God. As one preacher says, as a result of this, “God is like Jesus, God has always been like Jesus, we didn’t always know that, but we do now. I probably can’t fully explain the trinity for some peoples’ satisfaction, but like Jesus we can live our lives in such a way, that others can experience Him.
This leads me to a second reality of the Trinity, there is “unity in the community” of the God-head. “Let us make man in our image . . .” They work together in such a way that they are one in thought, purpose and action. When you see God work, as trinity, you will know it when you experience it.
This is why Paul tells us, the community, to rejoice, and mend our ways, and encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. What we can hear Paul saying is, the world can’t understand the trinity, but they are watching you. If we are divided and fighting, and condemning and arguing with one another, we are not living in unity as the community of the trinity. So, they, who have all these different stories of who God is, are not seeing the trinity; nor experiencing the love, forgiveness, mercy and faithfulness of God.
We may not be able to full explain the trinity, to this world, but we can offer them an experience of God in community. The rest of the song I referred to at the beginning of this reflection . . . But I've heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night. And You tell me that You're pleased and that I'm never alone. You're a good, good Father, And I'm loved by You! Oh, and I've seen many searching for answers far and wide But I know we're all searching for answers only You provide 'cause You know just what we need before we say a word . . .You're a good, good Father, And I'm loved by You.”
So, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. May grace, love and peace in the fellowship be a beacon to who God is and how this trinity operates.
God, our Father, who by sending into the world the word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification made known to the human race your wonderous mystery; grant we pray, that in professing the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore our unity, power in majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen