|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Isaiah 6:1–8 |
Psalm 29 |
Romans 8:12–17 |
John 3:1–17 |
Isaiah was a young man in his twenties, married with two sons. He held a good job in the bureaucracy. Then the king died, and Isaiah’s future was in doubt. No one knew what a new administration would bring. Moreover the nation faced some formidable challenges. Everyone knew that change was in the air and many political and religious assumptions would be questioned. Apprehension was as thick as smoke. It was no wonder that Isaiah felt lost and that he was living among those whom he could not trust. He initially despaired that he was in danger of losing all that had provided security for his family and meaning to his life.
Yet in the midst of confusion and despair, God’s Spirit came to Isaiah, and touched his heart like a hot coal. God supported him and gave his life new meaning. Smoke and confusion still swirled about him, but Isaiah was transformed from a young member of the temple bureaucracy to one of the greatest of Israel’s prophets.
Nicodemus was going through his own period of re-evaluation. He had prestige and position, and was reasonably secure. Something about Jesus’ message, ‘though, stirred him. He knew that if he became a disciple of Jesus, his life would dramatically change, and likely not for the best. He had struggled with himself for some time, and at last went to find Jesus at night. At first it seemed as if Jesus and Nicodemus were not talking on the same level. Nicodemus wanted Jesus to quell the turmoil and doubt that Nicodemus knew was brewing inside him. Jesus was supposed to be a sort of Pepto-Bismol for the soul. Instead Jesus refused to smooth Nicodemus’ unease with easy answers and quick fixes of soothing words. Nicodemus would leave with more questions and to ponder the depth of Jesus’ teaching. Later he would exhibit remarkable courage in defending Jesus before the council and then after Jesus was crucified, going with Joseph of Arimathea to anoint Jesus’ body. Obviously Jesus had changed Nicodemus’s life forever.
At first these two lessons might seem to have little connection with this Sunday we call Trinity Sunday. This holy day was added to the church calendar to counteract a reoccurring tendency in the church’s history to compress or restrict the ways God enters our existence into rigid categories or into a single dimension of experience. The addition of concluding doxologies of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to psalms and prayers, were partly a response to early heresies. These heresies in one way or another denied the multi-layered dimensions of Christian experience and emphasized only one attribute of God or blew one particular attribute all out of proportion.
Trinity Sunday holds that one picture is not worth a thousand words. For a balanced perspective, you need at the very least, several pictures, and probably some additional words. For example, you don’t begin to get any idea of the depth of the spirit of Abraham Lincoln by looking at one photo of him as a young lawyer or reading one speech he wrote while in Illinois. However, viewing a series of photographs, taken by different photographers as his presidency progressed, you can begin to catch a glimpse into Lincoln’s soul. Then as you read his writings over the years, as you look at his changing face, you begin to understand how wise and prophetically thoughtful this man was. Trinity Sunday is ageless testimony that Christian experience is many layered, and one has to work at it, not skim it, and balance many things at the same time
Like the time of Isaiah when there was a change of authority and threats of rising hostile powers, or the time of Nicodemus who found his life challenged by the words of Jesus, or the time of Lincoln when America was at war with itself, we, too, are challenged by profound change and live with smoke and uncertainty all around us. It is tempting to make sense of the situation by hiding behind simple ideologies, or one dimensional views and jump to quick conclusions. It is in such times as these, however, that balance and perspective are even more critical for us to move forward and live out a healthy and vital faith. Isaiah, Nicodemus, Lincoln, and the Trinity all have one thing in common: depth. Isaiah, Nicodemus, and Lincoln were all profoundly transformed by their particular circumstances as they were not satisfied with a narrow vision or comforting answers. It is a wise thing that people of faith need to be reminded of the breadth of the Trinity revealing the comprehensiveness of God’s grace, now, more than ever.
And
I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
