Trinity Sunday
May 26, 2024
Welcome to this first Sunday after Pentecost, also known as Trinity Sunday. It’s the Sunday we celebrate the three-in-one nature of God. You won’t find this celebration in the Bible like you do Pentecost or Christmas or the Resurrection. Instead, it is a celebration the Church began observing many years later, a tradition that helped to put a name to the lived experience of followers of the Way of Jesus, who spoke of his Abba, and also of the Spirit of God. We don’t have to understand completely how God can be three and one at the same time. It is a mystery – not a mystery to be solved like in a detective novel or a crime, but a mystery to be lived with – more like the word mysterious. God is both mysterious and known to us intimately.
Is that enough theology for one morning?
I invite you this morning to listen for this Trinity idea in what is read and sung, and we’ll probably talk about it a bit more later in the service.
One more thing that this idea of the three-in-one nature of God reveals to us and that is that God is a God of relationship. We are created in God’s image, so we are created for relationship as well. So we come together to worship in community, and we welcome everyone to be in relationship with one another, including anyone who is checking us out for the first time or who is still trying to figure us out. Welcome. We want to be in relationship with you.
May the peace of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer be with you. Let us pass the peace to one another and share with one another which of the three natures of God you most relate to.
Reading from the Gospels – John 3:1-17 (From the Message)
3 1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”
5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”
10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?
13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
Moment of silence
Listen to the voice of the Spirit speaking to the Church. Thanks be to God.
So, what did you hear? First tell me about the names for God.
While the NT is permeated with the reality of God, Christ, and the Spirit, this passage in the Gospel of John and the verses in the Gospel of Matthew about baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the only two places in the Gospels that combine the three [from “Exegetical Perspective in Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 3, p. 45] John didn’t have “Trinity” in mind as he wrote. “Rather, this passage lays out the sort of raw material out of which… later teachers undertook that development, like a lumberyard from which carpenters later build a house.” [“Three and One: Salt’s Commentary for Trinity Sunday” Salt+ Commentary, saltproject.com, 052024]
Where else did you hear Trinitarian language today? [Scripture, CTW, hymns, prayers]
Whether we understand the mystery or not, we do use the language in our worship pretty much every Sunday in one way or another.
Now, was there anything new that you heard in this passage from John’s Gospel?
Some things I noted:
Born from above/born again (same word which means both things). This is probably not the first time you’ve heard about this double meaning. How does it change your perception of how this passage has been used? Would it surprise you to know that it wasn’t until the 1740s during what is known as the First Great Awakening that the passage was “usually quoted in revivals to convince ‘unbelievers’ to be ‘born again’”? [from The Cottage blog by Diana Butler Bass, 052524]
Real life/whole and lasting life – vv15-18 – we usually think of John 3:16 as a promise of eternal life – living forever with God. At least that is how I learned it and understood it. It sounds to me, though, with this translation of real and whole, that there is more to being born again/from above than a promise of living forever with God. God’s gift of God’s son is a gift of life “from above” for all who receive it. God’s intent is to make life whole, God’s health for all the world in all of life’s relationships. [from “Exegetical Perspective in Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 3, p. 49]
How is simply believing in this son of God sent from above going to result in a “whole and lasting life”?
I think it has to do with the invitation implicit in this passage – what we are being called to do and to be. And it is not unlike the passage Connie read from Isaiah. Both are considered call passages.
Of course, Isaiah 6 is the most well-known call passage in the Bible. It’s also a classic text for teaching worship order to seminary students, but that’s a lesson for another day. Isaiah enters the throne room of God, angels flying around God on the throne worshiping, Isaiah humbled before that thrown, and then moved to exclaim, “Here, send me!” when the question is asked, “Who will go for us?” His mission? To take God’s message to those who will not understand, hear, see, or turn to God for healing. That sounds fun, doesn’t it? It also sounds a little familiar in today’s context too.
The language in John’s Gospel isn’t quite as explicitly one of calling, but it is one of invitation. Nicodemus comes to Jesus to find out more about this rabbi who seems to be able to tap into the power and authority of God. Who is he? And why do you think he’s there at night?
Jesus tells him, “Nick, you have to be born from above to understand where I’m coming from.” And Nicodemus seems almost deliberately to misunderstand. “How can I be born again? It’s impossible.” Jesus insists that that is the only way, but clarifies that it’s not the kind of rebirth Nicodemus is thinking – not the flesh and blood kind, but the water and spirit kind. “Nick, I’m talking about an inner rebirth, one that changes you from the inside out.” It’s not there in the text, but Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, “Believe in me. Follow me. That will change your whole life. That’s what God wants for the whole world, including you.”
Do you recall any other stories of Nicodemus? There are two more times. There’s a story a few chapters later when Nicodemus speaks up for Jesus when his colleagues, leading priests and pharisees, want to arrest him. Then we see him again at Jesus’ death when he goes with Joseph of Arimathea to help with Jesus’ burial.
That’s how we know this story of Jesus and Nicodemus is another call narrative. Nicodemus wasn’t like Isaiah. He didn’t say, “Here I am, Jesus! I understand. I believe. I want to be transformed.” But these other two stories show how he’s moved from seeking Jesus out at night, to defending him, to caring for him at his death. He sounds like a disciple, doesn’t he?
In “Where the Wind Blows” Debi Thomas says
What Jesus was offering Nicodemus was not a tune-up, or a few minor tweaks to an already near-perfect life; it was a brand new life. A new birth. A fresh, down to the foundations beginning. What newborn enters the world without birth pangs, shock, disorientation, or pain? Downright bewilderment isn’t the exception in a birth story; it’s the rule. If we don’t find Christianity at least a little bit confusing, then perhaps it’s not Christianity we’re practicing. [Debi Thomas, “Where the Wind Blows”]
You’ve seen the signs at ball games, haven’t you? Big white banners or poster boards proclaiming “John 3:16.” I have always thought that was insider language that, while perhaps displayed with good intentions, wouldn’t mean much to someone watching on TV or from across the stadium. And even if the whole verse were written out, and someone were to be convinced by this statement of how much God loves the world enough to believe in God’s son – a big if, I might add – they would be misled.
Do I believe what that one verse says? Of course I do. But I also know that being born again, being born from above is so much more. I was taught when I was in Vacation Bible School or Sunday School or Church Training or in missions studies that I should simply insert my name where it says “the world” – “for God so loved Robin, that he gave his only son…” It makes the verse very personal and is a powerful message about how much God loved, loves me, but (you could hear that “but” coming, couldn’t you) but that’s not what the verse says. It says “the world,” and I know I’m part of “the world,” and I know God loves me. But to distill the entirety of the Gospel message into this one verse, to make it about your own individual salvation, does a disservice to that one verse and to the whole Gospel message. Jesus came to transform the world, all of creation.
Of course, it is about us, isn’t it? It is about our own transformation – look at how Nicodemus changed, look at the disciples and how it transformed their lives, look at all the lives Jesus touched and healed and how they too were transformed. Also look at Pentecost and the powerful transformation that happened as Peter and the others reached out to the crowd in Jerusalem. Look at how the movement spread all over the Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Look how God has transformed this church and how God is continuing to transform us – from the inside out.
Will you pray with me?
God of transformation, we want to be born again. We want to be born from above. We want to be born from within. And even more, we want to bring that message of love of transformation to the world. Guide us, empower us through your Spirit, help us to be Jesus’ love in this broken world. In the name of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, we pray. Amen.
Invitation to Be Born Again
Are you ready to be transformed from within? Maybe you decided a long time ago that you believed in the One who came and taught and loved and died and rose from the grave. But maybe you somewhere along the way lost sight of what that meant. Maybe today was a reminder or maybe today opened your eyes. Remember what Debi Thomas said? “If we don’t find Christianity at least a little bit confusing, then perhaps it’s not Christianity we’re practicing.” Maybe the idea of God who is three-in-one is confusing. Maybe you’re still trying to figure out what it means to be transformed from within. Maybe it’s time to stop overthinking it, and just trust it to happen. Who knows? Maybe God will use you and this church to be a part of transforming the world. If you want to talk with me more about this transformation stuff, come to the altar during our hymn of response or call me or text me or email me this week. Let’s figure this out together.
Benediction
God said, “Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us?”
And Isaiah said, “Here am I; send me!”
Life-giving God, free us from our fear, from our confusion, and from our reticence,
fill us with your love, and send us forth in peace.