Today is Trinity Sunday so firstly I’d like to say a few words about the Trinity and what it means. I’d then like to look at the Trinity in the Old and New Testaments, particularly focusing on the ministry of Jesus and finally look at how we can come to know the Trinity in our own lives.
Several years ago I remember talking to my son Tom when he was about 12 and he asked me to explain the Trinity to him. You’re going to have to help me with this Lord I thought and the idea of a childs puzzle came into my mind.
It was an old fashioned wooden puzzle in the shape of a triangle and it had 3 pieces and for some reason it was green.
I told Tom to imagine this puzzle in his mind. I said the puzzle symbolised God and He was made up of 3 persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So God is three persons in one being.
Another way to think of the Trinity is as water, H2O. Water can exist as liquid water, or as ice, or as steam. They are 3 manifestations of the same thing. They are all essentially water albeit in 3 forms.
The idea of the Trinity is rooted in scripture, in the bible. It’s not a clever idea theologians have concocted. Rather it is what scripture reveals about the nature of God in both the Old and New Testaments.
Thus for instance starting with the Old Testament in Genesis chapter 3 just after Adam and Eve’s fall, we read; “The Lord God said ‘the man has now become like one of us knowing good and evil.’
Notice the word us, plural. God is referring to himself as we, not I.
Similarly in Genesis chapter 11 in the story of the Tower of Babel we read; The Lord said ‘come let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other .’
Again notice the word us.
And in Isaiah chapter 42 which is a prophecy about Jesus, we read; “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my spirit on him.”
This passage encompasses Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God the Father is speaking of His son Jesus, the servant and His Spirit which He will put on Him.
Likewise in the New Testament there are several references to the Trinity in the gospels and in Paul’s letters.
So for instance in the run up to Jesus’ birth Luke tells us that the angel Gabriel says to Mary; ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.’ Father, Son and Holy spirit are all present as Jesus comes into the world.
Perhaps the most poignant place we see reference to the Trinity is at the’ crucifixion where Jesus says ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Of course Jesus is quoting from Psalm 22, but he is referring to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit who cannot share fellowship with Him as he carries the sins of the world upon his shoulders – your sins and my sins.
So we see God revealing Himself throughout scripture, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
However the most obvious place we see God as three persons is in the life and ministry of Jesus and it’s this I’d like to look at now.
In today’s reading we see Jesus (God the son) being baptised and God the Holy Spirit descending upon him as God the Father speaks. This is an important passage as it marks the start of Jesus’ ministry having been empowered by the Holy Spirit.
In order to understand what is happening here and to understand something about the life and ministry of Jesus it is helpful to refer to what Paul tells us about Jesus in Philippians chapter 2.
Paul tells us that; ‘Christ Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
What Paul is saying here, is that Jesus, although he was God, made himself nothing by taking on the nature of a servant. In other words Jesus chose as a human being to live his life in total reliance on God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He laid aside his own power as God and chose to live in humility and obedience to the will of his Father and to rely on the Holy Spirit to empower him.
At any time Jesus could have chosen to abandon his earthly mission and to take up his power and position in heaven as God the Son, but that was not the way he chose. He chose the path of obedience and submission, confined to the body of a man, in order to save us.
It’s interesting that immediately after today’s gospel passage Jesus is lead by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. And the first temptation the devil tries, is to get Jesus to use his own power to turn stones to bread. Jesus refuses because as a servant he has chosen to lay aside his own power and to rely on the Holy Spirit.
So in this passage today from Mark’s gospel we see Jesus being empowered by the Holy Spirit to start his ministry. Having been led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted and having overcome his temptations, Luke tells us that Jesus returns to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit.”
The power that Jesus exhibits during his life on earth – the power to heal and deliver people comes from the Holy Spirit.
Therefore it is no surprise when we read in Luke chapter 4 of Jesus telling the audience in the synagogue in Nazareth "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind.”
So Jesus starts and fulfils his earthly ministry using not his own power, but the power of the Holy Spirit.
There’s an interesting little verse in Luke chapter 5 where we are told;” the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.” So we see the power of the Holy Spirit was present for Jesus to heal the sick.
Of course we must never forget that although Jesus chose to lay aside his own power and become like a servant, he is as Paul puts it, “in very nature God.” His character is that of God. He expresses perfectly God’s character.
As Rowan Williams puts it, ‘He is perfect love made flesh and bone.’ So we see him pouring out his life in love towards those he encounters, healing them, delivering them and speaking words of truth and life to those who will receive them.
Jesus lives in a relationship of perfect love with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He expresses his love for them by his submission and obedience. He in turn receives and shares their love and power which pours out of him and touches the lives of those around him, inviting them to share in this relationship.
Prior to his ministry on earth Jesus was omnipresent and omniscient. As God he was everywhere and he knew everything. Nothing was outside his sight or his knowledge. But as a human in addition to laying aside his power, he also laid aside his omnipresence and omniscience, and was confined to a human body during his time on earth.
Thus when for instance when the lady in the crowd touches his robes and is healed he doesn’t know who it was that touched him. When talking about his second coming he says he doesn’t know that day or hour. He limited himself for a season to living in a human body.
This is why we frequently see Jesus retiring to lonely places to pray for guidance. For instance before he chooses the 12 disciples he spends the whole night in prayer asking His Father who he should choose. And in John’s gospel Jesus says that he only does
what he sees his father doing.
He needs to spend time with his father in order to know what to do each day.
Jesus entire ministry and life on earth is lived in obedience and submission to, and reliance on God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and in the gospel reading today we see Jesus, God in a human body, being anointed by the Holy
Spirit to start that ministry and receiving confirmation from God his Father that he loves him and is pleased with him.
Why is this important for us to understand?
Well I think it’s important as Paul tells us that we are to be like Jesus, to be conformed to his likeness.
Jesus’ life is an example to us of how we should live our lives – in reliance on God the Father and God the Holy Spirit through the sacrifice of God the son. And what we see Jesus doing we should also do.
Of course we won’t live perfect lives as he did, but as we rely on God for guidance and the Holy Spirit to empower us, we should be able to do the same type of things he did.
As we come to know God and are filled with his love and his power, that love and power should also flow out of our lives.
This is why Jesus sends his disciples out to do the same works he has been doing – to heal the sick and to cast out demons, and he is able to say to them; “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
By choosing to live his life as a servant and relying on God the Father and God the Spirit, Jesus has set us a pattern and an example that we can follow albeit imperfectly.
Personally I don’t find the Trinity that strange a concept. God enjoys relationship within the Godhead. He exists in a perfect relationship of love. The Father loves the son who loves the spirit and so on. All three persons of the trinity are in perfect agreement and accord and most amazingly they want to share that relationship with us.
That’s why God has created us. To share in a relationship of love with Him, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for that relationship to spill over into the lives of those around us.
It’s significant in today’s gospel reading that John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus and urged people to repent and it’s significant that Jesus was baptised prior to starting his ministry.
If we want to enjoy a relationship with God, if we want to receive revelation of who He is, the precursor to that is repentance followed ideally by baptism or confirmation – some public confession of faith.
So when John the Baptist called the crowds to repent and baptised them, he was preparing people’s hearts to be able to receive Jesus.
They were to clean up their lives and to turn away from what they knew to be wrong and turn towards God. Their baptism was a public sign they were willing to do this.
Jesus will come into our lives when we invite him but only if we are prepared to repent, to turn away from what we know to be wrong and to turn towards God. And when we do this we too will receive revelation of God and come to know him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In the name of the living God
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment