Trinity Sunday
Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Reflection of God
This text has been really important to me, for a really long time, for so many reasons. Those of you who were here last week for our 60th Anniversary worship service witnessed a group of 13 people, of which I was one, become members of this congregation. It was such a wonderful moment, and I was so proud to be counted as one of that number. Each person in that group had to take a new members class, and I used different scriptures to lead off our discussions about different topics like salvation, the Passover, communion.
I used Matthew 3:13-17 as an introduction for our discussion on baptism. It’s also a really great text for talking about the Trinity, because this is one of the few places in the Bible where all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned together. This was the scene that I originally wanted to turn into a mosaic when I first started thinking about creating a mosaic at my seminary, and the figure of Jesus in this scene is the exact center of the mural.
Although you can’t really tell on the fabric replica that’s currently hanging up in the Fireside Room, the beams of light coming down from God’s hand onto Jesus in the Jordan include pieces of mirror. I thought that mirror would do a good job of representing light, and I also wanted people to see themselves reflected in this scene. I thought it would be neat if someone was looking at the figure of Jesus getting baptized, and for them to all of sudden realize that they were looking back at themselves from within the scene, that they were a part of the scene, and maybe come to the realization that their own baptism is a reflection of Jesus getting baptized in the Jordan.
This text is important to me because of the presence of the Trinity. The theological concept of the Trinity makes up so much of how I understand God, and Christianity, and myself.
I was talking with a friend about the concept of the Trinity the other day. A while ago, she made a comment about how she didn’t like the concept of the Trinity, that she found it to be problematic, but she also didn’t really want to talk about it. Now, I am a very curious person, especially when it comes to things like that, but she promised that we would talk about some other time, so I let it go. But, we were chatting a few days ago, and I had been thinking about the Trinity because Trinity Sunday was coming up, and I remembered that she had promised that we would talk about her views of the Trinity. So, I brought it up because I thought it would help me figure out what I wanted to say today, and she agreed to talk about it.
Well, her views have changed since that initial conversation, and she said that she doesn’t dislike the Trinity anymore, but she still didn’t really think that theology about the Trinity was important. Whether God exists as the Trinity or not, why does it matter what people believe about it? And, why have we, as a tradition of faith, spent thousands of years arguing about it?
While I agree with a lot of what she was saying, as a person who spent four years in seminary, I obviously have an interest in these kinds of things. But beyond just my curiosity, my understanding of theology is that it has always shaped human behavior, and that it will always shape human behavior. A society that believes that “God helps those who help themselves”, which to be clear is not in the Bible, will differ radically from a society that believes that God has a preferential option for the poor.
Now, while I was writing this, I realized that we have never talked about God’s preferential option for the poor, so please let me explain. This is a theological principle that states that God stands in solidarity with the poor and the powerless. If you pay attention to what God says, what Jesus says, and what the prophets say throughout the Bible, there is a clear pattern of preference given to the poor and the powerless. Deuteronomy 15:11 says, “You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and the poor in your land.” Proverbs 21:13: “They who shut their ear to the cry of the poor will also cry and not be answered.” Luke 14:13: “When you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” The list goes on and on. But the point is, a society that believes that “God helps those who help themselves” will be radically different from a society that believes that God has a preferential option for the poor. Theology is important.
Which brings us back to the Trinity. Now, this is something that we have talked about before. The Trinity is one of the great mysteries of the church, and it’s okay if we don’t completely understand it, because anyone that tells you that they completely understand it is lying to you. But, it is a theological concept that most Christian denominations profess to believe.
As I said almost exactly one year ago, on the last Trinity Sunday, my favorite description of the Trinity is from C.S. Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia. The way that he describes the Trinity is that the Christ emanates from the Creator, and the Holy Spirit is the embodiment of their relationship. The Creator and the Christ are cosmic beings, so otherworldly, so amazing and powerful that their relationship to one another actually manifests as another person, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. So, God’s very being, the shape of God, the way of God, is an example to us of how to live in harmony with each other. God exists in harmony with Godself: three persons, no hierarchy, perfect trust, perfect mutuality, each person taking care of and supporting the others.
As human beings, we were created in the image of God, in the image of the Trinity. So not only do we reflect the grandeur and majesty of God, when we are in relationship with each other, we form the image of God in relationship with Godself. There’s you, the other person, and then your relationship which is itself a reflection of the Holy Spirit. We were created to live in relationship with each other.
Understanding the Trinity isn’t about sharing secret mysterious knowledge as if we were some kind of society of privileged scholars. Those of us who became members last week weren’t signing up to be part of a secret club, with secret handshakes and secret rituals. We were joining a family. We were saying that we want to be a part of what is happening here. What we do here is real. We build and strengthen our relationships with each other so that we can have the support that we need to build and strengthen our relationships in the wider community. Understanding the Trinity is about understanding the nature of God reflected in us. Community is the reason we exist, and community is what keeps us going. We have no choice but to exist in community, because we were created in the image of the Triune God, in the image of community.
There is so much work to do in the world. So much work to do right in our own backyard. God is asking us to open our arms in radical welcome so that every child of God will know love and know what it means to be in relationship with other people. This work is so important. In a world that’s forgotten what community is, it’s our job to remind them. So, let all of the people in your lives know how much you love them. Reflect the Trinity by forming true relationships with everyone that you meet, and let us all be a community, made in God’s image. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
