Trinity Sunday
John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”
Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So, it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that God gave their only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Playing Games
In case any of you don’t know this about me, I like games. I like card games, and board games, and party games, and role-playing games. I even like video games, but I like them a little too much, so I actually don’t allow myself to play them at all, otherwise I would just spend my whole day exploring make-believe worlds on my TV screen, and I don’t have time for that. I like games so much that I make games.
When I was going through my ordination process, my Committee on Ministry in the Northern California Nevada Conference invited me to envision my ordination paper as something other than a paper. They knew about the giant mosaic I made at the seminary, and they probably thought I would come up with some kind of art project. After thinking about it for a few days, I asked them if I could make a game for my ordination paper, and they said yes! So, I spent the next few months creating a game that would represent the United Church of Christ. The game itself was designed to teach the history and theology of our denomination, and the way you play the game is supposed to help the players understand our polity, or the way that our denomination is governed, how it functions on a structural level. Now, creating a card game was way more work than writing an ordination paper, but it was fun, and I’m glad I did it, and now I have an entire card game to show for it.
I have to say, just because I like games doesn’t mean that I’m actually good at them. I do try to win when I play, as most people do, and I think my familiarity with gaming in general makes me better than the average player, but winning isn’t the most important part of it for me. One of the things that I really like about games is how they work, the rules that actually make up the game and allow the game to function. These are called mechanics. Mechanics fascinate me, and when I encounter a game with interesting mechanics that are different from what I’ve seen before, it really gets the gears in my head turning.
I encountered this little Japanese card game fairly recently called Start-ups. It’s a game based on capitalism. I know, it sounds horrible, but trust me, it is a really interesting game. Because, while in most games, you’re focused on your own strategy, your own plans for how you’re going to play, with Start-ups you really have to pay attention to what your opponents are doing. It’s a game based on psychology: what are your opponents thinking, what are they planning, what do you think they might do. So, even though the game looks simple; it’s just a deck of cards and a couple of tokens that represent money, the psychological aspect of the game makes it really tricky. And, when I try to teach the game to other people, I always explain to them that they will have no idea what’s going on the first few times they play, and that’s okay. You just have to play it a few times, and you kind of just feel your way through it.
The reason that I’m sharing all of this with you is because today is Trinity Sunday, the day when we focus on the theological concept of the Trinity. It’s not something that’s easy to explain, and for a lot of people, it’s just something that you have to feel your way through. You can ask all the questions you want, and people can try to explain it to you, but ultimately, you need to live it and feel it. But, we are an inquisitive species, and we have always wanted answers for things. We are all Nicodemus, asking Jesus to explain everything that he says, and just not understanding it.
Nicodemus is an interesting character. At our Bible study this week, we noticed that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night to ask his questions. I never really paid attention to this “at night” part of the story before; it always felt like it was just a throw-away fact, that it was just the setting for what was happening and it didn’t actually matter. But, once it was pointed out, mentioning that Nicodemus came at night seemed to be quite deliberate, and several of us wondered if this was some kind of secret meeting. We wondered if Nicodemus was meeting Jesus under the cover of darkness, so that no one would see him, because Nicodemus was a Pharisee. And, we know that Jesus was always getting into trouble with the Pharisees, and perhaps, Nicodemus was worried about what his colleagues would say if he was seen talking to this troublemaker Jesus fellow.
Nicodemus only shows up two more times, and only in the gospel of John. The second time that we see him is when he speaks in defense of Jesus to the temple priests who want Jesus to be arrested during the festival of booths. The third time Nicodemus shows up is after Jesus is crucified, when he brings a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes to prepare Jesus for burial. Myrrh and aloes would have been used during this time for the burial of kings. Here, Nicodemus is referred to as the one “who had first come to Jesus by night,” the author going out of their way to make sure that we remember that Nicodemus came to Jesus during the night.
Nicodemus was having trouble understanding Jesus, and this story is often read as a Pharisee challenging what Jesus is teaching and who Jesus is. But, there seems to be an earnest quality to Nicodemus’ questions, and overall, a comedic and sarcastic tone to this exchange between the two men. Their conversation seems to be one between two people who already knew each other, and possibly may have been friends. Nicodemus calls Jesus rabbi, or teacher, a title of respect. And later, we have more evidence that Nicodemus respected and admired Jesus, when he speaks in defense of Jesus to the temple priests, and when he comes to help Joseph of Arimathea prepare Jesus’ body for burial.
But, during this conversation, Nicodemus is asking questions, and Nicodemus is not understanding the answers. It isn’t necessary to fully understand the concept of the Trinity. But, it is a helpful lens to look through as we read the scriptures. What does it mean to understand Jesus as God. What do our scriptures look like with the understanding that the Creator, the Christ, and the Spirit are the same being? What do our scriptures look like with the understanding that the Creator, the Christ, and the Spirit are separate beings, and what if these two things are both true at the same time?
The idea that God exists in relationship to Godself is important to consider as we think about who we are as human beings, human beings who have been created in the image of God. We were created out of relationship, for relationship, in the image of relationship. We are supposed to exist in community, and see ourselves in the people around us.
My favorite part of games is how they bring people together, much like coming to church, or sitting down for a meal with friends and family. When we interact with each other in friendship and love, we truly reflect the image of God. When we take care of each other, support each other, pray for each other, and rejoice with each other, we reflect the image of God. Every person you see is the image of God: the person waiting in the car next to you at a red light, the cashier at Starbucks, the cop giving you a ticket, your parents, your best friend, the unsheltered person sleeping on the street, the neighbor that you never talk to. That’s why Jesus said, “Whatever you did to the least of these, you did unto me.” And, anytime we ignore the people around us, or refuse to help them, we are ignoring God, and refusing to be the image of God.
We talk about the Trinity because it helps us to understand the grandeur and the majesty of God. All of our explanations are inadequate, we can never truly understand God with our limited capacities as human beings. But, that doesn’t stop us from being who we are, or the fact that we reflect God’s glory. So share food, give money, shake hands, hug, dance, play games, and become the image of our Triune God. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
