The First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2015, Rev. David Ota
Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
Today is Trinity Sunday. It is important for us to understand the one God as a trinity of persons:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, not so much because it is the historic doctrine of the church, but because
our understanding of God informs us how we should live and reflects how we are to relate to those in
our lives. We claim to be created in the image of God, and thus the image of God we reflect will be
based on how we understand God in our lives.
It is not surprising that the ancient Jewish people had difficulty with the church’s profession that Jesus
is the Messiah, the Son of God. The ancient Jewish people’s understanding of God was of a holy and
totally other God, full of power and transcendent.
If we begin with our lesson from Isaiah 6:1-8 for today, we will notice that the prophet Isaiah had a
vision of the LORD God in the heavenly temple. The world view of the time was that the earthly
temple in Jerusalem was a replica of the heavenly temple. And Isaiah had this vision at the time when
King Uzziah died. King Uzziah or King Azariah according to 2 Chronicles lived during a time when
his neighbor kings in Israel and Syria were plotting against him for not becoming their allies against
the greater Assyrian Empire. Because he was politically astute he turned to Assyria to defend his
nation Judah from the kings of Israel and Syria. Although this tactic worked in the short-run, with
Assyria conquering both Israel and Syria, it was basically a faithless tactic. Instead of turning to the
LORD their God, King Uzziah turned to a foreign power to solve his political problems.
Moreover, King Uzziah grew proud as his country began to prosper. And the ultimate sign of his pride
was to offer incense in the temple, which was restricted to the priests. And because he did this, he was
struck with leprosy and had to relinquish his authority to his son Jothan.
In the long run, the LORD God would call Isaiah to be a prophet to King Ahaz who turned away from
the worship of the LORD their God. And Assyria their once protector would threaten Judah until only
a remnant would remain.
The lesson was made, the LORD their God was a jealous God and should not be played with. The
image of the heavenly temple as holy brought Isaiah to fear the LORD God because of his own
unworthiness, and the unworthiness of his faithless people.
And in Psalm 29, the image of God is of one who causes storms, winds and floods through the power
of nature. God is not only holy; God is powerful.
So when the leaders of Jerusalem had heard of Jesus and his ministry and met him they could not
easily reconcile the images of God as holy, jealous and powerful with the image of God as offering his
own Son for the sake of the world. What kind of Messiah is this Jesus? What kind of God does he
reflect?
So when we turn to our Gospel lesson from John for today, we can better understand Nicodemus the
Pharisee’s confusion when he came to meet Jesus in the night. Jesus was nothing of what he expected.
His understanding of God for the Jewish people was so holy that not even an image could be made to
represent the LORD God. And because we know this story about Nicodemus so well, we often neglect
how he is depicted in the rest of John’s gospel. He wanted to believe, but he had difficulty. Later in
John’s gospel (7:50) Nicodemus would stand up for him. And finally would assist Joseph of
Arimathea in Jesus’ burial (19:38-42). He would no longer be afraid to associate with Jesus.
But in returning to our gospel lesson for today, Nicodemus has difficulty understanding how God is
present in Jesus. He mistakes the physical for the spiritual. To be born from above, or to be born
again, is not a physical birth, but a spiritual renewal. He wants to understand, but cannot will himself
to understand. When Jesus said, you must be born of water and the spirit, the church has often
interpreted this to mean “baptism.” But the water represents not the water of baptism but the spiritual
fountain which we sang about in our sequence hymn, Come thou, fount of every blessing. That fount
of every blessing is the found of the spirit which wells up in each one of us as God’s Spirit touches us
and we allow it to flow.
In our hymn, “God, the sculptor of the mountains” which we sang as a hymn of praise, the words in
verse 3 reflect the unexpected and uncontrollable nature of the Spirit in Jesus:
“God the unexpected infant, God the calm determined youth,
God the table turning prophet, God the resurrected Truth;
you are present every moment, we are searching; meet us now.”
When we experience God as a self-offering love for the sake of “the world,” which in John means the
part of the community that does not believe in Jesus as the Christ, we can see the challenge that ancient
Israel had. How could a holy, totally other and powerful God allow God’s own Son to suffer and die?
How could he be the Messiah?
It was the love found in Jesus, the courage he had to speak and live the truth of the gospel that
impressed upon Nicodemus and those who came to believe in him and trust him with their very lives.
It was the love that was stirred by the Spirit to cause them to cry out to God as “Abba, Father!” as
testified by the Apostle Paul. It is this experience of being divinely loved that has made all the
difference.
This is the meaning of the doctrine of the Trinity, that God is love, and we become God’s own adopted
children in love.
When we look at the icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev, we see three angels sitting around a table.
They were supposed to be the angels that visited Abraham (Genesis 18:1-15). The three of them
around a table suggests equality among them, a relationship between them. It is this loving divine
relationship which we call “God.” God is not so much a person, but the divine love which creates,
which offers itself in love and which inspires.
So when we say, “God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit” we do not mean that God is a person, or even that
God is male. God is holy, powerful, self-offering love which creates, offers its own life and inspires us
to do the same.
It is this God in whose image we are created. We are to reflect in our lives this God whom we
worship, who has given us the example to follow, and who inspires us to find our own ways to
expressions of a divine love given for those who do not yet know they are beloved.
I invite you to examine your own image of God that you walk around with in your heads. Do you have
the image of a holy and powerful God from whom you must cower? If so, how does it affect how you
to seek to be an image of God in your relationships? Do you have an image of God as One willing to
suffer and dies for the sake of loving others? If so, how does this image affect how you will seek to be
an image of God in your relationships? I invite you to center your image of God in your understanding
of Jesus the Christ as a child of God who loves you and “the world.”
Amen.
I propose to show that the doctrine of the Trinity is important, not so much because it is sound
teaching and the historical faith, but because it reflects our understanding of God as loving
relationship, and thus we who are created in the image of God am called to reflect this divine
loving relationships in the relationships of our lives.
The First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true
faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to
worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your
one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his
robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they
covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to
another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of
tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt
has departed and your sin is blotted out." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I
send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"
Psalm 29 Page 620, BCP
Afferte Domino
1
Ascribe to the LORD, you gods, *
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his Name; *
worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
3
The voice of the LORD is upon the waters;
the God of glory thunders; *
the LORD is upon the mighty waters.
4
The voice of the LORD is a powerful voice; *
the voice of the LORD is a voice of splendor.
5
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedar trees; *
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon;
6
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, *
and Mount Hermon like a young wild ox.
7
The voice of the LORD splits the flames of fire;
the voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; *
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
8
The voice of the LORD makes the oak trees writhe *
and strips the forests bare.
9
And in the temple of the LORD *
all are crying, "Glory!"
10
The LORD sits enthroned above the flood; *
the LORD sits enthroned as King for evermore.
11
The LORD shall give strength to his people; *
the LORD shall give his people the blessing of peace.
Romans 8:12-17
So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you
live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you
will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit
of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba!
Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if
children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we
may also be glorified with him.
John 3:1-17
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 he gave his 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."
In preparation for this coming Sunday’s worship, please pray this coming Sunday’s Collect of
the Day and read and reflect on the lessons assigned as printed below
The Second Sunday after Pentecost
O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that
are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, "You are old
and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations."
But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." Samuel prayed to the
LORD, and the LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for
they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have
done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other
gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only-- you shall solemnly warn
them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."
So Samuel reported all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said,
"These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them
to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; [and he will appoint for himself
commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his
harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your
daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and
olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your
vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers.] He will take your male and female slaves, and
the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks,
and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have
chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day."
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, "No! but we are determined to have a
king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out
before us and fight our battles."
[Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship." So all the people
went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they sacrificed
offerings of well-being before the LORD, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.]
Psalm 138 Page 793, BCP
Confitebor tibi
1
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with my whole heart; *
before the gods I will sing your praise.
2
I will bow down toward your holy temple
and praise your Name, *
because of your love and faithfulness;
3
For you have glorified your Name *
and your word above all things.
4
When I called, you answered me; *
you increased my strength within me.
5
All the kings of the earth will praise you, O LORD, *
when they have heard the words of your mouth.
6
They will sing of the ways of the LORD, *
that great is the glory of the LORD.
7
Though the LORD be high, he cares for the lowly; *
he perceives the haughty from afar.
8
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you keep me safe; *
you stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies;
your right hand shall save me.
9
The LORD will make good his purpose for me; *
O LORD, your love endures for ever;
do not abandon the works of your hands.
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture-- "I believed, and so I
spoke" -- we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your
sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of
God.
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being
renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory
beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can
be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Mark 3:20-35
The crowd came together again, so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. When his family
heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." And the
scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he
casts out demons." And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out
Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided
against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is
divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder
his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
"Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but
whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"
-- for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd
was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside,
asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat
around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my
brother and sister and mother."