TRINITY
SUNDAY - B - 18 JOHN 3: 1-17
Today
the Church celebrates the mystery of the Holy Trinity. It is the single
doctrine of the Christian faith that separates us from the rest of the world’s
religions.
The
gospel passage for today takes us back to an earlier period in Jesus’ earthly
ministry. The Lord is engaged in a conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus
under the cover of darkness. Darkness verses light is a major theme of John.
The subject is “rebirth” by the Holy Spirit of God, and through the waters of
Holy baptism.
Nicodemus
begins the conversation by complimenting Jesus, “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’ response appears to ignore the Pharisee’s
compliment. Instead, Jesus confronts Nicodemus with a challenge to his
intellect.
“You
can’t see the kingdom of God,” Jesus says, “nor can you enter it” without
having been born of water and the Spirit. It is a birth that comes from above.
The Pharisee cannot wrap his mind around the concept of being born again Jesus
is presenting. Birth to his way of thinking is strictly physical. “How can
these things be,” he asks.
As
the old priest used to say, Nicodemus has both feet firmly planted in this
world. He is up to his armpits in mud. Jesus chastises him in response. “Are
you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” “If I
have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe
if I tell you about heavenly things?”
What
is it that bridges the gap between what we see and seem to understand that is
real and tangible in this world that surrounds us and what is not seen and
understood concerning God and His kingdom if it is not the gift of Faith?
Each
week we stand as the Body of Christ and repeat the words of the Nicene Creed as
a statement of what we say we believe about God. Contained in the very first
paragraph are the words, “we believe in One God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. The “seen and
unseen” includes the Holy Trinity as defined by the Creed.
True
we cannot see the Holy Trinity. Faith bridges the gap between what we can see
and what we can believe. Nicodemus struggled to understand and believe in what
Jesus was telling him concerning the Spirit of God and the concept of rebirth.
“The
wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it,” Jesus told him, “but
you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone
who is born of the Spirit.”
Jesus
was bringing “light” into the “darkness” that surrounded them, as He brings
light into the darkness that surrounds us. He is the Light of the world.
However, Nicodemus’ inability to receive the teaching Jesus was giving him
concerning the Spirit and the Kingdom of God left him in the dark.
The
Holy Trinity is a mystery. Theologians throughout the ages have attempted to
explain it in terms that can be easily understood. Yet the concept of the Three
in One remains a mystery. God is mystery.
We
cannot see the Holy Spirit, but like Jesus told Nicodemus concerning the wind,
we can see the effects of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who have been
reborn by God’s Spirit.
We
cannot see Jesus, as those who lived when he walked this earth, who heard him
preach and teach, who watched him perform miracles, but we can know Him and we
can see Him in the lives of those who believe in Him and who have chosen to
live their lives following his teachings and commandments.
We
cannot see the Father, the creator of heaven and earth, but we see His hand at
work in the world around us. Faith is God’s gift to those who believe. Jesus
said in another place, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Faith
opens our eyes to believe in what we can see and what we cannot; to what we can
easily understand and what remains a mystery concerning God.
Faith
enables us to stand each week and recite the ancient Creed although none of us
can understand with our finite mind the infinite it contains. Yet, through
Faith, we can profess to believe all that is says about God.
God has given us the grace not only to
acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity but to keep us steadfast in this
faith in order to worship the mystery of the Three in One; a presence we can
know and feel. We can feel God’s presence through the leading of the Holy
Spirit. It is the Spirit who teaches us what is right and true.
We
can know and feel the Love of God, the love He has for each of us, and for the
world, which He has made, for it was the Love of God, Jesus told Nicodemus that
sent him into the world in the first place, so that everyone who believes in
Him may not perish but may have eternal life.
In Him we have been buried and raised to new
life, reborn, through the waters of Holy Baptism, sealed by the Holy Spirit,
and marked as Christ’s forever.
Jesus
is the Light and the Life of the world. He has come and continues to come in
order to scatter the darkness that creeps into each of our lives threatening
our faith; a darkness that likewise threatens the life of the world.
It
is His risen presence that gives us the Hope of new and unending life in Him.
For we know, as St. John tells us, that for the Love of God He came not to
condemn the world, but through Him the world might be saved. AMEN+
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