Grace to you and peace to from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The text for this meditation is written in the 28th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 16 – 20:
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
It’s Trinity Sunday today. The day we remember our Lord is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And although the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Holy Spirit, nor the Holy Spirit the Father, all three are one God. Sadly, as humans, we can’t help ourselves; we try to rationalise this Godhead by comparing it with things like water – ‘water – steam – ice’ (three forms of one element), or our body ‘body and soul’ (two facets of one body). The Holy Trinity is not a science experiment; it is the unfathomable power of good that extends from before creation into eternity.
But why does that matter so much that the Church has historically made the remembrance of the Trinity one of the highest feast days of the year? After all, in our everyday worship and studies, we don’t generally talk much about the Trinitarian nature of God; in fact the word ‘Trinity’ does not even appear in the Holy Scriptures. It really only comes into focus on Trinity Sunday.
Maybe that’s an unfair assessment of a committed Christian, maybe mostly we live with an attitude of silent reassurance. You see, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is totally foundational to our faith. This Holy Trinity is the very life blood, the intrepid beating heart, of the Christian Church and its’ mission on earth. I suppose that silent acceptance is a ‘human thing’. After all we build houses to live in and all sorts of buildings to work in, but we don’t think much about the foundations they are built on; and yet without those foundations the buildings would collapse.
The early Church fought to keep that foundation. That’s why we have the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. Those battles have been fought and won through God’s Word proclaimed. Proclaimed as in our texts today. The Apostles Creed was, in its’ rough origin, the combined works of the Apostles in 2 AD. It became the ‘Roman Creed’ and eventually accepted again as the Apostles Creed into church doctrine. The first ‘Council of Nicaea’ was convened by the Roman emperor Constantine in 325 AD. This was the first ecumenical conference of bishops of the Christian Church, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine; the most important of which was the first version of the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed as we know it today was developed and ratified at the ‘First Council of Constantinople’ in 381 AD. The Athanasian Creed, which is an extremely comprehensive statement of the Trinitarian faith was originally the incomplete work of St. Athanasius in 373 AD, which was eventually completed by St Augustine in 415 AD.
But our historic Creeds don’t stand on their own They point us to the God revealed in Scripture. They point us to texts like today’s as written in Matthew 28; and these texts are the foundation of the Church, both Old Testament, and New. In Genesis, there is the Spirit over the face of the deep, pointing us to our baptism. There is the Son, the Word of God proclaimed, creating the very thing He says. There is the Father, sending that very Word into the world. All three working together to show the oneness of God. And yet, we also hear the Lord say, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” to remind us that God is also not just one.
In Acts, Peter points to Christ as the promised Messiah, and quotes Psalm 110. “The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”” Showing us that God is both one and more than one at the same time. And in Matthew 28, where we are used to hearing about the Great Commission, we also hear that we are to be baptised not into the names of, but the name singular. The one name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Even though we translate that name as LORD throughout Scripture, the divine name that is written down for our God is “Yahweh”, Hebrew for “He Is.” Or, as when God says it Himself, “I Am.” The Father has the name “I Am.” The Son has the name “I Am.” The Holy Spirit has the name “I Am.” And yet there are not three names, but one name. And when Jesus uses that name, it means something. In Greek, it is (Eimi). When Jesus stands in the crowd and says, “Before Abraham was, (Eimi), I Am,” they pick up stones to put Him to death for blasphemy. When they come to arrest Him, He asks,(John 18:6) “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “(Eimi) I Am.” And they fall down in fear at Him using the name of God in the first person.
This is Jesus’ name: And He proved that by rising from the dead, just as He said He would. And yet when the eleven remaining disciples came to Galilee, to the mountain that Jesus had directed them to, and worshipped Him, they still had doubts. Now, I know our English translation says that some doubted, which we often take to mean that some were sure, and others weren’t. But it might be better translated that there was some doubt. Because none of them were quite sure that worshipping a human being who looked just like them was quite the right thing to do. But the truth is, even though we worship today, we have doubts as well.
Those doubts come up when things aren’t going as well as they used to. They come up when we ask for the thorns in our sides to be removed, and yet there they remain. They come up when we’re hurting, and the pain isn’t stopping. We worship, but we wonder if God even hears us, or cares even if He does. This is where God being a trinity matters. This is where the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit having one name matters.
Because the great comfort of today’s text is the promise Jesus gives us. “I am with you always.” I Am with you. There is the name of Yahweh. There is the Word of God. The (Eimi), with you. And that promise is so important, that in Greek, Jesus places them in the middle of His own name. (egō meth’ hymōn eimi) I–with you–am. To let you know just how far Jesus will go to keep His promise.
Everything we endure, Jesus endures. Our troubles. Our thorns. Our pains. Our fears. Our doubts. Our sin. He is there with us through it all. Right by our side. bearing it on His shoulders. Wearing it on His head. Feeling in His hands, feet, and side. Because where we are, He is also. Our crosses are His cross. And He dies on it for us. Not taking us around all those things, but straight through them. For Jesus has overcome the cross and the grave, which is where our every problem leads.
But not only is Christ where we are, we are where Jesus is. We are a part of His body. A part of His Church. We are where His Word is proclaimed. We are where His sacraments are administered. Because where Jesus’ name is, there He is also. And His divine name has been placed on us. We are baptised into the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We receive Jesus body and Jesus’ blood. Which He has, because He took on our humanity, and made it part of the great divinity of Yahweh, (Eimi), I Am.
So you see, the Trinity is not the sermon subject matter for just one day per year. The Trinity is the foundation upon which our very salvation rests. The Trinity is why our sins are forgiven through Christ and His cross. The Trinity is why we have the hope of the resurrection Jesus gives. That is why today is special. Why when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a great feast in honour of who our God is. Because with this revelation of God’s own nature, we have the assurance that our Lord will never abandon us, but will be with us no matter what. I with you Am, unto the ages, forever. Thanks be to God. Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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