CELC The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity – June 6, 2004

John 16:12-15

What, precisely, was it about “Perry Mason” that made you anxiously wait each week for the program to begin? Was it the cast? Was it the courtroom drama? My guess is that it was the surprise ending. Each program was an exercise in trying to guess who Perry would reveal at the end did the deed. There was lots of mystery in the meanwhile. It was the love of a good mystery that drew us to watching “Perry Mason.”

Well, we love a good mystery until it comes to the Holy Trinity. People ask over and over, “How can you have one God and yet three?” It is a mystery that stymies almost everyone.

There are many object lessons used to explain the Trinity that actually do nothing more than make things more confusing. The one I have used often is an apple. It has a skin, say red or green or yellow. Then the apple has the ‘meat’ or actual fruit that you eat. And finally there is the core. There it is: three that are all apple; yet an apple that is all one.

But such illustrations are limited. They are limited and misleading. They mislead us because such illustrations leave us thinking we can somehow contain God in a pithy little human thought. The One who created all there is, as the Psalmist says, cannot be contained in our limited thoughts.

Furthermore, when you try and put God into an illustration that only limits, you are really trying to control God. It is the classic sin of Genesis, chapter 3, when Adam and Eve think they can play God. You know the result of that is the original moment of sin, the rebellion that results in a broken relationship between you and God.

The great mystery is that God, the Triune God, chose to overcome that brokenness through the cross, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the truth and a great mystery as well. How can you measure and understand the very depth of God that God would love you so much that he gave his life for you in Jesus. That is the mystery of grace. It is a great mystery of the mysterious God.

And rather than love a good mystery like “Perry Mason,” you love the good God who remains yet a mystery to you. That is the truth of the gospel today.

Martin Luther put it well when he said, “To try to deny the Trinity endangers your salvation; to try to comprehend the Trinity endangers your sanity.” How well Luther summarizes God’s truth for us today: deny the Trinity and your risk your faith; try and explain the Trinity and risk going crazy.

Focus rather on how God’s mysterious love of you makes you a different person in the cross. Through the forgiveness and grace of God you have become people who are redeemed and blessed. It is like knowing the end of the “Perry Mason” show before it begins. You know how things are going to end. You know that God in Christ will welcome you at the end at the great banquet table in the kingdom yet to come.

At your baptism the journey began. In the waters of forgiveness you gained a place at the kingdom table. You were made by God a child of God.

Part of that baptismal moment is that you are called by the Holy Spirit to tell the truth of the love God has for all. You do that when you invite others, when you say, “come and see.”

Presently, ‘outsourcing’ jobs is very trendy. You buy a new computer and when there is a problem you dial a local phone number but the person who answers is in Bombay, India. Lots of jobs are going overseas because of economic issues. Many folks debate the merits and liabilities of outsourcing, but many companies think it helps the bottom line.

I wonder if baptized believers are beginning to think that outsourcing is needed in the church? Some believers refer to us who pastor, play the organ or do the secretarial tasks as the ‘hired help.’ Then, they decide that the calling to invite others has only been given to the ‘hired help.’ I wonder if this is a subtle outsourcing?

You have to wonder about this unfortunate confusion. God has called you to invite others, to say, “Come and see.” It is part of the mystery of the Triune God that the Holy Spirit calls you in baptism to be people who invite others to “come and see.” God grants you clarity today, that you are called by the Triune God to invite others.

Soren Kierkegaard prayed, “Lord, give us weak eyes for things which are of no account and clear eyes for all thy truth.” Today God grants us clear eyes to see that your baptismal call is to invite others and not to outsource the privilege. Amen.

Pastor Robert F. Holley