+ Trinity Sunday - June 16, 2019 +
Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton
Series C: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Acts 2:14-36; John 8:48-59
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The catechism teaches us that whatever or whomever we fear, love, and trust above all things, that is our god. Some go searching for God in their emotions, actions, reason, or even their sourdough toast. Some will say you can find God by spending time in nature, by the power of positive thinking, or simply by sending a check or cash mailed to the following address.
Fallen, sinful man has a rather nasty habit of searching for God in all the wrong places. This is why Martin Luther once said that if you want to find God, don’t look up into the heavens, rather, look down. Look and see God for you in the womb of Mary. God born for you in the manger. God crucified for you on the cross.
This is a good reminder for us, especially on Trinity Sunday. It’s good to confess the truth revealed to us in Scripture. That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confusing the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. It is good to confess the saving work of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And it’s also good to confess this teaching of Scripture is a mystery. A mystery revealed, made known, and shown to us (at least in part) in Jesus. In the flesh and blood of God who became man for you. In the Son who is one with the Father, who sends us his Holy Spirit, and who makes God knowable, touchable, seeable. The key to the Trinity (from our point of view) is Jesus.
When we see Jesus in action, the Trinity is known. When we hear Jesus’ Words the Trinity is known. When we know Jesus, we know the Trinity.
That’s a big part of what’s going on in the Gospel reading from John 8 today.
We jump into John 8 like someone jumping on a moving train. For most of chapter 8, Jesus has been teaching the Jewish crowds about who he is, what he came to do, and how he is the fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel. How he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the flesh come to save them.
But the crowds would not have it. “You are a demon and a Samaritan”they say to Jesus. They thought he was crazy, or possessed. But not God. Who do you think you are? Abraham died. The prophets died. Are you greater than our father Abraham?
It’s easy for us to listen to this exchange and think. “Wow. They’re so stubborn. So foolish. So shameful. I’m sure glad I’m not like them.
Truth is, we’re not all that different from that Jewish crowd. We have not loved the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. We don’t always fear, love, and trust in God above all things. We too have been stubborn, foolish, shameful. We too have looked for God in all the wrong places, in what we see, feel, think, say, or do.
Thankfully, we’re not saved by our emotions, our actions, our reason or our strength. But by the compassion, redemption, will, and grace of God in Christ. We’re not saved by our love for God or our neighbor, but by God’s love revealed for us on the cross. We’re not saved by our keeping of the Law, but by Jesus who kept the Law perfectly for us. We’re not saved by our finding God, but by the God who came to seek and to save the lost.
You see, Our God is different. Our God gets His hands dirty. So dirty, that God Himself gets down into the mire we’re wallowing in. Our God cares about you so much, that He takes every one of our sins on to His own shoulders. Our God comes Himself to save you. He doesn’t even think of letting anyone else do that in His place. Our God looks at you and sees someone worth so much, that you are worth dying for. Our God loves you.
This is what Abraham saw when he saw Jesus’ day. For when Jesus visited Abraham in Genesis 18, Abraham saw the day that Jesus would take on human flesh. That he, the Promised Son of God, would be born of a virgin womb, even as Isaac his promised son was born of the barren womb of Sarah. That the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush as the great I AM, would take on human flesh to dwell with us and save us.
When God spared Isaac in Genesis 22, Abraham saw the day that God would not spare his Son, his only begotten Son whom he loved, but would give himself up for us all on the cross to save all nations. Jesus who honored the Father in all he said and did for you. Jesus who took on all our shame, foolishness, stubbornness, sin and death, so that today and always we might rejoice with Abraham and all the faithful. Jesus who reveals the love of the Father to you. Pours out his Spirit upon you.
“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
Today we join Abraham rejoicing in the God who makes himself known to us in Jesus. Today we’re reminded that every Baptism, Communion, and Divine Service is a Trinitarian celebration where God’s love is made known, revealed, and delivered to us in Jesus.
Today God is found, not by looking up, or within, but where he finds us, in the body and blood of Jesus who reveals the mystery and love of the Holy Trinity for us.
A blessed Trinity Sunday to each of you…
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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