Sermon 06-19-2011 Trinity Sunday – Father’s Day Sunday
Psalm 8 Matthew 28: 16-2
“Trinity Sunday”
PRAYER
In the church calendar, we are now moving into the ordinary time, meaning
that as we have celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the
church is now ready to respond to its call to mission in the world.
In Matthew 28, Jesus is the final actor in this scene; and gives the disciples
their commissioning:
“First, Jesus announces the premise on which the Great Commission rests.
Jesus stands on the divine authority given to him by God. Jesus now has the
right to command the Eleven to “make disciples” because “all authority in
heaven and on earth” has been given to him. His authority is also a notion of
power …the disciples are given the credentials for their mission, but more,
than that they are promised the potency to carry it out.
Second, Jesus confronts the disciples with an awesome commission. They
are to “make disciples of all nations.” Let’s remember that earlier in the
ministry of Jesus the charge was to avoid the Gentiles and the Samaritans
and to go first “to the lost sheep of Israel.” (10:6), now in light of the death and
resurrection, the scope of the mission is universal. Two significant things are
mentioned as ingredients of the commission. (a) “Baptizing them in the
name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,” implying that a new
relationship is established with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit that
marks them as a peculiar people.
(b) “Teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you,” adds a
further dimension in the calling of the nations. The eleven are commissioned
not only to instruct the baptized about what Jesus has said about the
kingdom of God, to transmit his interpretations of the law, but also to teach
them to obey Jesus. The instructional task is only completed when the
nations in fact perform the teaching of Jesus. The intent is to nurture a
community that does not take God’s goodness lightly, but lives out in the
world the discipleship of Jesus’ teachings.
Third, Jesus promises the divine presence to the church as it responds to
the commission. Matthew reminds us the church, that Jesus’ name
Emmanuel, means God is with us (1:23). Along the way, they overhear
the promise to the disciples that when they gather in worship, Jesus will be
present amongst them. (18:20).
This means, on the one hand, that the church must always beware of its
mission… It always baptizes, teaches, serves, speaks, makes disciples of the
nations within the awareness of the presence of the risen Jesus. Its authority
remains a derived authority, dependent on the One who possesses all
authority. On the other hand, the church after Easter is not abandoned… at
the end of the story, Jesus said:
“And remember I am with you always, to the end of age.” (v.20)
“And see, I am sending you what my Father promised…” (Luke 24:49) the
Holy Spirit.” (Walter Brueggemann, “Text for Preaching,” Year A, pg. 344-345)
For the disciples, “it was in their relationship to him and his to the triune
God that they would access the power to heal, proclaim, and teach.”
(Stephen B. Boyd, “Feasting on the Word.” Year A, vol. 3, p. 46).
Why is the Trinity so important to us?
“Does it really matter to us that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit? We just want to know that God is God and that God somehow knows who we are, where we are, what we are doing and what we need.
I have to agree with Steven Eason, that it can be a heady discussion to talk about the Trinity. If we look up it’s history, it was not an easy doctrine to nail down. There is a ton of mystery that surrounds the person or persons of God. Some people seem entirely clear about it; others are confused, and still others could care less…
Why do we even need a Trinity Sunday? One may ask. It does not get a lot of press. Maybe that is because it is so confusing and we really do not know how to talk about it. A simple illustration from the great Augustine may help. He used the example of a tree. The root is wood; the trunk is wood; the branches are wood; one wood, one substance but three different entities. Now there is a short sermon!”
Trinity can be seen like a tripod with three legs as part of one structure; or like water as liquid, ice as solid and steam as gas. Another analogy would be that, we are parents and children and partners, all in one person.
“Perhaps we can come at it another way. What if there was no Trinity. Jesus told his disciples and tells us to go and baptize people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
What if we baptized people only in the name of the Father? Besides sounding awkward, it would deny the very work and person of Christ and the ongoing activity of the Spirit. It would not be a full picture of who God is. You would be immersed into the fullness of a very powerful, mysterious, but detached God. That could let us to mere mysticism.
What if we baptized people in the name of Jesus? That would miss the person of ‘God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth,’ that part of God that is larger than what we can see or understand and is beyond our logic and reason. It would also miss the Holy Spirit, the ongoing
presence of God with us today.
What if we say only, ‘I baptize you in the name of the Holy Spirit’? What is missing there? Missing would be the awesomeness and creativity of God the Father and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh.
We would miss part of God who rose from the dead to overcome our sinfulness. We can’t leave that out!
(Shirley Guthrie writes), “The same God who is God over us as God the Father and Creator, and God, with and for us as the incarnate Word and Son, is also God in and among us as God the Holy Spirit.”
You cannot go out into the world, according to Jesus, without all of that. We are immersed into the whole being of God, whether we understand it or not. We are not powerless in the world; we are not disconnected from God as Creator, or from the redeeming work of God in human flesh, or from the very presence of the same God in the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us and among us and sometimes outside of us. Is this not a tremendous gift to celebrate?
Any chance you’re feeling detached, isolated, alone, angry, deserted, depressed, grieving, hopeless, fearful, anxious, wounded, ashamed, or tired?
Jesus is inviting us to a divine life in him. Christ and the immersion into the fullness of God go hand in hand. We cannot be part of Christ without the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is dependent upon what and who Jesus was and is. Christ keeps pointing to the Father. So therein lies the power. It is in the Trinity that we find the fullness of God.” Amen!
(Steven P. Eason, “Feasting on the Word.” Year A, vol. 3, p. 44-48).
BENEDICTION
In the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit…
I invite you to go into the world and make disciples of all nations,
all people and of all races.
Amen!
