6.9.20 - Holy Trinity Sunday - Who is God?

Good meeting tonight! Below is the final Recap for the Holy Trinity readings. We also tackled the logic and analogies of the Trinity tonight. I will post a Recap for that probably tomorrow night. God bless! Ron

This Sunday was dedicated to the The Most Blessed Trinity.

CCC 232-260 says the Trinity is the central fundamental truth/mystery of the Christian faith. The reason for this is that the “Cross” (death, resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost) represents what God did for us. The Trinity is who God is.

As you are about to find out that nowhere in our readings do we see a clear explanation of this mysterious doctrine of our faith. But, the readings do provide a good primer for those discussions. Monday night, we will attempt to define the Trinity further. It would be helpful if you read below in advance so we can move quickly into that.

Let's analyze the readings for Sunday.

Setting: 1300 years before Christ on Mt. Sinai. Moses has already broken the first set of tablets God gave him because he threw them at the Israelites who were partying and worshiping the golden calf when he came down the mountain earlier. Now Moses returns to God…

1st Reading: Exodus 34:4-6,8-9

Moses then cut two stone tablets like the former, and early the next morning he went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking in his hand the two stone tablets.

The LORD came down in a cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name, “LORD.”

So the LORD passed before him and proclaimed: The LORD, the LORD, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and fidelity.

Moses at once knelt and bowed down to the ground. Then he said, “If I find favor with you, Lord, please, Lord, come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and claim us as your own.”

Q: Do we see any Trinitarian references in this reading?

A: No. What we do see is God allowing Moses to be in His presence and hear God proclaim His own name. Btw, whenever you see "LORD" spelled in capital letters like this, it is standing in for God's inutterable name, YHWH, which most Jews to this day will not speak out of reverence. You will also see Jews write G_d instead of spelling out God, for the same reason.

Being in God’s presence and conversing with Him is kind of groundbreaking as far as gods go in those days; but, two things can be seen by this: 1) this God is initiating contact with humans (again), and 2) God is attempting to enter into a relationship with Moses and the Israelites. I say ‘attempting’ because "relationship" requires more than just one willing partner. Moses is willing; but the Israelite people will prove to be a tougher partner.

Q: The next thing we learn about this God is that He is “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness.” That God is merciful, gracious, and rich in kindness ought to be sufficient good news, but some always want to question why God would be slow to anger; not why he is slow to anger, but rather why God would get angry at all? Isn’t anger bad?

A: No, not all anger is bad. Recall that there is such a thing as righteous anger (not to be confused with self-righteous anger). Righteous means good and just. Righteous anger is being angry (within reason) when there is injustice being committed against another. In this reading, God's anger applies to when God’s people are committing injustices against others, especially the poor; or when worshiping other gods, such as a golden calf (an Egyptian god).

2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Q: Do we see Trinitarian references in this reading?

Yes, Paul mentions the Trinity in his final blessing to the Corinthians; although the focus seems to be on grace, love, and fellowship rather than defining the three divine persons in one God.

We can gather two insights from this: First, the Trinity is about "grace, love, and fellowship."

Second, even though the term "Trinity" is not used, the idea and meaning is entirely present. Not only did Jesus instruct the Apostles (Mt 28:19) to go out and baptize others in the "Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," we also see Paul using this same terminology in his letter to the Corinthians. It just wasn’t given the name "Trinity" until later.

3rd Reading (Gospel): John 3:16-18

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes i n him might not perish but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

As we have become accustomed to seeing the spiritual depth in John, we will need to spend a few extra moments analyzing what he is saying.

1. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son..."

Once again, unlike so many other gods at that time (or in history), this God is all about love, which is both awesome and also good news for humans. Please notice the word gave vs sent. Love gives all.

Q: How is God’s love qualified?

A: Love is qualified by how much one is willing to sacrifice for it. The greatest sacrifice one can make for another is to lay down one’s life for them. This is what God/Jesus is does.

Q: What OT Patriarchs does this bring to mind?

A: Abraham and Isaac. God instructs Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, but then stops him before it happens. When Isaac asked Abraham where the sacrifice was, Abraham unknowingly prophesied, “God will provide.” Indeed, He did. (There is also a tradition that the hill that Abraham took Isaac to was part of the same mountain range that included Golgotha.)

Q: Isn’t God doing both – sending his Son and also coming himself?

A: Yes, because God and his Son are one, divine person.

Q: Why is this God doing this?

A: See next quote.

2. "...so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."

Q: Man’s lower self (pride, greed, and selfishness) is in a battle with his higher self (love, charity, and forgiveness). Who do you think is winning and do you think Man's higher self can win without God, who is the source of his goodness?

A: Pride, greed, and selfishness have always had the upper hand with humans. Moreover, God would have known humans were on a path of self-destruction all along; however, he gave us free will to do as we please.

Q: What other options did God have?

A: Well, it’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback on this one. God decided to come here himself to try to save us.

Q: For the Omnipotent Creator of the universe to become one of us – especially knowing how we would treat him – what is that called?

A: It’s called humility. There is actually a name for God emptying himself of his pure Godhood to become human – kenosis. God set an example of humility in every step of the process before, during, and after coming here. If the God of the universe can humble himself, surely we can.

3. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."

Q: The gods in human history tended to be hard-to-please, unforgiving, and vindictive. Of course, it's easy to behave that way when you have power. But, do you see that this is man's projection of himself? Isn't this how man has typically behaved? This God, however, is entirely unlike man. Even though he is omnipotent, rather that convict us for our behavior he comes to bail us out! How can we explain this behavior?

A: Humans are all intelligent adults, right? At least, physically-speaking. But in the spiritual realm, we are only infants/small children. As a parent, how would we treat our child if they made poor decisions? Throw them out? Or, would we explain things and set an example?

On the cosmic spiritual plane, this is God and us. We were given a mind, conscience, and free-will to learn to how to use our powers for good. To become like God. Our record has not been great. What should God do?

Short of taking away our free will, God is doing everything he can. The rest is up to us.

4. "Whoever believes in him will not be condemned..."

Q: What is meant by "whoever believes in him"?

A: Believing in him doesn’t mean saying the words. It means following him, and he was clear what that meant: a) loving our fellow human beings (serving others, forgiving others, helping those who less fortunate than us) and b) a relationship with God (regular communication/prayer…). This is exactly what Jesus did, which is like a parent providing instructions and setting an example.

5. "...but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

Q: Doesn’t this sound a bit harsh?

A: This sounds harsh especially in today's world, but don't we demand justice all the time when others are wrong? Do we not want justice served when, in our opinion, someone else has committed a grievous offense against us? Every complaint we have, every judgment we think or speak, every disagreement we enter into, every protest, every fit of anger, are actually demands for justice, whether we publicize it or not. We are big justice warriors, as long as justice is being applied to others. Humans never want to hear about justice being applied to themselves.

Even if we can justify God’s condemning us, that isn’t what the passage says! It isn't God who is playing judge, it’s us. In the spiritual domain, self-judgment rules. If you act selfishly or unjustly, the consequences are immediate, like gravity. It is only in this life that has judgement been largely suspended, in order to give us the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and seek forgiveness. However, once we graduate from this life, then that is over.

What this means is that our decisions and attitudes in this life are what we take with us into the next life, permanently. It’s perfect self-justice.

If you look at passage #5 again, notice it says "already." This means we have already judged ourselves by the choices we have made in this life.

The final phrase about not believing in his name is a reiteration of the previous sentence because it bears repeating (see comments under #4).

Conclusion on Sunday’s Readings

Q: So, why do we have these readings for this Holy Trinity Sunday?

A: The heart of today’s message is not an attempt to solve the mathematical puzzle of how God could be three in one, but to describe the nature of God. We cannot tackle the 3 in 1 issue (which is next) if we don’t establish the groundwork. The foundation in this case is God’s character: love, forgiveness, and humility. The “3 in 1” have to fit into that.