I am trying to always mention Matthew's Gospel this year as it is a diocesan focus.
From
The Rectory
Sunday
31st May this year is Trinity Sunday. Each year this comes after
Pentecost or Whitsun, when we remember Christ sending the gift of the Holy
Spirit on the fledgling New Testament church. On the Feast of the Ascension we
thought about the crucified and risen Christ returning to the glory of heaven
and enthroned as the God-Man at the right hand of the Father. So the drama of
Pentecost, like all of salvation, is Trinitarian in shape. The Father and the
Son send the Spirit. The Son’s saving work is complete and the Spirit is sent
to be God’s presence and power with the disciples to equip them for their great
work of mission. The Spirit sends them out to proclaim Jesus that people might
be brought back to the Father.
This
year we’re focusing on Matthew’s Gospel. And one of the readings for Trinity
Sunday is the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, from chapter 28, verse 16. The
disciples worship the risen Christ and he says to them:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus
won’t be with them physically any longer, but by his Holy Spirit.
And
when people believe, they are to be baptised in the Triune name of God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not three names but one name. As
the church would later go on to say, the name of the one God who is three
Persons.
When
Matthew was writing, the technical definitions of the Trinity had still to be
worked out. Even the word “Trinity” doesn’t come in the Bible. But the
essential teaching is there. Jesus is worshiped as God. The Spirit makes Jesus
present. There is obviously a profound unity between Father, Son and Spirit.
Not three gods.
Jesus’
own baptism, right at the beginning of his public ministry, which Matthew
records (3:13-end), powerfully portrays the Triune God in action. The voice of
God the Father says from heaven about Jesus: “This is my Son, whom I love; with
him I am well pleased.” And God the Holy Spirit comes down on God the Son in
the form of a dove. There’s the Trinity!
It’s
easy for us to feel rather baffled by the Trinity. Thinking about it can make
our brains hurt. But it’s not surprising that God is incomprehensible to us. We
can know God truly, but not fully. A God we could have all pinned down and
sorted out wouldn’t be much of a God. Yes, he’s revealed himself, but he also
remains a Mystery – perhaps rather in the way that Elsie the Dog, I trust,
knows and loves me, but I like to think there are hidden depths to me that she
has not yet plumbed!
Theologians
have insisted that everything God does is Trinitarian because that is who God
is. And the Trinitarian formula at baptism puts the Trinity right there at the
beginning and centre of the Christian life. Of course the Trinity can rightly
be the subject of many tomes of profound dogmatics. But Jesus intentionally
includes it in the essential basics of Christian initiation. The church thought
it really mattered that Jesus and the Spirit were really God so that we could
really be saved by God alone, and know that God is really with us and for us.
If
you’re interested in thinking more about this, you might enjoy the 3, 2, 1
Course from Speak Life: 321.speaklife.org.uk/course/321. It’s a free online
video-based course that helps you explore life according to Jesus, with space
for reflection. One of the sessions focuses on God’s three-ness – his
tri-unity. As ever, I’m always keen to hear from parishioners who’d like to
talk further about this stuff. Happy Trinity Sunday and season to you! The Revd Canon Marc
Lloyd
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