Trinity Sunday
June 15, 2014
Ex 34: 4-6, 8-9
John 3: 16-18
Iona College, New Rochelle
“The Lord passed before Moses and cried out, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity’” (Ex 34: 6).
The Holy Trinity, by Antonio de Pereda (d. 1669) |
We’re taught that the doctrine of the
Trinity is one of the core dogmas of our faith, perhaps the most fundamental of
our beliefs. Certainly it’s what
distinguishes Christianity from the other religions that believe, as we do, in
the one God who created the universe, rules it, and will judge us all at the
end of lives, viz., Judaism, Islam, and Mormonism (I’m not sure what, if
anything, Unitarians believe about God).
Yet we can’t explain this fundamental
doctrine, only define it—3 Persons in 1 God—and profess and celebrate it. Great theologians have tried to understand
and explain the Trinity—e.g., Augustine, Aquinas, and Rahner. But finally we can only say, humbly, I
believe even tho I don’t understand.
One aspect of the Holy Trinity that we can
grasp is that God is love. The Trinity
involves relationships—Father and Son, and their personal union that is a 3d
Person. Their love overflows, as it
were, to involve us: “God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16).
That love seems to be the focus of the
readings this evening—the “takeaway,” if you will.
In the 1st reading, God has summoned Moses
to climb the mountain (Mt. Sinai) to meet him.
As you know, God had called Moses personally to his role as leader and
liberator of the Hebrews, and God maintained an intimate friendship with
him. The word “love” isn’t used to
describe that relationship, but “friend” is (Ex 33:12,17). Moreover, it was to Moses that God 1st revealed
his own name, in the apparition at the burning bush (Ex 3:14). His name is YHWH, “I am,” “I am who I am,” “He
who is,” “I am he who causes what is,” “He who brings into being whatever comes
into being” (all possible interpretations of that mysterious Hebrew name).
In most modern translations, that proper
name is rendered LORD with all caps, and so it is in our passage this
evening. “God stood with Moses there and
pronounced his name, ‘LORD,’” i.e., YHWH.
And the Lord YHWH tells us more about himself: “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger
and rich in kindness and fidelity.” He
comes to be with Moses, to be with Israel, to be their kind and merciful
protector, to stand by them faithfully, to save them from the oppression of the
Egyptians.
This is the God who sends his only Son to
take human deliverance 3 steps further.
The 1st step is to deliver his people from
spiritual oppression, from sin, and even from death, the ultimate result of
sin, and not only from earthly slavery.
The 2d step is to deliver all of humanity,
and not just a single nation, from that oppression. “God so loved the world,” not “God so loved
Israel.”
The 3d step is to bring those whom he saves
thru the Son into a close relationship with himself: a fellowship, a communion, membership in the
divine family. Moses’ intimate
relationship with God prefigured that communion of heart and will. In Christ it’s extended to every man and
woman who “believes in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18).
God is 3.
He is relational. He is a
community. In his graciousness and
mercy, he draws us into his community; he shares with us his love; he makes us
family.
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