Puzzling the Trinity

John 14:15-21

Sixth Sunday of Easter / May 29, 2011

Note: Trinity Sunday this year will be Youth Sunday, so I chose to focus on the Trinity this Sunday.

 

For many years, every time I went home to visit my parents there was a puzzle set out on the table in the family room for us to work on.  Mom chose puzzles that were one thousand pieces so that we would be challenged, but not overwhelmed.  It was considered cheating to actually look at the picture beyond that initial glimpse to have some idea where we were going.  Often the first few hours were simply spent turning pieces over, looking for color patterns, and trying to decide just where to start.

I suppose understanding the doctrine of the Trinity is a little bit like starting a puzzle.  We have this big picture of One God who is Three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We affirm in our Creeds that we believe in God the Father almighty, and we believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, and we believe in the Holy Spirit, the giver of life.  But it takes time and patience and attention to detail to begin to put together the puzzle known as the Trinity.

It seems that there are two approaches to putting puzzles together.  The approach I prefer it to pick a color theme or a pattern and try to finish one part of the puzzle – discovering one part of the big picture.  My sister prefers picking up one puzzle piece at a time and trying to decide where in the big picture it belongs.  Both approaches work – and actually, they work quite well together.  I tend to get small portions of the picture done, and my sister tends to connect them to one another. 

In this puzzle known as the Trinity, both approaches are necessary.  While we may try to get a picture of one part of the puzzle, say the Son or the Holy Spirit, we can’t really grasp the significance of that part until we see the connections between the parts.  Today’s gospel lesson gives us the opportunity to explore the three Persons of the Trinity both in them selves and in connection to one another.  While we can see distinct pictures of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is the connections between them that clarify and unify the smaller pictures, giving us a glimpse of God.

Let’s start with the picture of the Father.  Jesus calls this person of the Trinity Father, immediately implying a relationship.  If there is a Son, then there is a Father.  So the first thing our passage tells us is that God the Father is relational.  As the pieces fall into place we begin to see the characteristics of this relationship.  First we notice that Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate” (v. 16).  This clarifies the relationship, in that the Son asks, and the Father gives.   We see that the Father is generous, giving freely.  He has given all of creation to human beings.  He has given the Promised Land to his people, Israel.  He has given his Son to the world. And here we are told that he will give us the Spirit of truth as well. 

The Father is giving.  But we also notice that the Father is loving.  Jesus says, “those who love me will be loved by my Father” (v. 21).  The Father loves those who love the Son.  But scripture attests to an even broader truth: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”  Certainly, the Father loves those who love the Son, but the Father’s love is much broader than that – truly unconditional.  The Father loves the world – all of creation! 

The picture we begin to see of the Father is that of a Person who loves unconditionally and is generous beyond measure.  But more than that, the Father cannot be separated from the Son, or from us.  Jesus tells us, “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (v. 20).  There’s an interconnectedness where individuality blends into community and community blends into unity.  This leads us to wonder about the other Persons of the Trinity.

Let’s move over to the picture of the Spirit.  There are several things about the Spirit that become clear: the Spirit is an Advocate and the Spirit of truth; the Spirit abides with us and is among us; and, the Spirit will be with us forever.  

This is a rich text on the Spirit, so let’s focus on one part of the picture: what does it mean for the Spirit to be an Advocate?  The Greek word used here is Paraclete, which means much more than Advocate.  It also means Comforter, Counselor, Helper, and Intercessor.  Jesus is saying that the Father will give us someone to come alongside, to advocate for us like a good lawyer, to counsel us when we need advice, to comfort us when we need encouragement, to help us when we are lost, to intercede for those of us who are voiceless.  In practical terms, if we are in legal trouble, the Spirit will stand up for us.  If we are lost or discouraged, the Spirit will help us find our way.  If we are abused or oppressed, the Spirit will intercede for us.  If we are sad or grieving, the Spirit will comfort us. 

You may wonder, how does the Spirit do all these things?  Well, first by always speaking the truth.  Second, by abiding with us and living among us.  We know that by speaking the truth and by abiding with one another we are able to develop deep and loving relationships.  The Spirit comes alongside each one of us seeking a deep and loving relationship that will last forever.  It is the Spirit who descends like a dove on Jesus at his baptism.  The Spirit is poured out on all flesh on Pentecost as tongues of fire.  The Spirit enters into the bread and the wine making them be for us the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The Spirit is present in the healing oil that marks our foreheads when we are anointed.  The Spirit isn’t just a concept or a feeling; the Spirit is the Person of the Trinity present in the dove and the fire and the bread and the wine and the oil – dwelling among us and living in us – walking alongside us – and giving us hope and peace and joy.  In many ways, it is the Spirit of God who is most actively present in our lives today.

And yet we cannot understand the Spirit apart from the Son, so let’s move to that part of the picture. It is the Son who humbled himself, taking on flesh, and becoming obedient even unto death.  It is the Son who taught his followers the inestimable value of love by washing his disciples feet and giving them his very body – dying that we might have life and have it abundantly.  It is the Son who promises that he “will not leave [us] orphaned.”  Jesus died, but he promised we would see him again, and because he lives we also will live.  Jesus, by his life, death, and resurrection, gives us the gift of everlasting life.  But he also gives us his peace, to calm our troubled hearts and subdue our fears.  And he helps us to see that in the midst of all God’s commands, there is one command that matters more than anything else: love one another as I have loved you. 

This is overwhelming, yet it is not all of the picture.  As we keep working, we notice that Jesus tells us the Father will give us another Advocate.  As the Spirit is a Paraclete who comes alongside us, so the risen Christ is also a Paraclete who advocates for us to the Father, who helps us see the Father because he is in the Father and the Father is in him, who intercedes for us with the Father and who counsels us about the Father. 

The risen Christ connects us to the Father, helping us become holy – more like the Father – more loving and generous.  And yet, as we become more like the Father we become more like the Son, loving others as Christ has loved us.  And as we become more like the Son, we become more like the Spirit – advocating for and helping and comforting others.  This is what John Wesley means when he talks about going on to perfection in love – this is the goal of all Christians (or at least of all good Methodists!).

Did you notice that we ended up being a part of this puzzle as well? Like three characters whose stories are so intertwined that we glimpse their distinctiveness and yet cannot completely separate them out – we come to see that the three Persons of the Trinity truly are One.  Like the abundant love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are overwhelmed by the depth of love for one another that comes from the One God and overflows into all the world. As we grow in love for one another, empowered by the love of God, we become more like the Triune God – bound together into a unity that enables us to work as one.

And as we look around at a world that is fractured and broken, with people who affirm the Triune God and yet cannot worship this God together because they do not see eye to eye, we know we have much to learn from our God.  We have much to learn about repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation.  We have much to learn about being in relationship with one another, about coming alongside one another and remaining there through good and bad, about loving one another in ways that may lead to sacrifice, about being generous in a world that is suspicious of generosity.   But the amazing thing is that as we piece together this puzzle called the Trinity, we get a glimpse of the Kingdom of God in all its beauty and majesty and we know that God is with us through it all, showing us the way.  I don’t know about you, but this makes me hungry to learn more, eager to work on the next part of the puzzle, ready to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.  What an awesome God we serve! Thanks be to the Triune God for this glimpse of the world as God sees it.  May there be many more. 

Rublev's Icon of the Trinity