Trinity Sunday
June 7, 2009
The Gospel: John 3:1-17
Sermon: "Trinity Sunday 2009"
The Rev. Dr. Vicki L. Smith, Rector
The Gospel: There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
"Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
John 3:1-17
Trinity Sunday 2009 Trinity Sunday - June 7, 2009
Nicodemus and Isaiah— whose stories we just heard—were separated in time by centuries but united by a longing to know God. Isaiah went to the temple to worship, where he was granted the vision we just read. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a prominent man of faith, who so wanted to know God that he came by night to speak to Jesus. He couldn’t risk being seen talking to this renegade preacher but he had to talk to him, so he came under the cover of darkness.
Their shared longing for God meant that Isaiah and Nicodemus were both works in progress. Because their stories are in our Bible we tend to think of them as frozen in time, but they were works in progress—growing and learning in their faith throughout their lives. Isaiah became perhaps the most memorable of the prophets, speaking out of a faith that deepened over time. Nicodemus went from the fearful questioner at night to coming in the light with herbs and myrrh to wrap with Jesus’ body. They were both works in progress, as are we.
We just heard John 3:16 which reminds us that by faith in Christ we have received eternal life. That eternal life is not just an elongation of this life, though that is part of it. Eternal life means much more—it is impossible for us to know God and our salvation and not be changed. Eternal life in Jesus includes being changed in this life; it includes growing in faith; it includes being a work in progress. While we begin to know God in the moment of our salvation, we are only beginning. Our God is always more and deeper than we know right now.
A recent Alban Institute article said: One of our liberal-evangelical heroes, J. B. Phillips, once wrote a book with a title that we love: Your God is Too Small. Phillips’s message was right on target, for his context and also for ours. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how good you are or how attractive you are. It doesn’t matter how much you read the Bible, how much you pray, or how much you give to church and charity. It doesn’t matter what your culture is, what your gender is, what your skin color is. It doesn’t matter who your relatives are or who you know, where you went to school or where you live. Your God is too small. (Wesley J. Wildman, Stephen Chapin Garner).
Actually, it’s not so much that our God is too small; but that our understanding of God is too small. We know God as our savior, as our guide, as our Father, as Jesus, as the Spirit. We know God as our creator, as our redeemer and as our sustainer. All those are true and important images, but none of them is complete in and of itself. The traditional definition of the Trinity -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is our limited human attempt to understand our infinite God. It is because our God is infinitely wondrous that we are works in progress—because we can be nothing else. We can’t define and categorize our God; we can’t make God into something manageable that we can understand. There is no box we construct that will contain the incredible power and wonder of God. So we are works in progress—like Isaiah and Nicodemus and countless believers before us, we seek to grow deeper in our knowledge and understanding of our God. Like Isaiah, we come to worship, seeking to see God; to know the awe of being in his presence. Like Nicodemus, we come to God with our questions and our struggles.
Even if we must figuratively come at night, afraid to ask our questions in the public eye, we come to Jesus with our questions. We have to. Unless we are willing to ask our questions and be open to Jesus’ answer, we will not be works in progress but half finished creations set aside in a box somewhere.
Notice from our gospel lesson that Jesus wasn’t angry with Nicodemus. He didn’t berate him for asking questions, instead he responded to him, leading him further into faith and a relationship with God. Nicodemus was a literal as a small child, as literal as we often are, asking: “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter into the mother’s womb and be born again?” But Jesus accepted his questions and lead him from his question to new life; from doubt to faith; from skepticism to assurance.
That’s the way it works with our questions: Jesus uses them to draw us closer to him. We are works in progress and so we need to ask our questions—whether they seem silly or argumentative; whether they seem complicated or simplistic; whether they are profound or practical. Whatever our questions, we need to bring them to Jesus, for that is how we learn and grow in faith.
We know that, as Paul says, now we see through a mirror dimly and there will always be things we cannot fathom this side of heaven, but we also know that Jesus loves and redeems us. By virtue of our eternal life, our salvation, and our relationship with God, we are made works in progress and it is by asking our questions and embracing Jesus’ responses that we grow as Nicodemus did, from darkness ever more into the light.