Trinity A
A book miniature depiction of Andrei Rublev's Trinity, Russia
543: June 4, 2023
381: June 7, 2020
Jeff Nelson, Coffeehouse Contemplative Blog, @boldroastrev, Coffeehouse Contemplative: Spiritual Direction for the Everyday
Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon
Jeremy Lafary, website, Facebook
Amanda Opelt, “Go (Holy Orders)” from her album Seven Songs, amandaopelt.com, @AmandaHeldOpelt, Facebook
Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon
Matthew 28:16-20
Initial Thoughts
The mission statement of the United Methodist Church - “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
For many Methodists pastors, this might be the last sermon at a charge - what a great way to finish.
Bible Study
They are back where it all began - in Galilee (of the Gentiles - see Matthew 4:15) at the Mount - probably where he delivered the Sermon on the Mount
Mountains are places of theophany - where God meets us
Because Matthew sets up Jesus as the new Moses - there are some interesting connections here
Like Moses - Jesus has taught and showed them the way of life and death
Like Moses - he will not enter the promised land with them
Like Moses - he will meet for them one last time on the Mountain
Like Moses - he is sending them into a new place - perhaps a new “Promised Land” - what would this mean for the early Jewish Christians who had recently survived the great revolt and were dispersed from the traditional “promised land”?
Unlike Moses - Jesus message is not only for Israel but emanating forth from the disciples throughout the world
They worshiped, but some doubted
Those with faith and those who doubt come to the same place. They are given the same command
There is room even for those that still question. Assurance is not a prerequisite of discipleship.
“How does Jesus respond to this mixed group of worshipers and doubters? He gives them all the same commission: "Go and make disciples
Even those that doubt are told to go and teach.
Who else worshiped/knelt?
Matthew 2.6-16
Matthew 7.26-8.7
Matthew 9.13-23
Matthew 15.20-30
Matthew 17.9-19
Authority/Power
The last time someone talked about Jesus having all authority was on a different mountain when the Devil tempted Jesus. The devil thought that authority came through triumph over and using the ends to justify the means (worshiping the devil in order to gain authority). Jesus has just revealed that true power and authority are found through love, vulnerability and sacrifice. (Myallis, http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/)
“The word for power used here is not the usual word for power, dunamis, but exousa. This distinction conveys the difference between ‘self-contained power,’ and ‘passed on power’ (exousa).” (Gary Simpson, The Abingdon Preaching Annual, p. 73)
Christ’s power is not one manipulation or exertion of dominance, it is a power that is passed on.
Teaching and baptism are ways through which Jesus shares this power - divine power and authority are revealed and shared, never hoarded
Commission/Commandment
A commandment is all on you. One must either obey or disobey.
Commissioning is more of a team effort. “Commissioning, however, functions differently. When you are commissioned you are not merely commanded but also equipped, empowered, and given the necessary authority to accomplish your duty.” (David Lose)
Teaching them to obey my command
Moral imperative - how to live and act, is above what to believe.
Jesus’ last words are not about belief, they are about living
To obey Jesus’ command is to live as he lived:
Greatest commandment - To love God and love your neighbor.
Make disciples, Baptize, Teach
“Will be with you to until the end of the age”
Matthew’s explanation for the delayed parousia - the delay in Jesus coming back. The Mathew community was probably expecting him back by now, this is an encouragement for them to continue to do the work of making disciples.
Trinity
The only time Jesus refers to the Trinity directly
While stating that we should read too much of later trinitarian theology into this, Stephen Boyd points out that the old trinitarian debate - Arius vs Athanasius - was rooted in centuries of different understandings of who God is
Arius - God and Jesus can’t be co-equal because that would reveal “a need or vulnerability in the Father. To say that there was need or vulnerability in the Father—in God—suggested that God could change; God could be affected by another.” God is the unchanging reality underlying the tumult and chaos of life. Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16).
Athanasius - Jesus and God are equal. There is a unity of love in which power “is not self-possessive and self-preserving like that of the Gentiles, who "lord it over" others and tyrannize them (Mark 10:42).” Rather the power of God and Jesus are self-giving.
These views both persist in our congregations and change how we both view and interact with the world. It might be helpful to explore this - how does our understanding of who God is change how we live and act? In other words - why is the trinity important?
Thoughts and Questions
Commission is different than a commandment. As commissioned, we are given not only a task, but the tools to succeed. Jesus is with us on this journey - “even to the end of the age.”
Jesus is commissioning his followers to go out and save the world. Right now churches are hoping that people will come in and save the church
They’ll come in and be good tithe-ers, good church-members, good volunteers.
Jesus didn’t tell the disciples to go and build great churches. He told them to go and make disciples.
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Initial Thoughts
Liturgical - Repetition, Order, Poetry - like the prologue of John
“Many in our time insist that it be read, not as theological reflection on God’s creative activity, but as reportage… The need is as great as ever to move beyond a reading of this majestic song to the creator God as narrative, and to understand it as an exclamation of praise.” (Walter Brueggemann, Texts for Preaching, Year A, p. 338)
“In these texts, there is almost no historical particularity. Other than the reference to specific peoples in chapters 10–11, there is no concrete identification of historical persons, groups, movements, or institutions. Creation is treated as a unity. And where individual persons are cited, they are treated as representatives of all creation, the part for the whole.” Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, Interpretation: Genesis, p. 11.
Bible Study
Order in the midst of Chaos
Different from the other violent creation stories in the ancient near east, this is not a story of elimination of reconciliation. Opposites exists alongside one another: order and chaos, land and sea, heavens and earth, light and dark, fish and birds, male and female. The existence of one does not subjugate or eliminate the other, but co-exists in a reconciled balance that God repeatedly affirms as “good”, and finally as “very good”
Context: Babylonian Exile
“This text is a poetic narrative that likely was formed for liturgical usage. It is commonly assigned to the Priestly tradition, which means that it is addressed to a community of exiles. Its large scope moves in dramatic fashion from God’s basic confrontation with chaos (1:2) to the serene and joyous rule of God over a universe able to be at rest (2:1–4a).” This text may have been used a text of resistance - refuting the Babylonian claims of theological, existential eschatological supremacy. - Brueggemann, Interpretation, p. 22-23.
chaotic, unknown future
The very rhythms of nature are a promise of God’s presence
Formless void - eternal, chaotic, alone
God enters - relationship, order, separation
There is not a morality - God creates but does not condemn
Darkness is kept - not declared evil or bad
“goodness concerns the use to which it can be put for God's intention.” - Melinda Quivik
Context: Other competing contemporary creation myths
“The Priestly creation hymn appears to call into question the views concerning the origin of the world that prevailed among Israel’s neighbors, especially the Babylonians… ‘It was not Marduk (or some other god) who created the heavens and the earth,’ our text insists, ‘but Yahweh, the God of Israel!’” (attribution needed)
Similarities
“In the beginning, there was only undifferentiated water swirling in chaos. Out of this swirl, the waters divided into sweet, fresh water, known as the god Apsu, and salty bitter water, the goddess Tiamat. Once differentiated, the union of these two entities gave birth to the younger gods.”
Major difference
Genesis is the story of one God working in peace and transcendent power.
Full of “goodness” instead of violence
“When God began to create”- Robert Alter’s translation captures the continual creative acts of God beginning here, but by no means ending here
“Formless void” or “welter and waste” the Hebrew, tohu wabohu denotes an emptiness or futility which has been associated with the “trackless vacancy of the desert” (Alter, Hebrew Bible)
Poetic Devices
Repetition
beginning: “there was evening and morning …”
command: “God said, ‘Let there be …’ ”
action: “And it was so.”
evaluation: “God saw that it was good.”
continuation: “there was evening and morning …”
Each stanza has a matched pair, except the seventh, which “lays emphasis on the human response to God’s creative activity.” (Brueggemann, Texts, p. 338)
1st and 4th = God creates Day/Night and celestial bodies to rule them
2nd and 5th = God creates sky and waters, and then the inhabitants of each
3rd and 6th = God creates sea and dry land, and the vegetation, animals, and humanity, who “have dominion.”
Actions of God
Create - 5 times
Make - 5 times
Speak - 14 times! An inherently relational word
“By God’s speech that which did not exist comes into being. The way of God with his world is the way of language. God speaks something new that never was before.” Brueggemann, Interpretation, p. 24.
Image of God (B’tselem elohim)
Relationship - God interacts with creation from the outset and fills creation with Ruach - wind/ breath/Spirit of God
“In the first lines…of the Bible…both masculine and feminine verbs are used for God, masculine for God, feminine for the Spirit.” Wil Gafney, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W. p. 142.
God created the ha’adam in God’s image
Ha’adam is not a personal name. “A better translation of this term would be “earthling” [or earth creature] since the term is derived from the term ‘adamah meaning “land” or “earth”...the intent of the author is to emphasize that God made “earthlings” as a while, not just males, in God’s image” Rodney S. Sadler Jr. “Genesis” The Africana Bible. p. 72
“For Africana peoples, one of the most significant messages from Genesis 1 is that as earthlings, we are each created betselem ‘elohim, or in the “image of God”. Sadler, p. 71
The reason God gives for the prohibition against violence - Genesis 9:5-6 (CEB) “5 I will surely demand your blood for a human life, from every living thing I will demand it. From humans, from a man for his brother, I will demand something for a human life. 6 Whoever sheds human blood, by a human his blood will be shed; for in the divine image God made human beings.”
Goodness
Not a moral goodness, but an intrinsic goodness - Goodness describes the very nature of creation
Universal message of Genesis 1 (David Bland)
Torah does not begin with Israel, but with Creation
All of creation is blessed and good
Interdependent - no part of creation exists alone, not even God
Light is connected to the tides which is connected to the plant which are connected to the animals which are connected to humans which are connected to God
There are not isolated pieces in God’s creation
Time
Which came first God or the beginning?
In the beginning/ when the beginning occurred - God was creating the beginning
May not be a specific moment but In beginning
Beginning may not be an exact moment but a general period of time - “Once Upon a Time…”
Thoughts and Questions
How might we claim God’s presence in the midst of chaos? In what ways do we lift up the rhythms of nature and see God at work and in relationship with creation and us?
How do we live out the interdependence of creation? What about the interdependence of the churches?
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Initial Thoughts
A little background on 2 Corinthians:
Written about 50 CE, several months after 1 Corinthians and Paul’s visit to Corinth (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:5-7)
Third letter to the Corinthians. Paul refers to his second letter written in tears and anguish (2 Corinthians 2:4). This “letter of tears” is lost
Paul’s relationship has become increasingly strained
Paul is addressing claims from other evangelist who have better backgrounds (were one of the 12) or better gifts
According to Luther Seminary professor, Mary Hinkle Shore, Paul chooses his words carefully to prevent the relationship from deteriorating, but is also having a hard time keeping his emotions in check. Furthermore he is constantly framing his letter in the theological concept of God’s reconciling work in Christ
Is this an awkward lectionary proof text containing one of the few references to the trinity?
No, but only if we know the context of the letter
Bible Study
Farewell - this is the closing of 2 Corinthians
Letter emphasizing reconciliation
Seeking to repair a broken relationship
Both apology and defense
Structure:
V. 11 - summation of letter
V. 12 - final greeting
V. 13 - prayer
V. 11: Summation
1st Imperative: “Farewell” better translated as “rejoice” - same word in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (“rejoice always”).
Paul does not want to come across as the disciplinarian or one tearing down, but building up
2nd Imperative: Put thing in order - better translated: “pull yourselves together” or “be restored” or my favorite “be made whole”
3rd Imperative: listen to my appeal - terrible translation - better translated as “be encouraged or consoled”
4th imperative: agree with one another- literally “think the same thing”
5th imperative: peace is inward focused not outward focused
V. 12: Holy Kiss
Precursor to passing the peace
Was always done mouth to mouth
A familial-Not erotic- kiss to signify being a part of the family of God
Warning in the 2nd century against open mouth kissing and too much kissing
For more: Kissing Christians by Michael Philip Penn https://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/news/kissing.shtml
V. 13: Trinity and the social nature of God
God as triune emphasizes a social God
God’s very nature is relationship
As people of God, we are called to reflect that relationship
Trinity is not a linear development (Father begets Son from whom the Spirit comes), but rather God, Son/Word and Ruach/Spirit have existed together since the “foundations of the world” (Genesis 1, John 1; 17:24)
V. 13: Paul moves from the practical to the theological:
Put things in order -- the social nature of God as the essential order of the divine
Listen to my appeal -- Take comfort in one another
Agree with one another -- God’s nature is relational
Live in peace -- God’s desire is reconciliation of the world both with God and one another through Christ (2 Corinthians 1-7)
Thoughts and Questions
The Trinity is not intellectual exercise but reveals the interpersonal, interconnected nature of God. God is relationship, God is love. As the people of God we are called into relationship, we are called into love, we cannot remain faithful and unreconciled. Just as God, Christ and Spirit are reconciled so we too are called to be reconciled.
When we feel that reconciliation is impossible we are called to remember that reconciliation is the true nature of God and, thus, the true nature of reality.
Many people and churches find themselves embroiled in a conflict where: rejoice, pull yourselves together and be of one mind seems ridiculous, unrealistic and polyannic. However perhaps that is why Paul end the letter in this way- because it articulates a near impossible vision, but one we should never stop striving for. If reconciliation is the ultimate goal- then we can never demonize or dehumanize the other.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING AND GET IN TOUCH:
Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, patreon.com/RichardBC). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Miserlou”), Nicolai Heidlas for our transition music (“Sunday Morning”, "Real Ride" and “Summertime”) and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.