Indeed!
Trinity Sunday
Scripture: John 3: 1-17
Today is Trinity Sunday (where contemplate our God—three in one—Father, Son, Holy Spirit/ Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer!) Next week we begin almost six months of “Ordinary Time” during which we will walk through the Gospel of Mark. Now, “Ordinary” doesn’t mean boring, it comes from the word “ordinal,” meaning “related to a thing’s position in a series.” So, we can think of Ordinary Time as an ordered, deliberate, six-month step-by-step pilgrimage through the story of Jesus’ life, with Mark as our primary guide this year (and John helping out here and there). (SALT project)
So now that we know where we are going, let’s turn our attention to where we ARE. Trinity Sunday. Fun fact, the work ‘Trinity’ is not found in scripture. And yet, it is a major doctrine (teaching) of the Church. This teaching emerges from the church’s looking back- reflection on scriptural passages like the ones we have today, as our ancestors sought to make sense of their experience and through ancient texts. The church’s understanding of who God was/is often grows deeper and wider over the centuries. Thanks be to God! When we look at scripture today we can ponder our Trinitarian God through the lens of any Scripture –even if the author of John didn’t have the doctrine of Trinity in mind when writing!
The Gospel of John was written sometime during the last decade of the first century, nearly 70 years after the life of Jesus. We don’t know who wrote this gospel. The oldest manuscripts don’t include the author’s name. Over the centuries the text acquired the name of “The Gospel of John”. And by the time we get to the third chapter of John, we see that Jesus had already upset the water and was becoming quite the talk among the people. He had been performing miracles and was developing many followers. He had started to challenge the status quo, intriguing some and making others mad. And some were even saying he was the Son of God, the King of Israel, or the Lamb of God who was going to take away the sins of the world. This Jesus was beginning to pose quite a threat to the religious system.
And so as word about Jesus spreads –the religious authorities begin to talk, as well. And that talk was probably not too good. But for some reason, Nicodemus decides to go to Jesus, to see him with his own eyes and to hear this rabbi’s words with his own ears. Nicodemus is curious. Maybe even hopeful. And so he sneaks off to see Jesus through the darkness of the night.
And when he reaches Jesus, Nicodemus says to him: “We know you are a teacher who comes from God because those great miracles and signs you have performed could not occur without the presence of God.” And Jesus’ response to Nicodemus is unclear: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above, without being born anew.”
And this concept is foreign to Nicodemus, and he doesn’t understand. So Jesus further explains: “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. But what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.”
Now Nicodemus is really confused. Not only is Jesus saying that one cannot see the kingdom of God without being born from above, but one cannot enter the kingdom of God without being born of the Spirit.
It makes sense that Nicodemus doesn’t get it. He was born a Jew, was a Pharisee, a Jewish leader who had devoted his life to studying the Torah, if anyone were to see and enter the kingdom of God, it would be Nicodemus. He had the resume, all the credentials and was more religiously qualified than anyone around. How could Jesus tell him all of that counted for nothing?
And not only that, but was Jesus saying that this kingdom of God might be accessible to ANYONE who was born anew, to anyone who was born of the Spirit? To those who were not Jewish? Or those who did not even observe the law? This was absurd. And then Jesus uses the Jewish Scripture to help explain eternal life.
“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.”
God’s saving acts in the wilderness is God’s mercy and grace for God’s people. Now, the Son of Man is offering this kind of mercy, salvation, and grace. Now Nicodemus is finally starting to see…
Jesus continues. And this is when he goes on to say the most well-known verse of the New Testament, the verse that Martin Luther describes as the “Gospel in a nutshell.”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
And for the author of John, eternal life is not just about some kind of life after death. Eternal life is a new life we are born into from above, when we are born anew. A life that we experience in the future, but one that begins in the here and now, as we believe in, put our trust in, and follow Jesus Christ. And we can experience this eternal life because of God’s great love for us, not because of anything that we have done.
The kingdom of God Jesus is telling Nicodemus about involves grace, justice, and abundant love, that is offered to ALL. God loves the whole world. Indeed! And God loves the whole world in this way: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
All of this is accomplished by the creative love of God, the redemptive offering of Christ and the empowering presence of the life giving Sprit. And these Three are ONE! (Feasting on the Word)
Indeed! This is good news. And it must have been good news to Nicodemus , who later in the story defends Jesus regarding his case and who, with Joseph of Arimathea – after Jesus’ death – takes his body from the cross, wraps it with spices in linen cloths, and lays it in the tomb.
For God so loved the whole world. For God so loved Nicodemus. For God so loves us… in this way: that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in, trusts, and follows him, should not perish, but may have eternal life.
Indeed, Good news – for all.
Amen