Why the Trinity Changes Everything
Matthew 28:16-20
There is something odd in these verses
Jesus has all authority. He commands the disciples to go to all nations. And he says that he will always be with them.
He is, using the old words, omni-potent and omni-present.
And so you would expect him to say, ‘baptise them in my name’.
There is something odd in these verses
Jesus has all authority. He commands the disciples to go to all nations. And he says that he will always be with them.
He is, using the old words, omni-potent and omni-present.
And so you would expect him to say, ‘baptise them in my name’.
A link to the audio of the talk can be found here
That would make sense.
That would make sense.
When you are baptised into someone’s name, you become part of them and they become part of you. Your lives are intertwined. Their glory becomes the glory in which you share. Their destiny is your destiny. You become their person, and they become your person.
And if you hear echoes of marriage here, then you are thinking in the right way.
In 1 Corinthians 10:2, Paul speaks of how the ancient Israelites were baptised into Moses. As they received Moses authority, as they followed him through the waters of the Red Sea, they were baptised into Moses: they became part of him, and he became part of them.
And Paul also speaks of baptism into Christ.
Romans 6:3: ‘All of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus have been baptised into his death’.
Galatians 3:27: ‘As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ’
We become part of Jesus and he becomes part of us.
But Jesus does not say here, ‘baptise them in my name’.
He says something much bigger.
He says: ‘Baptise them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’.
In other words, we are Jesus’ people, but bigger than that, we are Trinity people - Father Son and Holy Spirit – people, immersed into the life of the Trinity, part of the life of the Trinity.
The Trinity is not a problem to be solved.
So often – as in that classic Nuns on the Run clip – the Trinity is treated as a mathematical problem to be solved.
And I am dissatisfied with many of the illustrations for the Trinity that are used. The three leaf clover, the Venn diagram with three overlapping circles, the water/ice/steam analogy – because they turn the Trinity into an equation and forget that we are speaking about a relationship between three persons.
So, I find this icon by Rublev incredibly helpful. Three angels who are seen as representing the three persons of the Trinity, in communion seated at a table.
Or I take it a bit further, and I speak of the divine hug of three persons.
The Father initiates the hug. He gives.
The Son responds and returns that love. And he opens the way to us to come into the hug
The Holy Spirit reaches out and draws us to Jesus, he draws us into the embrace, so that we become part of the hug, of the divine life.
If there is no Trinity,
And if you hear echoes of marriage here, then you are thinking in the right way.
In 1 Corinthians 10:2, Paul speaks of how the ancient Israelites were baptised into Moses. As they received Moses authority, as they followed him through the waters of the Red Sea, they were baptised into Moses: they became part of him, and he became part of them.
And Paul also speaks of baptism into Christ.
Romans 6:3: ‘All of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus have been baptised into his death’.
Galatians 3:27: ‘As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ’
We become part of Jesus and he becomes part of us.
But Jesus does not say here, ‘baptise them in my name’.
He says something much bigger.
He says: ‘Baptise them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’.
In other words, we are Jesus’ people, but bigger than that, we are Trinity people - Father Son and Holy Spirit – people, immersed into the life of the Trinity, part of the life of the Trinity.
The Trinity is not a problem to be solved.
So often – as in that classic Nuns on the Run clip – the Trinity is treated as a mathematical problem to be solved.
And I am dissatisfied with many of the illustrations for the Trinity that are used. The three leaf clover, the Venn diagram with three overlapping circles, the water/ice/steam analogy – because they turn the Trinity into an equation and forget that we are speaking about a relationship between three persons.
So, I find this icon by Rublev incredibly helpful. Three angels who are seen as representing the three persons of the Trinity, in communion seated at a table.
Or I take it a bit further, and I speak of the divine hug of three persons.
The Father initiates the hug. He gives.
The Son responds and returns that love. And he opens the way to us to come into the hug
The Holy Spirit reaches out and draws us to Jesus, he draws us into the embrace, so that we become part of the hug, of the divine life.
If there is no Trinity,
if there is only Jesus with all authority over all people at all time, then:
His claim to have authority is self-aggrandisement - albeit justified, after all he is standing in from of them risen from the dead.
His claim to have authority is self-aggrandisement - albeit justified, after all he is standing in from of them risen from the dead.
His command to his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything that he has taught, is naked imperialism.
And that is often how it has been perceived.
Next week I go on a conference of USPG. I am the Diocesan rep. It was set up to do what the name suggested: to propagate the gospel. To do it in a rather liberal catholic way, but still to make the name of Jesus known.
And the Anglican missionary societies have tied themselves up in knots because they are afraid of being seen to be part of imperialistic power structures.
How can we impose a set of teachings on another people?
But when Jesus says ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’, he adds, ‘Baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit’.
And that is often how it has been perceived.
Next week I go on a conference of USPG. I am the Diocesan rep. It was set up to do what the name suggested: to propagate the gospel. To do it in a rather liberal catholic way, but still to make the name of Jesus known.
And the Anglican missionary societies have tied themselves up in knots because they are afraid of being seen to be part of imperialistic power structures.
How can we impose a set of teachings on another people?
But when Jesus says ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’, he adds, ‘Baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit’.
And it all changes.
Jesus is saying it is not about me.
Do you notice he says, ‘I have been given all authority’
In Matthew 11 Jesus says something similar
‘All things have been handed over to me by my Father’
Jesus is saying, this is something bigger than me.
I’m not asking you to go because I am so great.
I’m asking you to go because beyond me there is always One, who is my source, who I have been eternally with, who I have come from, who I know as my Father, and who knows me as his beloved Son, and we invite you to share in our life, to join the hug.
We go to the nations, not simply with something to teach, but with the invitation to people to join in with the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is the invitation to become part of the community of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, part of the fellowship, part of the hug.
To receive the love of the Father and the grace of the Son poured out for us, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, working in us, changing what we think, what we think, what we want, what we long for – and who we are in relationship with.
And because at the heart of creation, of everything, there is not just One - God or Jesus God - the ultimate destiny of creation is not to be collapsed into one, so that all distinction is to be lost and we end up as it has been described as ‘one sea of being’.
Instead, because at the heart of creation there is the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons in communion with each other, totally at one, who have always been and always will be, eternally delighting in each other, and giving glory to each other, then individual uniqueness, self-giving, mutuality and interdependence, fellowship and communion belong to reality at its deepest level.
We often think the most important question is "Who or what am I?" But the Trinity suggests that the deeper question is "Whose am I?" and "Who am I with?"
And so we go and we offer to people baptism into the life of the Trinity.
It is the mark of belonging — belonging to the Father who gives, to the Son who pours out on us the generousity, the grace of God; and the Holy Spirit who draws us into the communion of love.
And even if we don’t understand it (and who does?) baptism really does make a difference, if we are prepared to receive it by faith.
It makes us a different kind of people.
Not people grasping for our own authority and glory — that is the way of the world.
Not people trying to build our own little empires, thinking we are right and everyone else is wrong.
But people who are discovering that everything that we have is gift from God
And people who are learning to live in communion with each other, to open our hearts and homes to each other, who are discovering that we are part of each other, that we need each other, that our destiny is tied up with each other – not just on planet earth, but in Jesus for all eternity.
And of course that is not just here. It includes our brothers and sisters in Christ from all places and all times – and we, together with the Father who sent the Son, and the Son who gave his life, and the Holy Spirit who reaches out, long that it would include all people from all places at all times.
Jesus is saying it is not about me.
Do you notice he says, ‘I have been given all authority’
In Matthew 11 Jesus says something similar
‘All things have been handed over to me by my Father’
Jesus is saying, this is something bigger than me.
I’m not asking you to go because I am so great.
I’m asking you to go because beyond me there is always One, who is my source, who I have been eternally with, who I have come from, who I know as my Father, and who knows me as his beloved Son, and we invite you to share in our life, to join the hug.
We go to the nations, not simply with something to teach, but with the invitation to people to join in with the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is the invitation to become part of the community of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, part of the fellowship, part of the hug.
To receive the love of the Father and the grace of the Son poured out for us, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, working in us, changing what we think, what we think, what we want, what we long for – and who we are in relationship with.
And because at the heart of creation, of everything, there is not just One - God or Jesus God - the ultimate destiny of creation is not to be collapsed into one, so that all distinction is to be lost and we end up as it has been described as ‘one sea of being’.
Instead, because at the heart of creation there is the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons in communion with each other, totally at one, who have always been and always will be, eternally delighting in each other, and giving glory to each other, then individual uniqueness, self-giving, mutuality and interdependence, fellowship and communion belong to reality at its deepest level.
We often think the most important question is "Who or what am I?" But the Trinity suggests that the deeper question is "Whose am I?" and "Who am I with?"
And so we go and we offer to people baptism into the life of the Trinity.
It is the mark of belonging — belonging to the Father who gives, to the Son who pours out on us the generousity, the grace of God; and the Holy Spirit who draws us into the communion of love.
And even if we don’t understand it (and who does?) baptism really does make a difference, if we are prepared to receive it by faith.
It makes us a different kind of people.
Not people grasping for our own authority and glory — that is the way of the world.
Not people trying to build our own little empires, thinking we are right and everyone else is wrong.
But people who are discovering that everything that we have is gift from God
And people who are learning to live in communion with each other, to open our hearts and homes to each other, who are discovering that we are part of each other, that we need each other, that our destiny is tied up with each other – not just on planet earth, but in Jesus for all eternity.
And of course that is not just here. It includes our brothers and sisters in Christ from all places and all times – and we, together with the Father who sent the Son, and the Son who gave his life, and the Holy Spirit who reaches out, long that it would include all people from all places at all times.
Comments
Post a Comment