Trinity Sunday - Homily 1

Homily 1 - 2006

There are some people who don’t believe that God is. But then there are people who do believe there is God. They are mainly Jews, Christians and Muslims. Of these, we Christians speak differently of God. The one responsible for our further insight was himself a Jew – Jesus.

Jesus was unique. He was as human as you and I are. Over time Jesus’ followers came to the insight that Jesus was not only wonderfully human, but also divine. At first they lacked words and thoughts to express their insight with reasonable accuracy. It took four and a half centuries before Christians could agree on a way of thinking and speaking that would do justice to who and what Jesus was.

The problem basically is: If there is only one God, how can Jesus be God?

Most of us have a rough idea of an answer – we believe that the oneness, the unity of God, exists as trinity. But don’t ask average Christians too many questions after that or they will be well and truly out of their depth – mainly on the theological issues, understanding the how.

Perhaps bigger than the mystery of the Trinity, however, is the basic mystery: that there is God at all, and how that God is to be understood.

Atheists need not be fools; neither need agnostics; neither need Jews or Muslims be fools. But more importantly for us, neither need Christians be fools, claiming what looks at first sight like contradiction.

But, then, when all is said and done, does it matter?

It matters to me that there is God. My certainty gives context, direction and meaning to my life. It anchors my sense of responsibility; it speaks to my otherwise cosmic loneliness.

But does it make much difference that God is Trinity? Both Jews and Muslims believe deeply in the mercy of God. Muslims honour Jesus. They honour his teachings. They see him as a great prophet. Basically, the issue is: Does it matter that Jesus is divine, or not?

We Christians know that, since Jesus is God, he not only had things to say about the mercy of God - he was the merciful God in human form. By knowing him, we know God. We know the mercy of God. Jesus also shows us the power of God. And in knowing the life-giving power of the love of God - in Jesus, we also know the vulnerability of that power. We know the vulnerability of the loving God. I find that vulnerability particularly attractive. It makes it easier for me to draw close to God.

Both Jews, Christians and Muslims believe strongly in the creating God. But in Jesus we know more. We know that we are loved, not just as precious creatures but that, in Jesus, we are loved, as it were, as members of the family. We share not just the being but the living of God.

With Jesus, the man who is also God, we are loved as friends. This friend who loves us we can meet not just sometimes - by appointment - but he lives in us and we live in him. The contact is constant. In and through Jesus God finds in us God’s “homeliest home”. I find all this beautiful.

We also experience the action in and on us of God’s Spirit. We would have no way of knowing or understanding that, however, if Jesus had not explained, and tipped us off, as it were. But it is in fact through the power and action of God’s Spirit that we are able to know Jesus – not as learnt about from a book or from someone else - but as encountered – in prayer.

It is also through the Spirit that we are made able to love Jesus, not just as we love a human friend, but with a more unifying love that truly makes us one with him.

That God is matters. That God is Trinity matters - equally. We are fortunate beyond words.