1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word, as we celebrate Trinity Sunday, is taken from John 8:48-59, it’s entitled, “From Me to We,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. American author Orson Scott Card isn’t a fan of most modern science fiction, despite writing many science fiction books himself. What bothers him most is that the heroes of the books and movies are often rugged individuals, disconnected from family or friends, going about their adventures on their own. Card wonders where the hero’s husband or wife, children, siblings, and childhood friends are to be found. It’s not good for man—even a science fiction hero—to be alone. Therefore, through Jesus’ dialogue with the unbelieving Jews in our text for this Trinity Sunday, God reveals His triune nature that we may be not “me” but “we” with Him.
3. But, we prefer to be me. Our present culture thrives on individuality. People are getting married later and later, if at all. In 1962, 50 percent of 21-year-olds were already married. By 2019, that was down to 8 percent (businessinsider.com/average-marriage-age-united-states-2019-2). Sheeple, blending sheep and people, is a term that has come into usage for an individual that unthinkingly “goes with the flow” instead of charting his or her own path. Sheeple are those who have lost their individuality and just want to “blend in.” When former US President, Barack Obama, suggested that successful businesses come into being thanks to the help of others, and when Hilary Clinton suggested it takes a village to raise a child, people were angry. We want to believe we do these things on our own.
4. But, we is better than me. It’s not good to be alone. 400 years ago, the English writer John Donne wrote a famous poem about individualism. You might know at least the beginning and the end, not realizing they come from the same poem. “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less . . . Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
5. No man is an island. When one man dies, it reminds that humanity is dying. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). To be alone is, in some ways, to die. God is not a Me. Our holy Lord doesn’t reflect this sinful individualism. Because our sin can drive us to be “rugged individuals” disconnected from one another, we assume God, too, is a “rugged individual.” We speak of our Lord as God, Him, He, the One.
6. Then, on Trinity Sunday, we squish three persons into this one, rugged individual. In some mysterious way, like the parts of an apple or a three-leaf clover or the phases of water, our one God is also the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But in the Garden, the Lord said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen 1:26). Man was created male and female. One, and yet two. In marriage, the two become, once more, one (Gen 2:24) because it was not good, the Lord said, for man to be alone (Gen 2:18).
7. God is a We. The Father begets a Son through whom comes the Spirit. The Jews had a hard time understanding Jesus as the Son of the Father, because they couldn’t let go of the ideas they had about God. John 8:48-49 says, “The Jews answered Jesus, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.” The accusations flying back and forth between Jesus and the crowd reach a fevered pitch, with the unbelieving Jews accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil, or at least a blaspheming Samaritan. This comes in response to Jesus’ statement that they are children of the devil. Jesus responds that they don’t honor (atimazo) him but that he gives honor (timao) to the Father. The verb timao is the same word used in the Fourth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother,” in both the Septuagint and in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus seems to be invoking not the First or Second but the Fourth Commandment here.
8. Muslims, too, struggle with the Tri-unity of God. “They have certainly disbelieved who say, ‘Allah is the third of three.’ And there is no god except one God” (Qur’an 5:73). This is why Jesus’ use of the Divine Name for himself was so repulsive. How can he be the “I Am”? But in a mysterious wonder, our Lord is in fact three persons in one divine substance. The Lord is the Father who eternally begets the Son through whom comes the Spirit. In Jesus, we see God for who he really is, just as Abraham did in his day.
9. In John 8:50-55 Jesus says, “Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.”
10. In these verses of John 8, Jesus explicitly connects eternal life and glorifying God with the need to guard and keep (tereo) Jesus’ word. The one who guards his word, who treasures it and keeps it, will “never see death.” This is the same verb used in Matthew 28, where Jesus’ baptized disciples are to be taught to guard, tereo, his teachings (Mt 28:20). The unbelieving Jews counter that Abraham died, as did the prophets. What can Jesus mean that abiding in his word will mean not tasting of death? The question of identity is raised again: “Who do you make yourself out to be?” This is a trap question, like “When did you stop shoplifting?” It forecloses on the possibility that Jesus is not making himself out to be anything; he is who he says he is and has been made so by someone else.
11. Jesus explicitly identifies his Father with the God of the Jews. He further implies they don’t know him. There’s a difference between knowing of someone and knowing someone. Many Americans know of President Biden. But, few know President Biden. In the same way, Jesus accuses the Jews of knowing of God—in the manner of the Gentiles—but not knowing him, because they won’t acknowledge Jesus as the Son. He again accuses the unbelieving Jews of knowing the devil as their god. He has earlier said the devil is a liar (John 8:44). To accuse the unbelieving Jews of being liars is to call Satan their true god and father.
12. Jesus says in John 8:56–59, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”
13. Abraham’s rejoicing has a salvific and end times overtone, as does the reference to “my day.” The Jewish expectation was that the promise of salvation for Abraham’s descendants would be fulfilled on the Last Day and there would be rejoicing. Jesus implies not only that Abraham saw that day but also that Jesus himself was present as Abraham saw it. When the crowd counters that this is impossible, since Jesus is “not yet fifty years old,” Jesus applies the Divine Name to himself. Before Abraham had existence, “I Am,” completely identifying his essence with that of the Father. Since the unbelieving crowd has already foreclosed on the possibility that Jesus is telling the truth (“Who do you make yourself out to be?” John 8:53), they feel they have no choice but to execute Jesus for blasphemy. But, miraculously, Jesus slips from their grasp, much as he will slip the bonds of death on Easter morning.
14. We, like Abraham, abide in Jesus’ Word. The devil would have us be by ourselves, islands, disconnected, kept apart. The devil tells us that to be like God is to be alone. He tells us we can be free to do whatever we want, no matter the people around us. They can be safely ignored in favor of our personal choices and freedoms. This is a lie.
15. If you are blessed to live outside the city lights, you can look up at any time in a clear night sky and see countless stars. The naked eye sees them only as small points of light. But with truly powerful telescopes, we can see that each star is a sun, surrounded by planets, some with their own moons, as many of the planets in our solar system have. The reverse is also true. Our glorious solar system, made up of eight planets, the moons of those planets, exoplanets, comets, and asteroids, would look like a single small point of light from far enough away. There’s a temptation to look at God as a distant star. Then, on Holy Trinity Sunday, we peer at that God through a telescope and “see” that God is three persons. Let us carry that close-up view with us every Sunday—always praying in the Spirit to the Father through the Son, always thinking of the Son who redeemed us, sent by the Father, whom we know by the indwelling of the Spirit. On Holy Trinity Sunday, then, we step back and marvel that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God.
16. The Word of the Lord is that we know the Father through the Son, who knows the Father perfectly (John 8:55). This is the truth. The Father freely sends his Son into the world to redeem us. The Son willingly gives up his life on the cross to free us. The Spirit is willingly breathed out that he might live in us. By the power of the Spirit, we keep the Father’s Word, Jesus, in us. This is what it means to have eternal life, and the promise of never tasting death (John 8:52). It’s not good to be alone. So, Jesus has made us one with his Father by the sacrifice of the cross, and by enlivening our faith by sending the Holy Spirit into our hearts.
17. Jesus, the hero of the Gospels, unlike heroes in so much fiction, isn’t alone. Jesus doesn’t stand by himself. He is glorified by his Father and honors him by keeping his Word. He turns to us and invites us to hear the true promises of his Father, to know the Father through his one and only Son. Abraham knew God not as a “he” but as a “we.” Now we do as well, through the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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