“some” doubted…

16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20, NRSV)

This is the Gospel passage for Trinity Sunday this year. It is one of the few places in the Bible we get a mention of the Trinity. And by few I mean this and five other places there are trinitarian formulas. So the doctrine fo the Trinity is not developed explicitly in scripture. So that makes it difficult to preach and teach on the Trinity.

Other things that make it difficult to preach on the Trinity is there is nothing else we know as the Trinity. We can say that an egg is like the Trinity, there is a yolk, a white and a shell, 3 parts that make up one thing, but you can have an egg yolk without the white or the shell, and we can not have the Spirit without the Son and the Father. And we could use an apple, there is the skin, the meat, and the seeds, but again I can have one part of an apple and it is still an apple without the other parts.

So this passage is not quite enough to understand the Trinity. and I think that the Trinity is more than 3. One of my favorite icons is Andrey Rublev’s Icon of the Holy Trinity. I have several pictures and renditions of this in my office. It is a beautiful picture of God. It is also a picture of relationship, and that is what the Trinity is about, God is in communion with God and wants to be in communion with us. Communion comes from community. When we partake in communion we are participating in the community of believers that have participated, are participating, and will participate in communion. It is about community and relationship. And the best part of this icon is the bottom. You see the three of them are together over a meal possibly and at the bottom between the seats what do you see? If you look between the feet of the Father and the Spirit you will see an opening. You see the Trinity is not complete as three but needs you to join them. God is perfect as God is, but God wants us to be in community with God. God leaves space for all of us to join in.

And that brings us to the title of the devotion today, on Trinity Sunday when God invites you to join the community God has opened to us, we see that Jesus invited the eleven disciples to Galilee to the mountain He told them about. And Jesus joined them there and when they saw Him, the text says, “they worshipped Him; but some doubted.”  How many of us would doubt this? Jesus was dead. We saw Him die. He was on the cross and when He came off He was dead. He was laid in a tomb.

We all doubt and we think that doubt is bad.

I asked my friends on Facebook what they doubt but still have faith in. Some of them were silly like their kids would actually clean their rooms and frozen pizza. Some were serious like America and God. We wonder if the Sun actually shines behind the clouds, what happens after life here ends, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, that common sense still exists. We doubt the church, and councils, and humanity. We wonder will this all work the way the Bible promises.

But you see this is the interesting thing about the text above, the word some in verse 17 is not there. Scholars put the some in because of the construction, but this construction isn’t found anywhere else. And another reason the some is there, is because the disciples couldn’t worship and doubt, but I do all the time, and actually, it helps me know I don’t have to have it all together. I don’t have to understand all of this. I can quesiton and wonder and still worship. You see the 11 that were with Jesus and watched Him do ministry for 3 years, saw Him die and met Him on the mountain, looked at Him and worshipped Him but doubted what was happening, all of them doubted what they were seeing and experiencing, yet they went into the world and changed it. To me that is hope, hope in I don’t have to have it all together, and even in my brokenness God still wants me in community.

So doubt and worship and know that God wants you.

 

Neither sees nor knows

15”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. (John 14:15-17, NRSV)

You can’t see the Spirit but the Spirit is always with you. The Spirit resides in you and guides you, and intercedes when we can’t make the words or thoughts come together.

The Spirit is always with you.

How are you living with the Spirit?

I’m not ashamed

But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. 13Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. (2 Timothy 1:12b-14, NRSV)

I am not ashamed of Jesus Christ and the life He gave me.

I hold fast to the truth of love and grace and hope given to all of us through Jesus Christ from God.

We live in our eternal life now and share what God has blessed us with with all the world.

Are you ashamed?

Do not be ashamed

8Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, 9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12and for this reason I suffer as I do.  (2 Timothy 1:8-12a, NRSV)

We should not be ashamed of the truth we know. We need to boldly proclaim the message of love and hope we have been given.

God saves us from the world around us and gives us life abundantly. We should tell everyone about this.

So do not be ashamed no matter what it gets you. Boldly proclaim God’s love for the world!

Are you thirsty?

37On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” 39Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39, NRSV)

When the Spirit is with you out of your heart will flow streams of living water.

We can quench the thirst of those around us who are thirsty because the Spirit is within us.

We can give them love and hope and take care of them because God has empowered us to do that and to be there for them.

Are you ready to quench thirst?

helps

26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  (Romans 8:26-27, NRSV)

When you can’t get the words to come out when the thoughts do not make sense in your own head, the Spirit knows what you need and intercedes.

We are never alone even when we think we are in a deep dark hole. God is always there and knows what we need.

Glory Revealed > Suffering

18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?  (Romans 8:18-24, NRSV)

We all suffer, some of us more than others.

We will all face times we do not want to go through. But what we see and face now will be completely outdone by the glory we will receive when we are completely with Jesus.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. We now can’t see the glory all around us because of the brokenness of this world.

The brokenness that allows a white police officer to kill George Floyd while others watch. This is suffering no one should go through.

We live in a broken world and it is our calling as children of God and disciples of Jesus to show His love and stand up against the suffering we can stop.

We have the hope that God’s glory will be better than anything and we need to live in that hope and help others see that hope by standing up to what is wrong in this world.

Know we will all suffer, but some suffering we can stop and we have to stop it.

The Spirit

37On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” 39Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39, NRSV)

Out of the believer’s heart shall flow a river of living water!

Out of your heart flows God’s living water!

You can share what was given to you with all of the world!

Go, for you don’t go alone, Jesus and the Spirit are with you and give you what you need to show the world God’s love!

 

Beatitudes

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:1-12, NRSV)

This passage always gets to me.

Blessed are those Jesus starts each phrase with until the last one. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you. Well, Jesus when this happens I don’t feel so blessed!

But that is what Jesus says because those that are doing this are not following after God.

So take heart that we are against the world, but we have God behind us, so which is better?

children of God

14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:14-17, NRSV)

We are children of God and joint heirs with Christ.

We are not to be slaves of the world but we are to be free so we can share the love God has showered us with with the world!

Let us freely give as we have been freely given, and show the world the love of God.