Photo by Ahmed Hasan on Unsplash
Trinity
John 16:12-15
With good weather these days, many people walk the dogs in the morning. Some of my
neighbours’ dogs recognize me before their owners do when we bump into each other outside, wagging their tails, while some barking.
The research says that pet owners benefit from companionship and unconditional love from pets. Also, having pets is a way of teaching children to be kind to animals and teaching them empathy, manners, and sharing, as well. And, there is a special therapy using pets to help people cope with and recover from some health conditions.
I have no pets now, but when I was very young, I had the goldfish, a couple of them. They were very quiet. It was easy to feed them, and they didn’t eat much. They were so cute, and I
would put my hand in the fish tank to tame them. But, they were so slippery that they escaped my hand so quickly.
They might have felt so stressed out by a little girl annoying them every day, and I think they ended up living shorter than their life expectancy. When they died, I was so sad that my good mother bought me new goldfish to befriend me, and I promised to my mother that I wouldn’t put my hand in the fish tank again. Later when I became older and understood what is right and wrong, I felt sorry for that little creature that died and couldn’t even speak to me.
Now I invite you to imagine that you put your two arms in a fish tank as I did. You keep your
arms in there without touching the goldfish. The goldfish inside the tank wouldn’t know who you are. The goldfish will recognize your right arm as an object to swim around. When it turns back and sees your left arm, it will simply recognize your left arm as a different object.
Both your right arm and left arm belong to you, but they are not the same. The goldfish cannot even see your whole body outside the tank. Although your two arms inside the fish tank and the rest of your body outside are all connected, there is no way for the goldfish to understand the entirety of your being.
Like that goldfish in the tank, living in the three-dimensional world, there is no way for us to perfectly and completely understand the Trinity, but God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is One God.
Today is the first Sunday after Pentecost, which is called Trinity Sunday in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, celebrating the Feast of the Holy Trinity. The word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture, but it is a term to describe the triune God – three coexistent Persons who are God.
The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father. The Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Son. The Holy Spirit is not the Father, and the Father is not the Holy Spirit.
However, the Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. And there is only one God. God the Holy Spirit descending on God the Son, and God the Father proclaiming
His pleasure in the Son, Our Creator God is infinitely greater than we are.
In the New Testament, Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever” (Jn 14.16-17). He speaks to the Father about sending a Helper, the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not consider himself to be the Father or the Holy Spirit. Consider also all the other times in the Gospels where Jesus speaks to the Father. He was not speaking to himself but to another Person in the Trinity – the Father.
Each member of the Trinity is God, and the individual members of the Trinity have different
tasks. The Father is the ultimate source of the universe, “from whom are all things and for whom we exist” (1 Cor 8.6). The Son is the agent through whom the Father does the work of salvation; in Christ God is “reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5.13). The Holy Spirit is the means by whom the Father does his work.
Jesus says, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the
Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth . . .” (Jn 14.12-13). Jesus meets the
weakness of the flesh of his disciples by the consolation, saying that when they have received the Spirit, they will be new people, different from what they were before. He encourages them by the hope of better progress, that they may not lose courage.
How often do we get discouraged, and how often do we get disappointed? No matter what causes you feel discouraged, disappointed, or even frustrated, you are not alone. We are all at so great a distance from the perfect world. But, as the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles, the same Spirit is given to you. Under his guidance and direction, the apostles discharged the office to which they had been appointed. And, all who are called the children of God are also guided and directed by the Holy Spirit.
For the things which we are not yet able to learn, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth, yet only when we listen and will to follow Him. The highest perfection of heavenly wisdom is made known to us in the Scripture that consists in knowing the love of God, which is manifested to us in Christ. The knowledge of Christ far exceeds all learning (Eph 3.18).
When you are navigating around with no map or no GPS in your hand, the Holy Spirit will tell you things which are to come. Be calm, and seek the hidden wisdom in Christ who guides you through the Holy Spirit that proceeds from God, which will lead you to the kingdom of God. God endorses to us our salvation and the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, by which he seals to us its certainty (Eph 1.13-14).
But, what does all this mean to you – salvation, the seal, its certainty, the Trinity?
Christ intended to teach that the Holy Spirit would not be of this world as if it were in the air, but that it would proceed from the secret places of the heavenly sanctuary.
We receive the Spirit in order that we may enjoy Christ's blessings, that we may be washed by the blood of Christ, that sin may be blotted out in us by his death, that our old self may be
crucified, that his resurrection may be efficacious in forming us again to newness of life and, in short, that we may become partakers of his benefits.
Human beings pass by Christ, go astray and deceive themselves. The triune God, on the other hand, always keeps his eye on us. And, David sings the psalm:
What are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet, you
have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honour. You
have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under
their feet . . . O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Ps 8.4-6, 9
God bless!