Trinity Sunday
PROVERBS 8:1-4, 22-31: The Wise Woman of Israel made her first appearance in the Book of Proverbs, though she had appeared beforehand in numerous mideastern cultures. According to the Book of Proverbs, she played many roles in society, including the three that are mentioned in this lectionary for Trinity Sunday.
She is seen as a prophet. She raises her voice in all the public places of life: on the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads of the city, beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance to the portals of the gates. These were places where people congregated and through which they passed, and the Wise Woman, Lady Sophia, is there to deliver her message: "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is addressed to all that live. Learn prudence and acquire intelligence, especially about the ways of the Lord." Prophets stood in the very places that she stood, and they lifted up their voices to speak the Word of the Lord to the people as she did.
She was created before creation itself. "The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. When there were heavens and no depths, no springs of water, no mountains and hills, no soil, no skies, I was brought forth" (22-27). Creation of Lady Wisdom was God's first act of creation.
She was a master craftsperson in the creation of all that is. "When God made the skies and waters, when God laid out the foundations of the earth, I was beside him, like a master worker. I was daily his delight, as together we rejoiced in what we had done" (27-32).
The person of the Woman of Wisdom has figured in important ways in the history of the church.
This chapter in Proverbs was the key to one of the most important theological discussions in the life of the church. Arius of Alexandria built his case for his understanding of Jesus Christ on this model. "Christ was like Lady Sophia," said Arius. "He was the first-born of all creation. He was not one with the Father. He was created by the Father, though his creation was unique and there was never another like him." Arius' bishop Alexander took the other position. "Christ is of the same substance as the father. He was begotten, not made, begotten of God before the worlds were made. The Son shared fully with the Father in all works of creation." From this debate, our doctrine of the Trinity emerged.
This chapter is key also in contemporary feminist theology. "Sophia," "wisdom" is a feminine word. Because of this, says this theology, we have to take into account the feminine role in creation and the feminine side of divinity itself. To counteract all the patriarchal and masculine images that adhere to our inherited theologies, Lady Wisdom steps forth to represent the feminine side of all these equations.
Where did the picture of "The Wise Woman" come from in the first place? Cullen Murphy, in an important article entitled "Women and the Bible" in the Wilson Quarterly (Summer 98 28-29), sees her as a representative of the wise woman of the communal life of the times. In every village, he suggests, there was "a woman who kept a watchful eye on her fellow villagers from the day of their coming forth into the light of the world until their death. It was she who helped during childbirth; she who knew the remedies and other treatments... required in case of illness; she who assisted in matchmaking and, when necessary, who made peace between husband and wife. Her advice was sought not just by her family but by her whole village. It was she who was most proficient at whatever craft was practiced in the district, and she, too, who was the poet who 'declaimed' before the women at weddings and other festive occasions and in mourning as well." Life in the village could not go on without her. Proverbs suggests that without the likes of her, the Wise Woman who assisted God in all God's work, the life of God could not go on, either.
PSALM 8: This psalm nearly rivals the 23rd Psalm in our affections. It celebrates the manner in which human beings have proprietorship over the works of God's hands. It knows that compared to the heavens, the moon and the stars, humanity seems tiny, so insignificant that the psalmist wonders why God cares at all for us. The psalmist answers his own question: God has made us little lower than the angels, God has crowned us with glory and honor, God has given us the dominion over all things that we have. We have stature in God's universe only because God has bestowed it upon us.
My most memorable encounter with this psalm came at a worship service. Up till that moment, I had thought of the heart of the psalm as being found in its middle verses: "When I look at the heavens, the work of the fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast made," . . . I can agree with the psalmist on the magnificence of that. Looking up into the heavens and gazing deep into the stars has always been a near mystical experience for me. When this psalm is read, I wait for those words and rejoice in them. But this liturgist gave me a whole new experience with the psalm. He emphasized the doxology that begins and ends the psalm. "O Lord," he said, and then paused. "My lord," he said, and he paused again. Then, quietly: "How majestic is thy name in all the earth." Read this way, the psalm becomes a prayer. Try it this way, when you read it aloud next time.
ROMANS 5:1-11: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. 6 While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man -- though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. 8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation.
Let us divide the points Paul is making so that we can see them seriatim before we view them as a whole.
1. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. Peace comes from a root word that means "talk with one another." We have peace with God when we do not close God out of our lives but instead open ourselves to listen to God and speak to him from the depths of our own hearts. Christ stands at the apex of this. We know what God wishes to say to us when we hear what Jesus does say to us, and we have confidence to answer the God whom Christ has revealed to us.
2. This comes through "justification by faith." Greek had one word to express what in English takes three. "Justification" means "justice." In a moral universe, evil deeds must be punished, and justice upheld. "Justification" also means equity; sometimes the cause of justice is best served when a sentence is pronounced that takes other matters into account than the full punishment of the law. A sentence may be suspended, probation may be added, acquittal may be offered. These may serve justice best. The third meaning is 'righteousness." This has to do with establishing right relations, God with us and we with God and one another. One more thing must be added. This justice-justification-righteousness takes place because God desires it. God knows that sin must be punished and that equity, balance, must be established and that relationships can be restored. And God exerts total effort to doing just that. Our part in it is not much compared with God's part. Our part of the process is what Martin Luther called "faith," that is, believing that God in Christ is seeking to save us, trusting that God will keep his promises to us, and committing ourselves to God's will and ways. "How right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God's Word is" in Jesus Christ, said Luther, (quoted in Hendrix, 1983:236) because through Christ, his life but especially his death, Christ brings us God's forgiveness of our sins.
3. Paul points out the attributes of the life of faith. These include suffering, endurance, character, and hope. These are so closely related to one another that one grows out of the other. Harry Emerson Fosdick preached a powerful sermon on this text. "Beginning in Suffering and Ending in Hope," he called it. Out of suffering we learn to endure. In this endurance character is formed. From this character hope is born.
4. The Holy Spirit - the Spirit Jesus Christ made available to us by God - has been given to us.
5. This Spirit pours God's love into our hearts, our inmost lives.
6. This love is demonstrated in that Christ died for the ungodly. Paul noted in making this statement that one would hardly die for a righteous person: would you give up your life for some pious teacher, though, Paul added thoughtfully, you might muster courage to brave death for a loving comrade in the struggle against evil. But God proves his love for us in that Christ died for us while we were sinners in rebellion against God.
7. Paul in verse 10 seems to make a distinction between being reconciled through the death of Christ and being saved by his life. I frankly do not know what to make of this distinction. I do not find it any other place in Paul's writings. It may be that this distinction is more stylistic than substantive, an example of the parallelism in Hebrew poetry: "reconciled through his death . . . saved by his life."
8. "We have now received reconciliation." "Reconciliation" is one of the most important words in the New Testament. It means "to put back together again that which is broken, so that there are no parts left over." e. e. cummings, American poet, caught our situation into a poignant phrase: "We are all broken parts of a broken thing." But God does not leave us there. Piece by piece God puts the parts of "the broken thing" back together again until it is fully restored. Reconciliation is God's act of the total reconstruction of the human soul within the full context of a redeemed human society.
This is cause for joy on our part. Martin Luther put it best. "In this chapter," said the great reformer, "the apostle speaks with great joy and gladness. In the entire Scripture, there is hardly a text that equals this chapter, at least not in expression. For it describes most clearly the nature and extent of God's grace and mercy toward us."
JOHN 16:12-15: This intricate passage needs to be taken apart so that we can see its parts before we see it whole.
12: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
Jesus knew that his time with them was short, yet many of the most important things about his ministry were to occur in the next few hours and days. He would be arrested, he would be tried, he would be sentenced to death. He would die on a cross. He would be raised from the dead. For a little while he would talk and walk with his disciples. He would ascend to the place beside the father from which he had come, and he would send a Paraclete - an Advocate, Counselor, and Comforter -- to be with his own. All this was still to take place. These events were so momentous that he could not describe them to his friends with words alone. He had to live these profound moments, and they had to live them with him. Only then would they understand what he had "yet to say to them." The phrase "you cannot bear them now" means much more than "you cannot understand them now." The word for "bear" is the same word used when Scripture said that Jesus bore his cross. The disciples had to undergo the same "bearing" that Jesus did, with all it means in suffering and pain, abandonment and hope. Only when they "bear" the things that are to come could they possibly come to grips with them. Only when they walk beside him could they possibly carry on his message.
13: When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth;
Dr. C. H. Dodd tells us (The Bible and the Greeks 74) that in Hebrew these words become "He will cause me to walk in thy faithfulness." The word for "guide" is a compound word. It is composed of the roots for the words "way" and "lead," and it declares that the Spirit will lead us into all truth. This echoes Jesus' earlier words, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." When the Spirit comes, it will cause us to walk faithfully with him who is the true and living way to God.
for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak,
The spirit will not take off on its own and lead us wherever it wants. The spirit is always under the authority of Jesus Christ, that is, the spirit is not an independent entity acting on its own but is always the spirit of Jesus Christ acting in our lives. This is the way to "test the spirits," as the First Letter of John asks us to do. When the spirit moves in our hearts, is it leading us in the way of Jesus Christ or is it leading us away from Christ? If it leads us away from Christ, it is not the spirit of truth. If it leads us toward the way of Christ, it is truly the spirit sent from God.
and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
No matter what comes to you in life, said Jesus to his friends,
you will not face your future alone. As you remember me, and as
you seek my spirit, I will be with you. You need not fear
tomorrow. As I was with you yesterday, so will I be with you
then.
14: He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
This says again what Jesus was saying before. The glory that shines in me will shine also in the spirit. The spirit comes from my heart, and it will declare to you what I wish to say to you. But wait. Remember that in this Gospel the word "glorify" is a code word for "cross": the glory of God is the cross of Jesus Christ. If the spirit glorifies Christ, it will lead us to the cross. Perhaps the old hymn says it best:
Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land,
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way
From the burning of the noontime heat and the burden of the day.
Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of one who suffered there for me.
And from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess:
The wonder of redeeming love and my unworthiness.
I take, O Cross, thy shadow for my abiding place
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face.
Content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss.
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.
15: All that the Father has is mine;
All that God has has been incorporated into the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. What God would say to us, Jesus says. What God would do for us, Jesus does. The love of God, the mystery of God, the sacrifice of God comes to expression in Jesus Christ. "All that the Father has in mine." As far as our life is concerned, Jesus Christ is God for us.
therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The word "declare" is also the word for "proclaim," the preached
message about Jesus Christ. This full message will be made known
to us.
It is easy to see why this passage is used on Trinity Sunday. In just sixty-seven words in Greek, eighty words in English, -- only three of which exceed two syllables -- it relates the Father, the Son, and the Spirit into one unity in God.