TRINITY SUNDAY

May 30, 2010

St. Augustine Anglican Church

“How can a man be born when he is old?”

The Rev. Gerald Parks +

          The story of Nicodemus, heard in today’s Gospel (John 3:1-15), poses a question as old as religion itself: Can the truth of God be comprehended by man, using only man’s experience and the capacity of his intellect as guides?  And the answer is, of course, no.  Nicodemus was a rich and powerful Pharisee, “a ruler of the Jews” (John 3:1) as our Lord called him, “a master of Israel.” (John 3:10)  And he was well-educated and much respected by his peers, for his wisdom and influence.  We don’t know the exact reason for his visit to our Lord: it could have been simple curiosity about the stir Jesus was causing among the people, or perhaps it was a sincere desire to understand what He preached.  But we do know he came in secret or as the Gospel states “by night.”  It was an obvious attempt by Nicodemus to protect his reputation and standing in the community: he didn’t want to be suspected of approving blasphemy or consorting with the rabble.

          Jesus didn’t have much patience with Pharisees, labeling them as “hypocrites” on several occasions, and He doesn’t exhibit much patience here.  Jumping right to the offensive, He tells Nicodemus, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)  And Nicodemus is taken aback by this and answers somewhat lamely, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (John 3:4)  Clearly, there is a great chasm between them that cannot be bridged with words alone, and the more our Lord tries to explain His meaning, the less Nicodemus seems to understand.

          The problem Nicodemus faced was not that he didn’t want to learn.  His problem was that he wanted to learn the mysteries of God using only his own intellect, with limits he himself imposed.  But it takes more than human intellect to fathom the mysteries of God, and when faced with our Lord’s further explanation, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5), he could only answer, “How can these things be?” (John 3:9)  That is a question all searchers for the Truth revealed in Jesus Christ must at some point ask – and answer.

          Each of us who becomes a follower of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus, will reach a place where his intellect is challenged and the Nicodemus question comes to mind.  Most of the great thinkers of the world have wrestled with the problem posed to the society of men by the historical Jesus and His teachings.  The fact is, even the idea of a Jesus, God and man, challenges to its very core all of the collective wisdom and experience of the world.  The idea of being “born [again] of water and of the Spirit” confounded and confused Nicodemus, just as it still does many others today.  Imagine his consternation (and theirs) should they be confronted with the far more difficult idea of a Triune God – a God who is One, but in three Persons.

          Today is Trinity Sunday, and for the next twenty four Sundays (plus the Sunday Next Before Advent) we will experience the great “green” season of the Church: Trinity Season.  You will notice that the six extra candles are gone from the altar, a sign of the simplicity of this season when we contemplate all we have experienced and learned since the beginning of Advent.  Unlike the other great festivals of the Church year, this one does not commemorate an event associated with our Lord’s time on the Earth, His Ascension or the arrival of the Holy Spirit.  Rather it celebrates the revelation of the true nature of God – Father, Son and Holy Ghost: the eternal Trinity, the Three in One.

          The transcendent mystery of the Holy Trinity - and others, such as our rebirth in Holy Baptism, and even the Holy Eucharist itself - are beyond mortal man’s comprehension.  Without an awareness of the nearness of God in our lives, and a faith in His infinite power and love, all of them are complete and utter nonsense, the babblings of fools: Nicodemus would only mutter, “How can these things be?”  But by faith we can know with certainty not only that God exists, but that He exists at a level of perfection quite beyond our poor capacities to understand either Him or His mysterious ways.  And by faith we can begin to see just the faintest outline of the nature of God, as revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ – not the exact and complete knowledge of God, which is unknowable to the mind of man, but the tiniest glimpse.

          Without knowing how it can be, we know that God is One in three Persons; we know that we must be reborn by water and the Holy Spirit to even begin to be worthy of entrance into God’s Kingdom; and we know that our Lord is fully present in the sacrament of the Altar in His Body and Blood.  We don’t need to ask why or how it can be, we just know by faith that these things and many others are so.  Far too many people today are looking for a God “like unto themselves,” but we ask, “What kind of god would that be?”  Most of the ancients practiced that same kind of religion, creating gods with all the best and worst qualities of man himself.  But Jesus Christ came into the world to set it right, to say to mankind that the time had come for us to know God as God, and to try to explain in terms we could understand, the plan God has for His Creation: how to live, how to pray and how to find salvation in Him.

          We are faced with many uncertainties today, and that has always been so.  We can try with all our might and all our intellect to find answers for all our fears and worries, and still find only Nicodemus question: “How can these things be?”  We always seem to look for answers to all our questions in the wrong places, but our Lord speaks to us today as He always has spoken to the world: He wishes to show us the way to find peace in Him, who is “the way, the truth and the life.”  It is our faith in Jesus (and Him alone) that brings us peace, and He tells us, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)  Truly, that is the only answer we need in our lives; all else is just a question!