{Prayer}
Some things, no matter how much time is spent on studying and research … some things, some things are just a mystery. Take for example the Kryptos. Kryptos is a mysterious encrypted sculpture which sits right outside the headquarters of the CIA in Langley, Virginia. So mysterious this is, not even the CIA has completely cracked the code. The sculpture has four inscriptions, and although three of them have been cracked, the fourth remains elusive. Jim Sanborn, the artist who designed the sculpture, let slip that there are clues in the first inscriptions to the last one. In 2010 and 2014, Mr. Sanborn released two other clues, but the message still remains a mystery.
Another unsolved mystery, one that some of you may be familiar with if you watch the History Channel … the money pit of Oak Island. I don’t know the history of it as I haven’t seen the show, but from what I’ve read, there is a money pit of buried treasure, supposedly left by pirate Captain Kidd, on the island. Despite centuries of searching, no treasure has been found on Oak Island. Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped people from trying to find it.
Trinity Sunday is a day in which we confess the mystery of our faith. It is a mystery in which we are unable to truly grasp it logically. By faith though, we believe it. This mystery of the Trinity is a mystery which saves.
Came across a story about a man who taken an artist to a church to check out the stained-glass windows. Now this artist wasn’t a believer so she wasn’t familiar with some of the symbols used in churches. Carved into the marble face of the altar was a traditional symbol of the Trinity. Three circles, overlapping one another, all held together by a triangle. Each was traced in gold. As you can see, the triangle is in the center, grounding the symbol, and the circles are extended beyond it.
In the context of today being Trinity Sunday, this symbol can be easily interpreted. Three persons in one God and one God in three persons. The circles represent the persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The triangle represents our one God.
For this artist looking at this symbol … the mysteries of the Trinity were not something she was seeing. Instead she says, “I like that symbol.” The man with her says, “The Trinity?” She’s like, “Whatever. I’m talking about the combination of the hard and the soft. The curved lines of the circle and the points of the triangles. The circles are soft and easy to experience but then the hard edges of the triangle come and interrupt you, making you reconsider what you are seeing.”
The artist has no idea what the Trinity means … but her description I believe can be really helpful for us this morning. Encountering one God in three persons and three persons in one God is definitely a mystery, but it can also involve this interplay between the hard and the soft, the pointed and the smooth, the difficult and the easy.
Let’s look at this in light of our Gospel reading this morning. We have Nicodemus, a teacher of the law and a member of the Jewish ruling council. Not to be seen with Jesus, he comes to Jesus in the darkness of night. Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2). Nicodemus recognizes the miracles and that Jesus is a “teacher come from God.” However, in this late night conversation … Jesus takes Nicodemus into the hard and the soft, the pointed and the smooth, the difficult and the easy. Jesus takes Nicodemus to the limits of his understanding and the beginning of God’s grace and love.
In their conversation, Jesus and Nicodemus go back forth. Nicodemus asks a questions, Jesus gives an answer which confuses Nicodemus even more. In this conversation, Nicodemus encounters a hard truth about himself. To Nicodemus’ question, “How can this be?”, Jesus says, “You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things?” (John 3:9-10). It’s obvious that Nicodemus doesn’t understand everything. The ways of God bringing life from above are a mystery to Nicodemus. Even though Nicodemus has taught the stories of Israel, although Nicodemus has read how Ezekiel called the Spirit of God to come from the four corners of the earth and bring the valley of dried up bones of Israel back to life, Nicodemus still does not understand. He is limited in his understanding and Jesus presses into that limitation. As much he doesn’t like it, Nicodemus is brought to the hard truth that there is an end to his understanding.
At the end of his understanding, however, is the beginning of life. It is a life with God which comes as a gift, which flows from the mystery of God.
There’s no way around it, God’s ways are hard to understand, God’s ways are far beyond the understanding of our finite minds. And yet … God’s ways proceed from grace, they proceed out of His heart for us. The hard ways of God, they reveal to us the softness of His heart. God’s grace and love enters into those areas of our lives which are painful, which are difficult. God’s grace brings about life. Thinking about this, God is painfully creative.
Just think about it … God the Father sees the world which He created. Started out good and perfect, holy and sinless. With the entrance of sin, the good and perfect world has fallen, it’s rebellious, broken, and riddled with death. Instead of abandoning it though, God the Father sends His Son into the world. Jesus is sent to bring life, new life. A new life from above, one which is born, which is created by the Holy Spirit. A life created that all people might be saved through Jesus.
This way of life … it isn’t easy. Like the bronze serpent was raised up in the wilderness, Jesus is lifted up on the cross. Lifted up and abandoned, Jesus experiences divine punishment from above. Painfully bearing the sins of the world, Jesus will powerfully bring God’s grace of mercy and forgiveness to all.
Jesus, lifted up on the cross to die is also lifted up from grave to live. He is then lifted up into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father, from where the Holy Spirit is sent. The Holy Spirit is sent to create new life through the waters of baptism and through the all-powerful Word of God. Three in One, One in Three. Graciously joined in an incomprehensible mystery.
Trinity Sunday is a day we confess the mystery of our faith. It is a mystery which saves. The ways of God are far beyond our understanding but at the heart and center of this mystery is a love which saves. Some mysteries, like Kryptos outside of the CIA headquarters are puzzles to be solved. Others, like if the Oak Island money pit exists, are questions to be answered. This mystery of the Trinity … it is a love which is to be experienced.
I remember as a kid in school doing this projects where we would plant a seed and then after a few weeks or a month, we would dig it up. We wanted to figure out how this seed became a plant. All we ever ended up with was a handful of dirt and a small spout. Those experiments never brought us closer to understanding the mystery of how a dead seed becomes a live plant. As an adult, it still baffles me, I still don’t understand, however I plant seeds and trust in their growth.
There are mysteries we don’t understand … but that doesn’t mean we can’t experience the blessings of their life. In some ways, the Trinity is much like that mystery. Deep within the heart of God, one God in three persons and three persons in one God, deep within lies the gift of life. This life in God is abundant, gracious, and freely given. This life from God is able to take our painful limitations, able to enter our sin and suffering, able to grasp the limit of death itself, and break through with salvation. Salvation that says, “Whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is the mystery of the Trinity we rejoice in today. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.
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