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Genesis 1:1—2:4a, 2 Corinthians 1:11-13, Matthew 28:16-20
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev'd W. Lee Shaw
In the beginning...
These are perhaps the most famous words
of Scripture. Thus begins our story as a people of God. Thus begins
our story of relationship with God and with one another and with all of
creation. I particularly like the way our Eucharistic Prayer D phrases
the plan of salvation: You formed us in your own image, giving the
whole world into our care, so that, in obedience to you, our Creator,
we might rule and serve all your creatures.
Our dominion over the
earth and all creation is based on our understanding that God is above
all and we live in an interdependent circle of creation. This is in
reality the creation of our community as a human race and all creation.
We are in this together.
St. Paul reminds us in our epistle reading that our human community
finds fellowship with the community of the Holy Trinity, the perfect
divine community: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we are called to be in community with one another. As he began his ministry, Jesus first called together a community of men and women. We are called into the fellowship of the baptized, the communion of saints as Christians. It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, pointing to the importance of community in our nurturing of one another. I believe it takes the communion of saints to make the church, pointing to the eternal nature of our community with one another and communion with God, the divine community of three in one.
Our Gospel reading points to a hard reality, however. Our community is
not perfect. Our community and communion is fragile and can be broken.
St. Matthew notes that, The eleven disciples went to Galilee.
Eleven, not twelve. The circle of the chosen disciples has been broken by
Judas in his betrayal of Jesus and suicide. It is an imperfect, broken
community that goes to see Jesus. Yes, of course, the vacancy will be
filled, but the original hand picked community has been broken by sin.
We read that even of the eleven some doubted. Doubted. An alternative reading of the Greek is hesitated. I could not find an explanation for this lack of seeming faithfulness in the eleven. I wondered, however, if it is not more representative of our very nature to second guess, to doubt, to hold back from the new and the unknown. And what is happening now to the eleven is totally new and totally unknown for them. I feel it says more of our human nature than of any lack of faith on their part.
Yet even so, Jesus uses these eleven and gives his charge to them and
to us in the name of the Holy Trinity, recognizing as he does so the
imperfection of this community—theirs and ours. He does so with
the promise nonetheless that he will be with us, always, to the end
of the age.
A rather impressive promise.
I remember years ago hearing a Anglican monk preach about what happened
just after the Ascension. Jesus is met by some angels and they question
him about what has just happened. One angel notes that human beings are
rather undependable and weak and things may not work out as Jesus hopes.
Jesus replies, I have no other plans.
Another angel remarks how human beings are so often selfish and sinful
and that the work of the Kingdom of God could be hindered or hurt by
such very human traits. Jesus replies, I have no other plans.
A third angel suggests that perhaps a back up could be the angelic
hosts taking care of things and setting things right if the humans fail.
Jesus replies, I have no other plans.
From the Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus commends to us the work of proclaiming the Good News of salvation to all people. This is his only plan. He invokes the name of the Holy Trinity as key to our understanding of baptism and obedience to his commandment to love God and to love one another. He promises us that no matter what, he will be with us to the end of the age.
So, this Trinity Sunday, instead of speculating on the mysteries of the Holy Trinity, or dissecting the nuance of Greek in the Nicene Creed, or seeking to explain the mystery of the Holy Trinity in human terms (as if God can be explained!), that we look elsewhere. This Trinity Sunday let us hear the words of Jesus to us in the name of the Holy Trinity of going forth to share the Good News of his Gospel, to baptize, to teach and to obey despite our human imperfections and brokenness. For Jesus has no other plans. Jesus is planning on you to the very end of the age.