Trinity Sunday, May 30, 2021
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17[1]
Nicodemus comes to Jesus by
night. He is perhaps afraid or embarrassed to be seen with Jesus. He is, after
all, a Pharisee, a teacher of
Jesus seems to leave Nicodemus
more confused than when he arrived. He talks about being born from above, born
of the Spirit. “How can these things be?”[2]
asks Nicodemus. A careful reading of the law and the prophets has not revealed
to him what Jesus is trying to communicate. Jesus is speaking a different
language – the language of the spiritual, the heavenly. Jesus isn’t speaking
the language of rules, of procedures and “how to get into heaven.” He is,
rather, speaking the language of relationship, of belonging, and of love.
We, too, come with our
questions, out of the night of fear and confusion, seeking the fresh
perspective, the new life offered by
Jesus speaks of God in the
language of relationship. To Jesus, God is “Abba”,
literally “Daddy.” God is a parent who loves us as children, who seeks
to save us from our self-absorbed lives. God is a brother, one of us,
who seeks to show us the way of eternal life. God is a Spirit moving
through us, empowering us, shaping us. It is the nature of God to be in
relationship, and this is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday, the one God with
three identities in relationship with one another. And it is God who seeks us
out to love us, to teach us that we belong to the family of God.
Belonging is a basic human need.
As children we need to know who mommy and daddy are, and where our home is
where we can feel safe. We need to belong to a community, a country, a school,
a team, a club, a church. We need people to call family, friends, we, us. And
we seek out ways to identify ourselves with where we belong.
Young people attempt to find
their place, their identity, in many ways. Some dress in the latest fashions,
join teams and don the colors of a school; others dye their hair, shave their
heads, or get tattoos and piercings. Most will try out a sport, an instrument,
a school club, the musical, or talk about favorite books, movies, and music in
search of commonality with others.
Adults try to find their way as
well. “What do you do?” is a question that usually puts a vocational identity on
a person. Where you live and what car you drive sends a message of your “place”
in the world. Whether we belong to the Harley club, the Lions, or a church
softball team, we surround ourselves with the symbols of where we belong. I
have a certificate from my college fraternity on my wall at home, I wear a UCC
lapel pin on my suit jacket, and I fly the flag from the front of my house. In
high school I wore a letter jacket, a camp sweatshirt, and (briefly) a
calculator watch. And who I am has a lot to do with the people I associate
with.
Jesus was a traveler, and did
not have a permanent home. One of the first things he did was gather a group of
people around him. The disciples derived identity as followers of Jesus, and
some of them even had nicknames – James and John were the Sons of Thunder,
Simon was called Peter “the Rock.” This group became Jesus’ friends, his family
even. Mark tells us that “A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him,
‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he
replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat
around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!’”[4]
Jesus even invited the disciples into that intimate relationship he had with Abba.
Jesus offers an identity that
goes beyond what the world offers. Clothing and cars, haircuts, sports teams,
friends, and even churches change, but the identity that Christ offers is based
on a relationship with God that does not end. One scholar explains: “The intimate
relationship of faith is richer than others because it is established by the
Spirit of God and will not fail. And even if it leads us into threatening or
challenging circumstances as we share in
There is a touching scene in
John’s Gospel at the foot of the cross. “When Jesus saw his mother and the
disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here
is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from
that hour the disciple took her into his own home.”[6]
The disciple is adopted, literally, into the family of Jesus, just as we have
become, through
Paul says that we have been
adopted as God’s children. I heard a story once that grasps the feeling of what
Paul is talking about. In Native American culture the blanket makes a statement
of belonging in the community. Blankets were woven with patterns unique to a
particular community and family. A
A similar thing happens when
orphaned children are adopted by another Native American family. They are
wrapped in the family blanket and walked through the village. This is a
statement that these children now belong to this family. When Paul talks about
our relationship with God he says: “you have received a spirit of adoption.”[8]
We are wrapped in the blanket of
Belonging to the family of God
gives us an identity, but it also challenges us. God has adopted the people
around us as well. We are in this together. We are joining a large family, and
we must learn how to love all of our sisters and brothers. One of the mottos of
the United Church of
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2]
John 3:9.
[3]
Romans 8:13.
[4]
Mark 3:32-34.
[5]
Clayton J. Schmit, “Homiletical Perspective on Romans 8:12-17” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised
Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 3, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown
Taylor, General Editors (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p. 43.
[6]
John 19:26-27.
[7]
Robert W. Kapoun and Charles J. Lohrmann, Language
of the Robe: American Indian Trade Blankets (Gibbs Smith, 2006), p. 17.
[8]
Romans 8:15.
[9]
Romans 8:17.
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