Psalm 8; Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission is one of the most essential scripture of our faith, and today I want to explore Jesus’ triune statement. It is one of the clearest places in the Bible where the Trinity is clear. “…in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit…” Jesus is clearly stating that they are one and yet unique. The Trinity is not clearly defined by our Bible, but it is an important tradition of the church. It allows us to know God by three “faces” and know God as one. While it is not defined directly it is certainly Biblical. There are a few verses in the Chapter 15 of the Gospel of John, that point to the meaning of the mystery of the Trinity. I share them below:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. (1)
‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. (12-17)
‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. (26)
Each of these scriptures show that there are distinct manifestations of the Divine, yet what is clear is they work together in relationship. We understand God as unified as One, yet demonstrates that God is in relationship with Godself. It is not clear cut as it is a great mystery, but I will explore why this is an important tradition.
While I prayed about these scriptures in preparation, and realizing this Sunday was also Father’s day, I thought about my own father. I had a great childhood, and I have a great relationship with my father today. However, he was not as present as I would have liked, but when I reflected on the times I remembered my father as dad, that is positively and with parental love, there were a number of memories to pick from, but the three that kept coming to mind were three that happened in front of the bathroom sink.
I remember my father shaving in the hall bathroom and I created my own “razor” out of Legos. I recall how he demonstrated the art of shaving and put some shaving cream on my hairless face so I could attempt to shave.
I remember that my mom would tie my ties from standing in front of me, but one day she asked my dad to do it. He attempted to the first time as she would have, but realized that he needed to do it from behind me and looking into a mirror. Not only did he succeed in tying the tie, he also taught me how to do it myself.
I remember cutting my finger in the woods and realizing it needed attention. My dad was home and he carefully attended to it at the sink. I recall seeing him in the mirror carefully and lovingly stopping the bleeding.
These three memories are understood greater by my recent time with my son in a mirror. AJ is a child that we are trying to encourage more eye contact (and he continues to improve), so when we look into a mirror and he looks into my eyes in the mirror and then turns to look at me, I realized that what we see in the mirror is not simply the physical image, but rather the relationship. It is why we treasure pictures of us with people, even if it is not the most flattering. We see the relationship.
Psalm 8 reminds us that we are different from all other animals we are as it says in Genesis, made in God’s image. We are set a little lower than God, so we can be a mirror of God. We reflect the God, the Divine Light, which is itself a relationship. Thus we are to reflect relationship through relationships.
