Trinity Sunday - "You See God Through Jesus" - John 3: 16-17

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world would be saved through Him.” (John 3:17)

I want you to imagine, for a moment, that you are sitting with a friend or co-worker, or maybe your grandson or god-daughter, and with honest and sincere curiosity you are asked, “What’s God like?”  How would you answer? I feel pretty safe guessing that you would not pull up the Athanasian Creed on your phone and begin explaining it with it’s powerful and bold “Whosoever shall be saved must believe…” It’s not that it would be a wrong choice, because of it’s clear, albeit technical, confession of the Trinity, but it quickly becomes overwhelming. After hearing the Creed’s “The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Holy Spirit incomprehensible,” The British author, Dorothy Sayers, quipped, “and the whole thing is incomprehensible!” Some truth to that, isn’t there, as we admit our own confusion at the depths of the language and nod our heads in agreement. I’m with you. Please know that we are in good company. Even the brilliant apostle Paul wrote, “For who has known the mind of the Lord?”

Where would you begin to answer the question, “What’s God like?” I suppose you could use King David’s ethereal joy at contemplating the fullness and majesty of God through Psalm 29, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.” You could also use Isaiah’s call from God with the vision of the Lord sitting on His throne, guarded by mighty winged seraphim, surrounded by an angelic choir singing “Holy, holy, holy,” as an earthquake shakes the entire scene and Isaiah being touched with coals of fire, being cleansed for service as the prophet of God. Both are incredible passages of Scripture with pictures painted of the majesty and power and glory of God. Surely, these would open the eyes of the one asking: “Here is God!”

But, if you used these passages, I fear the friend or coworker, or grandson or god-daughter, would be like Isaiah and tremble in fear: “Woe is me…I am of unclean lips and I have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.”

Or, perhaps you could start with Nicodemus. He comes to Jesus at night. He was a Pharisee, trained in Scripture and in the Law. Like your friend or coworker, grandson or god-daughter, Nicodemus was being honest – unlike some of his companions, he isn’t trying to trick or trap Jesus. He wants to know, to understand what Jesus is saying. I can almost imagine him using a stage whisper, lest someone overhear him and report him to his colleagues, “I know that you are from God,” but the rest was just too much to believe, too much to expect him to grasp that this Man with whom he was speaking was God enfleshed. And, then when Jesus begins to use rebirth imagery, which we understand as Baptismal rebirth, it confused poor Nicodemus even more. “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

The story[1] is told of a chaplain for a large, metropolitan fire department, who went to the hospital to visit several firemen who were injured battling a large, industrial fire. He wore his uniform, and over his uniform coat, he wore a stole, much like mine. There is something quite powerful and comforting about pastoral garments in times of crisis. Some of the injuries were relatively minor; several were quite severe. Firefighters and family were happy to see him as he offered a word here, a prayer there, and a blessing for the medical teams who were working.

Two men were badly hurt, obviously in pain. There was a strange smell – and the chaplain shuddered slightly as a memory flitted at the edge of his thoughts, quickly pushing it aside as he stepped to the bedside of the first man.

 “You sure look spiffy, Chappie” the fireman said, contempt and sarcasm dripping with each word. “What good do you think you can do here? Don’t you see how badly we’re hurt and hurting? Do you think some words and a prayer are going to make us whole again?” A wife jumped in, “Yeah - where was God when that roof collapsed?” There were some murmurs, grumbles, rumbles. Finally, the man who started it all rolled his head to look at the chaplain with his good eye and said, “You will never understand this. Why don’t you just leave.” For just a moment, the chaplain stood still, then turned and walked out. The ward quickly settled down.

The door opened so softly and the footsteps were so soft that, at first, no one noticed the chaplain re-entered the room. He stopped, and without saying a word, lifted the stole off of his shoulders and laid it across a table at the foot of the bed. He unbuttoned his coat and with a shrug of the shoulders, it fell to the floor, followed by the tie, dress shirt and T-shirt. Raising his arms slightly, obviously with discomfort, he turned slowly. What each man saw, what each man suddenly realized was that this chaplain wasn’t just a chaplain. He *was* one of them: his body was covered with burn scars across his back and chest. Where he had appeared to be a perfect specimen of health and wellness, he was instead wounded and broken like each one of the firefighters laying there.

Silently, he put on his t-shirt. Placing the stole across his scarred shoulders, he raised an arm as high as he could and, with a husky voice simply said, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit abide with you all.” He turned and walked out the door.

I don’t need to tell you how, as word got around the fire department that the chaplain had been there, in the wards, himself, a wounded fireman who fought to survive, all of the firefighters saw the chaplain – their chaplain – in a different light. He wasn’t just there. He was theirs.

If you want to show your friend or coworker, your grandson or god-daughter who God is, show him or her Jesus. We know God only through Jesus. Show him or her that God loved us enough to give His only-begotten Son to be born among us, with flesh and blood, so that He could live among us. Show him or her that Christ fulfilled what we are unable to do. Show Him with all of His scars and wounds that He received from sinful people who sought to destroy Him for proclaiming the truth, that He was and is God’s Son. Show him or her Jesus, who was lifted up on the cross, just as Moses lifted a serpent on a pole, that all who turn and look to Him in faith, they live. Show him or her that in Christ there is not condemnation and punishment, but eternal salvation.

You tell him or her, clearly and directly about Jesus and make the good confession of faith. Today’s world gives a milquetoast non-confession of, “you have your beliefs and I have mine,” while preaching tolerance with the mantra “just get along.” Regardless what popular opinion might be, as Christians we are not free to just believe whatever we want or to confess or practice that which denies the Word of God.  "Whosoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic [Christian] faith...and the catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the person nor dividing the substance" (Athanasaian Creed, v 1-2).  The Christian church speaks boldly of the faith into which we were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: one God in three persons, made known to us through Jesus Christ, who sent His spirit that we might believe. The Church confesses it. And we believe it.

And, if you don’t fully understand the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, don’t worry. That doesn’t make you a less-than Christian. It is wonderful, incredibly doctrine to help us understand a wonderful, incredible God. I actually find comfort in not being able to fully understand and explain God – if I could, what kind of God would that be? It’s not about passing a test. It’s about knowing God, through Christ, by the power of the Spirit, and knowing His love and mercy for us.

So, don’t worry about comprehending it all. Instead, receive the gifts that the Triune God gives you in Baptism, in absolution, in the Word, and in the Supper. And, with your cleansed lips confess Jesus and give thanks to God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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[1] I heard a version of this story, but with a Navy chaplain instead, while at Seminary during the 1997-1998 school year. The preacher (whom I do not remember) was a Navy chaplain. I can only hope that the story was true and not made up.

'Dem Bones, 'Dem Bones, 'Dem Living Bones! - Ezekiel 37: 1-14

“Can these bones live?” Interesting, isn’t it, that it is God Himself who asks the question of Ezekiel. It’s not Ezekiel asking God if the valley of bones has any chance of life returning – it’s God asking Ezekiel: Creator asking Created; Living God asking Mortal Man about Dead Bones. “Can these bones live?” Is it a good question, or is it a silly question? On the one hand, Ezekiel most certainly heard about Elijah and Elisha both raising the dead back to life, and even a dead man being brought back to life merely by touching Elisha’s bones. So, good question – can this valley of bones live, also? Sure! But each of those examples were recent deaths – the bodies only beginning to decay with bones far from being “very dry” as Ezekiel was seeing. How can dehydrated, sun-bleached and brittle bones have the slightest chance of life returning? Can these bones – these very dry bones – can these bones live?

If a human being had asked that of another human, the affirmative answer would have been laughable. Marrow-less bones are lifeless bones, bloodless bones are dead bones, and these are so far from life that it is impossible to even begin to think there could be life.

Except when the Word of the Lord speaks. “Son of man, can these bones live?”, Ezekiel is asked. His answer: “O Lord God, you know.” It’s as if he is saying, “While from my eyes it appears that there is no life, humanly speaking, with no hope left in these bones, all thing are possible for you, O Lord.” The Lord commands Ezekiel to preach to the strangest congregation ever assembled. Talk about a dead crowd.

God did not take Ezekiel to merely observe the scene. The prophet is called to declare the word of the Living God that will being life once again to the bones of the dead. As the vision unfolds, God speaks, then the prophet speaks, then the bones rattle as they begin to creep across the surface of the ground, one toward each other. It would be spooky if it wasn’t so miraculous! Each bone joins itself to its neighbor. Ligaments appear and tighten; muscles form and take shape; tendons join muscles together, organs form and then skin spreads across the entire body. The horror of death is being undone before Ezekiel’s eyes. But it’s not done, yet. There are, now, bodies…a valley full of bodies…but they are not yet alive. God speaks again, then the prophet speaks again, and the winds, the breath, the spirit of God, they are summoned to bring and carry life into the dead. The corpses – now living persons – stand on their feet.

It is normal and right that we see in this vision of Ezekiel a foreshadowing of the resurrection of the dead. For Christ has promised to you that on the last day He will join your bones one to another, sinew and ligaments and tendons will join everything together, muscles will regrow, and flesh will again cover you. Breath – His breath of life - will again fill your lungs and blow out the cobwebs of death and you will stand wholly – and holy + - resurrected before the Lord of Life Himself. Your resurrected voice will join the entire people of God, also resurrectedly whole, from every nation and every race, and your living voices will be united at the very throne of the Lamb to resolve the babbling of Babel with the glorious unity of Pentecost in one great Te Deum to rattle the halls of eternity with a hymn of Glory to Him who rose in triumph who conquered death itself.

This Pentecost picture is normal and right. But it is not the point that God is making to Ezekiel in this text. While this picture of the resurrection is true for us as well, it is also not the main point for us, either. 

As Ezekiel stands in the vast army of resurrected souls, three times God makes his point perfectly clear. Three times, God tells the army that the purpose of the restoration and resurrection is that they may know that He is the Lord: in verse 6, when the body is re-made; in verse 13, when the graves are opened, and in verse 14 when the Lord gives them His spirit, each time declaring “You will know I am the Lord.” In this way, God makes his message plain. The resurrection of Israel that God foretells is not an end to itself. It is a means to a greater end. It will teach Israel to know the Lord. For only in knowing the Lord will Israel finally have eternal life.

Through Ezekiel’s vision, God calls Israel to know the Lord. I don’t mean “know” in an academic sense – such as to know that the square root of 9,604 is 98. This is more than head knowledge. This is whole-self knowledge: to know, to believe, to trust, to rely. He is calling them to know that He, He alone is God, and to live in the certainty of that faith. In the same way, He calls you to know the Lord – that is, to know, believe, trust and rely that He alone is God and to live in the certainty of that faith.

You know – believe, trust, rely – on Him as Your savior. He, down to His bones, bore the burden of your sins. He, whose bones were nailed to the cross for your sins. He, whose bones – like His ancestor David – whose bones were as wax, without strength, and whose tongue was as dry as a broken piece of pottery. He, whose bones were not broken in death, but were buried into the earth. You were called to that knowing of Christ as savior by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We confess this, knowing, believing, trusting and relying on Him. Easy to say; hard to do. We look into this valley of bones around us and we wonder. We wonder if these bones can live – can broken relationship be mended, can broken bodies be healed, can broken minds be at peace, can broken hearts love again. We wonder if these bones will live – waking up with the first feeling being one of pain; another trip to the hospital for a loved one; when you stand at the death bed of a loved one. We wonder if these bones will live – the guilt over the words spoken in anger; the shame of failing others in their time of need; the pain of knowing that my sin hurt someone down to their own bones. Lord, have mercy! Can these bones live?

Dear bones: hear the Word of the Lord: “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then, you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken and I will do it.” He has spoken that in baptismal water, your sins are washed away and you are made His, redeemed and beloved children. He has spoken His Word, repeated through the breath of parents and Sunday school teachers and pastors who proclaim that Word of forgiveness, grace and compassion. He has spoken that His body and blood are truly, miraculously present in this sip of wine and thin wafer for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of spirit and bones that are made weary by the world. He has given you such a faith. You know Him as Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Not just know [touch head] but to know [make sign of cross], believe, trust and rely in Him as Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And, He knows you as His. 

To strengthen you in that faith, as you walk through this valley of the shadow of death, surrounded by dry dusty bones that yearn for life eternal, our Lord gives you His Word of comfort that He is the resurrection and the life and that all who believe in Him will have eternal life. This is most certainly true! But in that same Word of God, we also find a hint, a glimpse, at the what the Lord does in and through those moments when it seems that you are, in fact, nothing but a pile of dried up bones: “that you may know I am the Lord.” In those moments of weakness, God is our refuge and strength. In those moments of dryness and brittleness, His strength is made perfect in our weakness. In those moments when we feel as useless as a valley of bones, God speaks to us and reminds you that you have been united to the body of Christ. You do not go through this valley alone; united to Christ, baptized into Christ, clothed with Christ, fed by Christ, He – who is your great High Priest and knows your joys and sorrows – carries you through the valley of the shadow. That’s when you realize, it’s not about you at all. It’s about Him and His Word. He is the Lord. He has spoken and He will do it.

In Christ, you do know the Lord. You know Him now! You know Him with the same certainty that God gave to Ezekiel’s army.

In the certainty of that faith you live.

Know it. Believe it. Trust it. Rely on it.

And live it.

"Father, Keep Them Safe: Jesus Prays for You" - John 17: 11-19

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last Friday evening, my family had a prayer request from a friend back in the Houston area. If you had watched any of the news last weekend, you might guess why. Southeast Texas had gotten 8, 10 inches of rain already and more was coming hard and fast. Waters were rising. Rivers, creeks, lakes and reservoirs were already full and overflowing. [As a point of reference, Lake Livingston, northeast of Houston, was releasing water from its floodgates at a rate of 125,000 cubic feet per second (fun fact – that would fill three and a half of our sanctuaries every second). During Harvey, it was only releasing 110,000 cf/sec.] She said the water was over the road into her neighborhood. Flood estimation maps were showing their house would be close, very close, to taking in water. The family was moving valuables upstairs, preparing for the worst. She was scared. Her message said something like, “Normally, flood alerts don’t bother me, but this one… We sure could use some prayers, please.”  My reply was four, simple words: Lord, keep them safe. Through the weekend, the refrain was repeated over and over, “Lord, keep them safe.” I’m happy to tell you that by Monday, the worst had passed, and they were out of danger. Their home was safe. They were safe.*

How often do we pray for others in their time of need? We say it often: I’ll pray for you. We say it to people who are sick, hurting, broken-hearted, laid-off, struggling, and afraid. It’s what God’s people do, caring for other parts of the body of Christ, carrying their needs and petitions to the Lord on their behalf. And, when someone tells us that they are praying for us, we take comfort in those words because it means we are not alone in our struggles. Unlike Job, whose friends stood from afar and lectured him on what he did or failed to do to receive what they perceived to be God’s wrath, we can be comforted by brothers and sisters in Christ who stand alongside us in our time of need and implore the Lord for His grace, mercy and compassion.

The world doesn’t get this. “I’ll pray for you” is nothing more than mere words, a sanctified way of escape without having to do anything. Politicians try to ride the fence with the nebulous, “thoughts and prayers,” when something bad happens, and in turn, that has become a punchline for late-night TV hosts. When a tragedy happens, they poke fun: “Uh, oh – time for thoughts and prayers, again.” I do understand their comment, because that is often nothing more than a passeé phrase, a blasé attempt to sound dignified without taking a position. 

But for us, as God’s people, when we pledge to pray for others and then offer those prayers to the Lord, however humble and imperfect they may be, we do so walking in the footsteps of Christ Himself.

Here we are, the Seventh Sunday of Easter, one foot still on Thursday’s Mount of Ascension, the other foot preparing to step into the season of Pentecost. It’s an in-between Sunday, a Sunday where we pause and consider what it is that Christ has done and continues to do for His Kingdom. Thursday, the Church marked Jesus’ physical, bodily ascension into heaven, but the Church is still waiting for the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send His Holy Spirit, the Comforter. So the Church waits in anticipation, filled with awe at the ascension, filled with hope (Hope!) for the Spirit’s arrival.

John 17, this morning’s Gospel reading, is an excellent choice for this in-between Sunday. Although, contextually, it happens on Maundy Thursday night, it does help us celebrate one aspect of the Ascension that we might otherwise miss. It helps us focus on prayer. Particularly, it is helpful for us because it reminds us that while Jesus’ salvific work is done in His death and resurrection, He is not ignoring us as part of His past. Rather, He continues to pray for the Church and for its protection.

When you get home this afternoon, I would encourage you to read all of John 17. If your Bible has headings in it, it will probably call this Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” because, like the priests of the Old Testament, Jesus is praying for His people. While the Gospels often mention that Jesus goes away by Himself to pray, the words of His prayers are rarely recorded. This chapter is unique, then, because, on the night He was betrayed, St. John tells us how Jesus intercedes for His disciples, both then and now. Among many petitions, Jesus prays, “Holy Father, keep them in your name... I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one” (17:11b, 15). What does that mean, “Keep them in your name”? It means Jesus prays to be kept safe within the Father. You may think of it this way: “Holy Father, keep them {safe] in your name... I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them [safe] from the evil one” Jesus prays for our safety.

When we are trying to express ourselves to others, we often lack the words to fully flesh our emotions, our needs, our situation; or, sometimes, we are just too embarrassed to say it out loud. In surrender, we mutter, “You just wouldn’t understand.” Jesus does understand. He knows the world is filled with troubles (16:33). He knows how His creation even turns against Him, rejecting Him and His message of salvation (1:10-11). He knows satan’s roaring threats against the world, looking for unsuspecting victims (1 Pet 5:8). He knows all of this. But He also knows the power of the Father’s name against God’s enemies, so He prays “Holy Father, keep them safe.”

For us as God’s people, in the church year between Ascension and Pentecost and in life between the Ascension and Jesus’ blessed return, this is a powerful word of comfort to know that your Savior, resurrected, ascended, and victorious, is praying for you. He is praying for the Father to keep you safe in His name. He, who endured the violent punishment of our sins, who overcame the power of satan, and who threw open the gates of death; He who has power over all things, now exercises that power for us through prayer to the Father. And we, as His disciples, living under the cross and waiting in faith, do so in the comfort that Jesus is carrying us to His Father in prayer.

Here is what it looks like when life comes hard, fast, and in unpleasant ways; for people who do not know to pray for themselves; people who know to pray but do not because they are too weary; people who have given up on prayer; people who think their life situation is too small or too great for prayer. For each, Jesus sits at the Father’s side and prays “Holy Father, keep them safe.”

I offer a couple of true, specific examples on this Mother’s Day: A mother get into a terrible fight with her 18 year old. Words are said; blows are exchanged and the adult child leaves the home, promising never to return. The mom, along with her husband, are filled with grief, remorse, sorrow, and sadness, and sit in terrified silence on the couch, both with words and emotions swirling in their heads but unable to speak. Jesus knows and He offers a prayer for this young adult, the parents, and all broken families: “Holy Father, keep them safe.”*

Or, this: A mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, a faithful woman and child of God, has been in the hospital and care facilities more in the last twelve months than she was at home. Even though her mind is sharp, she’s lost track of all that’s wrong with her body. “There’s more wrong than right,” she quipped. She was tired, tired of the doctor’s visits, the hospitalizations, the fluid removal, the IVs, the medications to fight the side effects of other medications. When I visit people, I usually ask, “What do you want to pray for?” She opened her mouth to speak, closed it, opened it and closed it again and, finally sighed, “I don’t even know, anymore.” Jesus knows when the world wears down His people, when prayer seems so far from helpful, when telling someone to “just hang in there” is a terrible punchline to a joke no longer funny. Jesus is there, in that moment, with that soul and at the right hand of the Father, interceding, “Holy Father, keep her safe.”*

This isn’t the prayer for wholeness and wealth and health that we often want to pray, that everything turns out just peachy and, like a Hallmark movie, everyone goes home with all tensions resolved. What it does, though, is place us firmly in the hands of the Father, whose will is that all be saved. And, even if our prayers for safety this side of heaven are answered in a way that we did not expect or anticipate, we know that the Father hears and answers His Son’s prayers perfectly, in His own time and in His own way. He keeps us safe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He keeps us safe from the eternal damnation that satan desires. He keeps us safe from that which destroys faith and turns our eyes from Jesus. He keeps us safe by the power of His Spirit that renews and strengthens us and gathers us, safely within the Church, encouraging, uplifting, and carrying one another in prayer.

And for mothers, who often don’t even know what to pray for when the emotions swirl around, threatening to overwhelm, Jesus prays for you with words, perfect words, into the Father’s ear. “Father, keep her safe. Keep her family safe. Keep them in Your name.”

And, the Father keeps His children safe into eternity, for the sake of Jesus Christ, His Son, your Savior.
Amen.

[*Note: My friend gave me permission to use the first story. The other two examples are conflations of true experiences I have witnessed in parish ministry.]