The Harmony of the Holy Trinity - Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Easter

Fifth Sunday after Easter, May 18^th, A+D 2025   
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota                               
The Harmony of the Holy Trinity, John 16:12-22

Audio of Sermon available HERE.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. 

   Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy walk into a bar…  Or maybe a conference room.  Just the three of them.  And let’s grant that they share a language they can all speak fluently.  How do you think that would go?  In such a face to face, private conversation, do you have much hope that they would work their way to a mutually agreeable solution to the war in Ukraine, and restore harmony in Europe? 

   I wouldn’t hold my breath about that, although I think such a private, no cameras, no interpreters, no lackeys-to-interrupt type of conversation might have more potential than the current ceasefire talks that Turkey is hosting.  Lord have mercy. 

   In my experience, any two distinct persons, let alone three or more, each with their own personalities, priorities, and presuppositions, will always have a difficult time easily and consistently agreeing on one approach and course of action in any important matter.  Selfishness, nervousness, pride, and honest differences of opinion all conspire to make three co-equal voices an unruly crowd.  For example, would any three economists be able to agree about the current outlook and best policies for our collective economic future?  How about choosing three musicians to rank the greatest composers or performers of all time?    Or should we ask three Lutheran pastors to get together and agree on some binding guidelines for our approach to worship? 

   We don’t expect consistent harmony between as few as three distinct persons.  Which might be part of why many people, within Christendom and outside, have a hard time with the Biblical assertion that there is only One True God, but that He is also Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three distinct persons, joined in a mysterious one-ness.  This teaching, for which the Church coined the term Trinity, as in Tri-Unity, is offensive to some, illogical to others, and ignored by most, including by way too many souls who confess with their mouths that God is three in one.  Which isn’t good.  The Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith.  We should not be ignorant.  We should not confess the Trinity, but then never consider what it means.  We should talk about it. 

   I tend to come at this problem by talking about the math and logic side of it.  In our experience, and according to the logical system that we have inherited, mostly from Aristotle, one and three are not the same thing.  According to human logic and experience, three distinct things cannot at the same time be one thing, not truly.  And one thing cannot at the same time truly be three distinct things.  For some reason, perhaps because each one of us is a unique individual, many thinkers are repulsed, or find the idea of the Holy Trinity ridiculous.  It simply does not compute in their minds. 

   Which of course, is a very important part of the point.  God as He describes Himself in the Bible is not a mere human, bound by human reason.  His ways and His thoughts, to draw on Isaiah 55, are higher and deeper and greater than our thoughts and ways, as far higher as the heavens are above the earth.  We should not imagine that we can understand our Creator entirely.  A fact which doesn’t set well with our human egos. 

   Let’s pursue a thought experiment for a minute.  An inventive chicken farmer creates a biosphere, a high-tech chicken coop, and introduces into it fertilized eggs, at a ratio of four hen chicks to every one rooster chick.  Inside this fancy henhouse there is an elaborate system of devices that provide everything the chicks need to grow into maturity, but the chickens never see, or hear, or interact with the world beyond their fancy coop. Food appears, water and artificial-but-completely-sufficient sunlight are available.  Waste is taken away by a poultry Roomba that plugs itself in to recharge, and slips out a too-small-for-chickens portal to be emptied and cleaned.  The chicks grow and develop and are constantly monitored.  They start producing eggs and offspring.  But they know nothing of their monitor, nothing of their human benefactor.  They can’t see or perceive anything beyond the limit of their artificial world.  For all they know, their coop just is, the coop is all there is, and they will never know anything else.  Unless the chicken farmer decides to break into their world and reveal himself. 

   Can you imagine such a mini-chicken world?... I think you just did.  Are human beings smart enough
to create such a world and care for chickens in this way?  Probably.  Maybe.  I suspect it would be harder to do than I described, but the idea that we could create a space in which animals lived under our care, but never knew about us, this does not seem beyond possibility.  And here’s the key point: Would the fact that the chickens know nothing about their human benefactor change the reality of their benefactor’s existence?  Would the fact that the chickens could never understand how the humans did what they did change the reality of what was done? 

   We are a lot smarter than chickens, right?  But is the chasm between our intelligence and that of the chickens greater, or perhaps smaller, than the chasm between our intelligence and wisdom of the Creator?  Is there any logical reason that we should be able to understand everything about the One who called us into existence and provides for all our needs?  Demanding that the Almighty submit to our understanding and reason is a remarkably man-centered and limited view of things.  We like to be top of the heap, especially in terms of intelligence.  We may well reject the possibility of a Mind and Power so vastly superior to us.  But what evidence, what logic, disproves what Jesus teaches us about God and His nature?   

   This is normally how I come at the questions some folks raise about the One true God also being three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sharing perfect unity and almighty power, one essence, and at the same time also three distinct persons.  I hope that it’s helpful for you. 

   But perhaps it’s not the mysterious math and logic, but rather the mysterious harmony that makes accepting the Trinity so hard.  The Biblical witness also teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been in constant communication within the Godhead, from eternity, and there has never been any disagreement, about anything.  Even when God knew that the humans He desired to create and bless would rebel, and that the Son would need to become a man and die under the Father’s wrath in order to reconcile us to God, even this question was considered and agreed to before time began.  Jesus Christ is the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.  (Rev. 13:8)  His loving Cross and glorious Resurrection have always been in view, in the mind of God. 

   Perfect agreement, perfect mutual love, perfect harmony and inter-submission between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, since forever, and until forever and ever!  Can you believe it?  Can you imagine it?  We just don’t work that way.  Most of us struggle to be clear in our own thoughts and desires, let alone harmonize them perfectly with another.  Certainly, the heady bliss of marital love that we sometimes enjoy for brief moments is so profound precisely because the two, the husband and wife, reach unity in their desires and actions.  The two approaching the mystery of being one flesh, one heart, one mind, this is the one of the greatest highs to be experienced.  Marital harmony reflects, however briefly and imperfectly, the image and likeness of God.    

   And there are other wonderful harmonies to be enjoyed.  Not nearly so intense and profound as the harmony of a one-flesh marriage, but wonderful, none-the-less.  Like the harmony of excellent teamwork, when a number of individuals subordinate themselves to a group effort and coordinate with each other to do something great.  The well-played symphony concert.  The gameplan executed to perfection.  Even something as simple as hosting a successful community meal or Church clean-up day can ring out with a lovely harmony.  We hear such earthly harmonies from time to time.  Once tasted, we crave such harmony in our lives. 

   We crave such harmony, which also means that we are crushed when we pursue and think we are approaching harmonious success, and then suddenly it falls apart.  The broken marriage, whether broken by unfaithfulness, neglect, or by sudden death.  The betrayal by a friend.  The deception of being a pawn, duped into thinking you were all in it together, all-for-one and one-for-all, like the Three Musketeers, only to have one team member steal the money and run away, or worse, betray your cause to your competition, or your enemy.  

   Because we know how hard maintaining harmony in a couple or a family or a group is for us, we quickly learn some coping skills.  Surviving life requires accepting and dealing with disharmony, and learning to overcome misunderstandings and failures.  Sadly, we quickly learn to be a bit guarded, to hold something back, to not commit completely, so we don’t get completely crushed if friendship and love turn into betrayal. 

   We cannot fully conceive of the God of the Bible, who is not only One in Three and Three in One, but Who is also the perfection of love, justice, wisdom, submission, patience, unselfishness, and power.  We just never see such perfection of harmony.  Or, better said, we don’t see such perfect harmony, unless we hear the voice of Jesus.  For in His life, death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus has revealed the perfect harmony and love of God.  And this revelation is our salvation. 

   In our reading from John, Jesus is teaching the Eleven in the Upper Room, on the night when He was betrayed.  In this long discourse, Jesus lays out the mystery of the Holy Trinity by describing their ontology, their being, that He and Father are One, and that the Spirit proceeds from both.  He also reveals the Holy Trinity through action:  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ^[14] He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ^[15] All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

   Jesus describes the harmonious intercommunication of the Trinity, and also their shared ministry to save souls:  The Spirit will guide you into all the truth, and, we know from John chapter 8, it is the Truth that sets sinners free, the Truth about Jesus, the Truth that is Jesus. 

   Then suddenly Jesus’ lofty discourse comes down to earth.  Jesus seems to riff on the game “peek-a-boo” that we love to play with babies.  “In a little while you will not see me, and then again in a little while you will see me.  And you will forget your pain and sorrow, like a woman forgets the pain of childbirth, when a new human being is born into the world.”  It’s no wonder to me that the disciples are very confused. 

   On this side of the Cross and Resurrection, Jesus’ intent is pretty clear.  But that night, Jesus’ abrupt shift from discussing the mystery of the Godhead to alluding to the mystery of His Passion, which would begin in a few hours, this would have overwhelmed my brain in an instant. 

   But since from our vantage point we can grasp that Jesus’ “peek-a-boo parable” is all about His suffering and death, His rest in the tomb, and His glorious resurrection, let’s not miss the significance of the repetition.  John records the full phrase, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me,' three times.  This is not an accident.  John could have easily shortened his subsequent references to the phrase, and we would have gotten the point.  He actually does this one time, “what does He mean by ‘a little while.’”  But three times, not two, not four, but three times, John repeats the full phrase.  We should consider that the evangelist did this to drive home the point that the mystery of the Three in One God is finally revealed and believed through the mystery of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.  Now you see me, then you won’t; but when you see me again, you will rejoice, and believe unto salvation.    

   Our first parents played a rebellious note in paradise, and so we were all natural born sinners, unable to free ourselves from our sinful condition, unable to avoid the discord, the disharmony of our fallen reality.  Our disharmony eventually brings ruin and death to everything we are and have and touch.  So, because God is harmonious love, and because He desires to give love and to receive love from you, and you, and me, from all people, for love, Jesus came.  The Son of God became our brother, fully human in every way, like us, but without sin.  Found in human form, He did all that was necessary to restore our human nature, and bring us back into harmony with God, and with each other. 

   Now we see this miraculous mystery dimly; we can perceive the outline and rejoice in the promises attached to the work of Christ.  We can be the Spirit’s mouthpiece by confessing to each other and to everyone that God in Christ has reconciled the whole world to Himself, not counting our sins against us, but rather redeeming us by the One perfect, eternal sacrifice of Jesus, who shed His blood, giving His life, for ours, on the Cross. 

   Even though we cannot fully understand it, we revel, we rejoice in the mystery of the God who is One, and who is also Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Indeed, we are wise to dig deep in the Scriptures to understand this mystery as well as we can, for our own faith, and for the sake of revealing the saving Good News of the Holy Trinity, to friends, neighbors, and even enemies. 

   Through His Word, we are also encouraged, by the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Divine Encourager.  We are encouraged that, because we have been drawn into harmonious communion with God through the Blood of Christ, we can also dare to risk committing to harmony in our earthly relationships.  Husbands and wives, parents and children, friends and co-workers, we can dare to risk loving and going all in, according to the God-ordered shape of each relationship God has placed us in.  

   Now, there is a God-given shape and order to every vocation, every station of relationship that God has built into this world.  The love between husband and wife is different than the love between friends or co-workers, and shouldn’t be confused.  The service of parent to child is not the same as the service of a citizen to his nation.  The shape of God’s orders, the ways of being and relating He has built into this world, should be maintained.  And then, within God’s orders, within the way God has organized His creation, we who have been reconciled to God in Christ can give ourselves freely, without reservation.  We can go all in, because Jesus has gone all in for us, and emerged on the other side, victoriously sharing His forgiveness and new life.     

    We know that sometimes we will fail.  Trusts will be broken; we will suffer pain.  We will even inflict pain.  Lord have mercy.  Still, we need not fear trying to love.  We are free to risk seeking harmony with others.  For we know that in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we can always be re-tuned to God’s perfect harmony.  We can be daily restored and reconciled, and made ready to love again, through the full and free forgiveness Jesus achieved by “hiding away” for a little while.  Through this temporary hiding, through His suffering, death and resurrection, Christ has revealed the harmony of the Trinity, the mystery and the love of God, for you, and for me, and for all people.

    There is no Gospel, there is no Good News for dying sinners, apart from the God who is the Holy Trinity, One in Three and Three in One.  Even more, there is no defeat, there is no lasting sadness, for anyone who has been drawn through baptismal waters into the faith that trusts in Jesus, our Savior. 

   So, rejoice and sing, your sins are forgiven, your death is defeated, your future is eternal and glorious, in the harmonious Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.