Good morning. Knowledge and Understanding. Two very similar terms yet wholly separate when lived out in the human experience. Sure, I can know that the Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter. However, does simply knowing when this event occurred provide any understanding as to causes and consequences of the Civil War? Not really.
Similarly, does knowing that a man named Jesus was crucified on a cross by the Roman government thousands of years ago help to comprehend the reasons and effects of Jesus’ sacrifice to secure salvation? Again, not really. This year one of my goals with the youth group I help mentor consists of helping them to appreciate the need for both knowledge AND understanding.
Last week we sat down to discuss a critical aspect of Christian doctrine, the Trinity. A heavy topic for teens I admit, but one I think we can all benefit from. At first, the teens were a little puzzled to learn that the concept of the Trinity is actually not specifically acknowledged in the Bible. In all of the Bible, one will find no scripture that says, “The one God in three persons.” Instead, this concept evolved through a lengthy journey of theological pondering by Christians seeking to understand God better.
A concise explanation of the Trinity perceives the Father acting, through the Son, by the power of the Spirit. Together they makeup the one divine body sharing one divine nature. They are brought together in an eternal relationship. But what is this the substance of this relationship that unifies the Trinity? According to 1 John 4:8, it is Love that holds the Trinity together for GOD IS LOVE.
As most know, the New Testament word for love is agape and it alludes to the sacrificing of oneself for the sake of another. It is this active, self-sacrificing love that creates and sustains the unity within the Trinity. Thus, the unity of the one God represents each of the divine three giving themselves to the other.
Even before the creation of the universe, the Father loves the Son, and the Son reciprocates that love back to the Father. This love that occupies the space between the two took divine form in the Holy Spirit, and it is the Spirit of the relationship existing between the Father and the Son. Before the world was made and the stars were set in the sky, this God in three persons has always existed in this community of love.
Now consider this. The Holy Spirit residing in us is the same Spirit of the relationship existing between the Father and the Son. So when the Spirit comes to abide in us, the Spirit gives to us the same love the Son enjoys with the Father. Take any parent you know and ask them, “which of your children do you love more?” Almost immediately you will discover that most parents prove incapable of loving one child more than the other. From the oldest to the youngest, the most gifted to the most disabled; a parent’s love for one child is the same love for the other child.
So if we come to know the Father and the Son graciously allow us to experience the same divine love in the form of the Holy Spirit, then what does such knowledge mean for our world and our churches? Could it perhaps mean that we will turn back the rising tide of violence and division in our world only when we make a conscious decision to show the same love to men and women, native and immigrant, rich and poor? Would it possibly imply that our churches will rinse away the stains of segregation and condemnation only when we show a concerted effort to show the same love to every race, gender, and creed?
It remains a sad fact in today’s broken world that unequal love based on conditions and stipulations serves as a highly profitable business. So this week may we all look to find new ways to demonstrate the same divine love that holds the Trinity together. Because one thing the mysterious Trinity makes crystal clear is that when it comes to the Father’s love for the Son and the sinner, the love is the same.
CJE