Trinity Sunday 2021 | John 3:1-17 | Rod Version

Introduction

If you follow the Lectionary, it patterns the reading of the bible throughout the year marked with significant moments in the Salvation Story: Christmas, the birth of Jesus; Lent, the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness; Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus; Ascension, his vindication as he returned to heaven; Pentecost, the Coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church in the world. Trinity Sunday is distinct in that it marks not a moment but a key doctrine belief of the Christian faith. Its not that we never think about the trinity until today, or that our preaching is only trinitarian focused on Sunday of the year: No, any Gospel preaching is by its nature trinitarian as it Glorifies God by calling people to respond to what the Son has done and live in the Holy Spirt to bring Glory to the Father. So don’t worry I am not going to attempt to preach or explain the mystery of the trinity in 15 minutes by wrongly using a shamrock or the states of water, for such things do not aid but confuse. No, we will explore the reality and mystery through the wonder of John 3:1-17 one of the few texts in the Gospel’s where Jesus speaks of the Trinity and we encounter each person of the trinity at work in the outworking of salvation to the world.

SEEKING LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS (1-2

John loves to play on imagery in his Gospel to add to the point he is making. So let’s be clear from what he is inferring from the start, here is Nicodemus, schooled in the ways of Gods and skilled in the word of God. Simply put: Nicodemus was meant to be someone schooled in the light and Grace of God; yet, by imagery it is clear that he is stuck in darkness. Hence, he approaches the Son of God, the light of life under the cover of darkness. See Yourself Nicodemus is each of us as we stand in the world, until we come to know the hope of Christ. We are stuck in the darkness until we chose to live in the light of Christ. Yet, it is more profound for Nicodemus because he was one who should have recognised instantly the Messiah of God in the world. He should have been one who rejoiced in being in the presence of Jesus and sought to bring people to him. Instead, we have him cowering under the cover of darkness more fearful of what the world might think rather than in knowledge of what God might think. He clearly sees something about Jesus as he recognises him as one who has come from God, and that his authority must be of God becuase of the signs he was doing, yet, what he has not realised is that he stands before God incarnate - Jesus the second person of the Trinity. He is one seeking Light in the Darkness, the question is will he see the light and hope of God?

BORN AGAIN IN A NEW FAMILY (3-4)

In response to Nicodemus’ seeking: Jesus response’ by telling him that to see the Kingdom of God one must be born again! A strange image isn’t it, so strange that it startles Nicodemus a man who was schooled in the ways of God and the word of God: he probably had some idea of what he thought would be required in order to know the things of heaven. A new brith was nothing something he would have factored into his understanding of serving God and knowing God. Nicodemus was someone schooled in the religious thoughts of the day, he was someone who knew God and thought he would have know the way to God. The point in to shock, to unsettle Nicodemus comfortable view of God and what it means to know him. Nicodemus, as a religious leader thinks that he Knows God and what it is to know God, moreover, he thinks he understands who Jesus is and what he has come to do. In a moment Jesus confronts all of that and calls Nicodemus to Question his understanding of the Nature of God, the Way to God and the way of God. Hence, amid this discussion of rebirth we see one of the few times in the Gospels where Jesus explicitly references God the Father, Himself as the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Why? to challenges Nicodemus understanding of God and because Gods gift of Salvation to a sinful worlds involves all three persons of the Trinity.

A SPIRITUAL REBIRTH (5-8)

Nicodemus is perplexed and confused as he ponders how can a person be born again - surely birth is only a one time occurrence. The Jewish faith is not one of reincarnation. Hence, Nicodemus asked almost rhetorically: “How can a man be born when he is old?…Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

The man schooled in the ways of God has seemingly never grasped the way that God works, a way that does not conform to human exception or logic but rather transform it. Thus, he seeks to understand the spiritual reality of Salvation with a literal thinking. In response to his confuses Jesus informs him that this is not a literal rebirth but a Spiritual rebirth. To know God is to be reborn by God through water and the Holy Spirit of God (6). This new birth is a an entering into a new reality mad possible by the word of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those who find this rebirth find a new Spiritual Reality made possible by the work of God Holy Spirit in them who sustains them for the life of the Kingdom. Salvation a work of the Trinity

We are saved by faith in response to what Jesus has done! not our bloodline, our thinking, or our possessions - faith. Faith being a spiritual reality made possible by the work of God; a spiritual reality that confronts a material world. This Sunday we marvel in the mystery of God the Trinity and the gift he offers us. What is that gift? It is the gift of Salvation offered to all who are called and response in faith! Salvation is a gift and work of God triune. Jesus refers to all three persons of the Trinity, because Salvation was offered by God triune and made possible through the work of each person of the Trinity:

It was God the Father who so loved the world drowning in sin that he was unwilling to let it die and sent his Son.

God the Son came not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:16-17) Jesus as God in human flesh who enables us to know God and by his faithfulness redeems our unfaithfulness; Jesus who reveals God the Father and points to God the Spirit as he walks and teaches the things of God on earth and preforms miracles empowered by God the Holy Spirit. Jesus who like the serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness (14) to save Gods people form their Sin (Numbers 21:4-9) was lifted up to the Cross to expose the sinfulness of humanity and pay its price, making possible restored relationship with God as he died the death he did not deserve but rose again victorious before ascending into Heaven to intercede for those who turn to him in Faith.

God the Spirit who works this new birth in us. Those who response to Jesus in Faith are reborn not of natural means, but spiritual means. God the Holy Spirit - the third person of the trinity - who enacts and sustains this rebirth in us. Jesus points to this reality as he declared: “The Spirit gives birth to the Spirit” and that those who are born anew Spiritual will know the Freedom of the Spirits birth (7,8). Why are we looking at John 3:1-17 on Trinity Sunday? Because in its verses we are reminded that Salvation is a Gift of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit made possible by an act of each in us who respond through faith. As one commentator notes: “The Holy Spirit birthing God’s children; the Father begetting and sending the Son; and the Son testifying to the Father and the Spirit.”

HOW CAN THIS BE? (9-15)

What a gift and what a mystery! Such a Mystery that Nicodemus cannot get his head around it even though he is one who has been schooled in the word of God and should understand the way of God. Yet, he cannot fathom the mysteries of God as he ponders: “How Can this Be?”Jesus responds to what feels like both a lament and a question reveals something about the state of Nicodemus (and every person) before God and what is required to know God fully.

The Limited Mind of the World (10-12)

Jesus has been speaking of the things that he has seen and known, yet, Nicodemus has struggled to comprehend them. Jesus is not speaking about some Philosophical concept but about real things that he has done and seen, and Nicodemus cannot comprehend them. Thus Jesus ponders: “But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”[1]What is the problem? Nicodemus is trying to understand Spiritual things with a mindset of the flesh. To come to know the gift of Salvation made possible by God triune we must come not with a mind of the world, framed by material things; no we must come with a renewed mind of the Spirit that sees God at work, and understand that how God works is nothing like the world. To know, understand and revel in this gift of Salvation we must know the freeing mind of the Spirit, itself a gift of God.

The Freeing Work of the Spirit (13-15)

These Things of which Jesus speaks are not of this earth, they are things of heaven. How can one speak of such things by either going and seeing or coming from? In Jesus we have one who not only comes form heaven, but created, sustains and rules it: thus, he can speak of these things. Furthermore, we have one who knows our flesh, yet, not our curse of sin, thus can make the wonders of heaven known to all who look to him. This is the imagery of the Moses lifting up the snake in the wilderness, a foretelling of the Cross of Calvary where Jesus would be lifted up for our sins. Yet, also a foretelling of the result of that lifting up - a new brith. Just as in the wilderness wanderings the Sins of Gods people where forgiven through faith for all who looked to the snake, so will all who look to Christ in faith come to known God. To look to Christ and see what he has done, is to know the Love of God the Father and the rebirth and freedom of the Holy Spirit in us.

THE SAVING WORK OF GOD THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT (16-17)

There is no better known verse in all of Scripture that John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. a verse that captures the fullness of the gift of salvation offered through faith to all who Look to Christ, Trust in God and live in the life in the power of the Spirit. The motivation for all God does in the world is love, his motivation to see us reborn in the Holy Spirit is love. Hence, John goes on in verse 17 to further that imagery, the Son did not come to donned the world, but to save the world through him. The Cross was an act of Love and a move of salvation by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit for all who might respond to it. Martin Luther calls these two verse “The Gospel in Brief.”

It is in the brief we both rest and challenge ourselves today as we consider the doctrine of the Trinity. It is out of Love that God desires for us to be reborn in the Holy Spirit and walk in his Power; it was out of love that God sent Jesus into the world to bring eternal life (16), and it out of love the Holy Spirit moves like the wind it the world bringing freedom to all who live in Him. Finally, it is out of love that Jesus calls for us to be born again, and through love this is made possible as God calls his Children to himself. It is love that motivates the movement and action of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirt in the world, and it is love that is offered to us. The challenge: have we responded to it through faith? Are we those who Gives our lives to God becuase of what Christ has done and seek to live in the power of the Holy Spirit or like Nicodemus in this moment do we find ourselves pondering: “How can this be?”

[1] John 3:12 NLT