May 31, 2026 – Trinity Sunday Text: Matthew 28:16-20
Dear Friends in Christ,
The mystery of the Trinity is beyond us, but people still try to explain it. How about ice? Water can be a liquid. It can be ice. It can be heated to be steam. In each state it is water. Three in one. This fails in one crucial way. You can’t have ice, steam, and liquid all at the same time. You either have steam or ice or liquid. But the father is always God; never is there a time he is not Gode. The Son is always God; never a time he was not. The Holy Spirit is always God; never a time he was not. All three persons are always and fully god at the same time.
Attempts at grasping this all far short. And they should. Who can know the workings of God? Look at our Old Testament reading. Creation. Can you comprehend how God did it? I have no idea either. The Hubble telescope has sent pictures of the universe that scramble the brain. Remember from science class that light travels 186,000 miles per second or about six trillion miles in a year. It would take over 158,000 light-years to reach even one of the closest galaxies. The universe is about 96 billion light years in diameter, and expanding even farther and farther every minute we’re in church.
Very simply the triune God is beyond us. But he has revealed himself as Father, son, and Holy Spirit. Three in One. The Trinity. We believe and confess it. Even while . . .
“THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY IS BEYOND US”
And that is ok. We don’t need to be the smartest people in the room. We need to be the faithful people in the room. I don’t know how my car works, but I counted on it to get me to church. I don’t know much about a computer, but I knew I could type my sermon on it. I don’t under the physics of our fridge, but I put the milk in there this morning and I have faith that same milk will be cold tomorrow. See how this works.
Thankfully, our Triune God is not only beyond us. He is also with us. The last words of our text. “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (v. 20) Wit that, everything changes. He is not the too big God. He is God with us. This Jesus who had a miraculous virgin birth. This Jesus who was baptized by John. Why be baptized? He was taking his stand with us. A few years later he is on a cross. He is taking on himself anything and everything that would keep us at a distance from God. He takes our awful deeds, the death we should die and even hell – separation from God – he takes it all for us. What we deserve, Jesus serves. We are promised eternal life, now and in eternity. God is always with us. His resurrection is the proof.
We believe this because we have been baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That water poured over us, along with the words spoken, brought us into the eternal presence of our triune God. We should all have our baptismal certificates framed and displayed. At Good Shepherd we have so many blessed with banners who prayerfully have them hung in a prominent place. We are God’s children.
Beyond us – yes. With us – indeed. And more, He is in us. In being baptized we are also instructed to “observe all that I have commanded you.” We turn the teaching into learning. How does it happen? The power of the Holy Spirit working in God’s Word. In these means – a sermon, a Bible class, a devotion, a conversation – The Spirit works to teach us what Jesus has said and done.
When we look at creation – we praise God. When we look at the people He has placed in our lives -we praise God. When we look at our calling or our daily bread – we praise God. How can our lips do this? The Holy Spirt shapes and transforms us.
We will not grasp the mystery of the Trinity, although we confess it. We will not comprehend how immense and majestic God is, but we will believe he is always with us as the Living Lord. We will not understand how he is three persons yet only one God, but we learn what he has done for us and we praise him for it.
While the mystery of the Trinity is beyond us, our Creator God is always present with us through the exaltation of His Son and in us by the sanctifying gift of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.