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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Children usually are told not to call other people names, and, if they do call other people names, they may not go unpunished. Yet, at least one particular presidential candidate for months has been calling his rivals names, and the electorate seems not only to be tolerating but also even condoning such behavior—behavior that at a minimum we might say is unbecoming of someone seeking the highest office in the land. There is also some name‑calling in the Gospel Reading appointed for today, the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Jewish leaders call Jesus a “Samaritan” and say that He has a demon, and even Jesus arguably calls the Jewish leaders “liars”. The Jewish leaders—far more than saying something insulting—dishonor rather than glorify not only Jesus but also the other two Blessed Persons of the Holy Trinity. This morning we consider today’s Gospel Reading under the theme “The Glory of the Triune God”.
The apparent name-calling in today’s Gospel Reading is not all that surprising, given the conversation between Jesus and the Jewish leaders that was going on in the preceding verses—conversation especially about both Who Jesus’s Father was and who the Jewish leaders’ father was (John 8:12-47). The Jewish leaders suggested that Jesus was born of sexual immorality, and, Jesus said that, although they claimed to be children of Abraham, they were not of God but children of the devil, a liar and the father of lies. No wonder the Jewish leaders called Jesus a “Samaritan”, a member of the race that the Jews fiercely hated and who hated the Jews back, and no wonder the Jewish leaders said that not they but Jesus was possessed by an evil or unclean spirit and so should not be heard. The Jewish leaders totally rejected and dishonored Jesus and the Triune God—the Triune God that Jesus not only represents but also of whom actually is the Second Person. For, as we will confess in the Athanasian Creed this morning, each Blessed Person of the Holy Trinity should have equal glory.
Each one of us may be able to come up with other religions today that do not give equal glory to each Blessed Person of the Holy Trinity. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons and Jews and Muslims do not believe, teach, and confess that Jesus even was a Person of the Godhead. Other Christian religions might seem to be Trinitarian, but even they might not give the Triune God the honor and glory He deserves: perhaps they believe, teach, and confess that Jesus did not do enough to save them, without their also doing good works, or perhaps they believe, teach, and confess that God does not work through Holy Baptism or that Jesus is not present with His Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. We may not dishonor and fail to glorify the Triune God with such false teaching, but do we not dishonor and fail to glorify the Triune God in other ways? We may not hold God’s Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it as we should. Or, we may not lead holy lives according to His Word. We may curse or swear by His Name, instead of calling upon His Name in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks.
In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus says that He does not seek His own glory but that there is One Who seeks it, and He is the Judge. So we know that God the Father maintains the Glory of the One Whom He has sent “by judging and condemning those who will not recognize Him” (Greeven, TDNT 2:892). (So, Jesus does not call the Jewish leaders “liars” as a name but judges them to be “liars”, those who do not truly believe in Him.) Then, Jesus speaks of the death all people, even Abraham by nature, deserve on account of their sin, unless they keep Jesus’s and the Father’s Word, which, especially in His crucifixion, reveals Jesus as true God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity (John 8:24, 28), and each Blessed Person of the Holy Trinity deserves equal glory.
For the Jewish leaders, Abraham deserved great glory; in glory no one was thought to be like unto Abraham (Sirach 44:19). And, the Jewish leaders were right in thinking that Jesus claimed to be greater than Abraham, not only making Himself out to be but also actually being true God, using of Himself the Name of God given to Moses: “I Am” (Exodus 3:14). As we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading (Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31), Jesus was eternal God, although not yet 50 years old as a man then, and Abraham saw Jesus by faith. The Jewish leaders understood Who Jesus claimed to be, and so they picked up stones to throw at Him, but, using His abilities as true God, the man Jesus Hid Himself and went out of the temple area. Jesus kept Himself from being killed by the Jewish leaders until the hour came for Him to be glorified by being lifted up on the cross (John 12:23-33). Then and there, on the cross, Jesus tasted death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9), including you and me. As we heard in the Second Reading (Acts 2:14a, 22-36), Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost that also David prophetically saw Jesus’s death and resurrection for all people. As today’s Gradual put it using St. Paul’s Divinely‑inspired words from Romans (10:8b, 10), when we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths, then we are justified and saved.
By nature we do not know that God in order to believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths, for, in a sense, we are possessed by unclean or unholy spirits. Yet, in Holy Baptism such unclean and unholy spirits are cast out from us, and the Holy Spirit is given to us, in order that we may know, believe, and confess the Triune God Whose Name is put upon us at the Baptismal Font. (Even today’s Psalm [8:2] confesses that the Lord “establishes strength”, or “ordains praise” [NIV] out of the mouths of babes and infants.) By that same Name of the Triune God we who privately confess the sins that trouble us most are individually forgiven in Holy Absolution. And, so individually absolved, we come to this Rail and know the Triune God best in the Sacrament of the Altar, where we have fellowship with Him, His true Body in bread and His true Blood in wine, miraculously present as He miraculously Hid Himself and went out of the Temple. In all these forms of His Word, the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus (John 16:14) and forgives us our sins.
Our seeking the forgiveness of sins from the Triune God is the greatest worship of the Gospel. We give equal glory to each Blessed Person of the Holy Trinity, even as their majesty is equal and co-eternal. As we by grace through faith are forgiven of our sins, we receive Christ’s righteousness, His glory (John 5:44). We believe, teach, and confess rightly about the Triune God, we hold His Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it, and we lead holy lives according to His Word. When we fail to do so, as we will fail, we daily turn in repentance and with faith to receive again the Triune God’s forgiveness of sins and, in turn, we forgive one another. Like Abraham, we have rejoiced to see Jesus’s day, and we are gloriously glad (1 Peter 1:8). The bodies of Abraham, the prophets, and others who have gone before us in the faith may rest in the ground, but, as redeemed souls, they are alive with Him (Luke 20:38), awaiting the resurrection of their bodies, and with the joy of the Messiah joining with us to give thanks to God in the Body of Christ. In Him, we will never see the eternal death we otherwise deserve; in Him there is no longer even the possibility of our doing so.
Despite the derogatory name‑calling in the presidential campaigns, one of the candidates eventually will be called “president”. Far more important, is our being called by the Name of the Triune God, our giving glory to Him, and our receiving His glory by grace through faith. We close now with both the glory and the call to glorify God that conclude our first Distribution Hymn (Lutheran Service Book 578:6):
God the Father, light creator, / To thee laud and honor be.
To Thee, Light of Light begotten, / Praise be sung eternally.
Holy Spirit, light-revealer, / Glory, glory be to Thee.
Mortals, angels, now and ever / Praise the holy Trinity!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +