Sermon 19th June 2011
Matthew 28:16-20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’
Today is Trinity Sunday. The doctrine of the Trinity was a doctrine that was formulated in the first three centuries of the early Church. The concluding passage from Matthew’s gospel commands us to baptise in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. At first the disciples baptised in the name of Jesus, but here we have the three fold name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
At the risk of simplifying a complex doctrine, it sees Jesus is exalted as God, and the continuing presence of God as known through the Holy Spirit. Early critics of this doctrine accused the early church of believing in three gods, but that is not the intention of the doctrine. However the early church consumed a disproportionate amount of energy working out intricate understandings of the doctrine. One of the divisions between east and west, or as we would put it today, between the Catholic and Orthodox, was over the understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity.
The challenge for us today is not over the understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity, but over our understanding of God. In particular the challenge is to show that worshipping God is a meaningful and sensible undertaking. That involves thinking about our understanding of God, and also engaging with God to enable God to be present in our lives.
At the heart of the Trinity is an understanding of community. It is a community of three aspects of God, of relationship and mutual dependence. It seeks an order of living together in love.
Our global secular world, by contrast, focuses on rational economic man, on individuality, and the pursuit of self interest. It discourages diversity and promotes efficiency.
Now in Matthew’s gospel in chapter 10, Jesus sends out his disciples on a mission and it was to confine their mission to Israel. “Go nowhere among the gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans.” (verse 5) Now at the end of the gospel we have a different mission- to all nations. So here at the end of Matthew’s gospel, we have a different perspective than the earlier mission.
The scriptures of Israel and the Christian Church emerge in particular contexts, and they constitute a tradition. By tradition I mean here an argument extended through time and refined and debated. It is debated both by internal and external points of view. Here at the end of Matthew we have what is clearly a later addition, and it is taking a universalist view of the gospel. If a tradition is to live, it will listen to its external and internal critics and advocates and respond and refine and adapt what it is saying. To put it another way, the tradition is not stuck in a time warp. It is quite false to think of the revelation of God in Christ being set in the concrete of the first century. That is one of the strengths of the doctrine of the Trinity, it includes the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit working and moving in our minds and hearts today. (see Expository Times vol 122 June 2011 page 418)
So to return to our text in Matthew 28. It stands in contrast to the narrow mission of chapter 10. The command to make disciples of all nations is a command of diversity. It is not an exclusive command to say that everyone must be Christians, it is rather a command that disciple making is to occur across all nations. Gone is a monocultural focus on Israel. It affirms a universal perspective. It means that I do not have to adopt an Italian accent to be a Christian. It means that my Christianity, while brought to Aotearoa by the British missionaries, can be adapted into the language and culture of my home and my landscape.
I suggest to you also, that thinking about God did not stop in the pages of the bible. The doctrine of the Trinity, argued and debated within the framework of Greek philosophy, was a theological thinking that went on into the first three centuries.
The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council which met there in the year 325. The Nicene Creed has been normative to the many Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches. There are other creeds that have been adopted for different times and places.
What that indicates is that part of the process of making disciples is to think through and formulate our Christians beliefs across all the nations.
The challenges therefore to Christians in today’s world, with a very different worldview from the year and creed of 325, are to formulate Christian understandings, which are sensible and meaningful.
When we come to worship, we are invited to participate and connect with the God of Love shown in Christ, and felt in the presence of the Spirit of God. We need an open mind, and an attitude of humility, to try and sense the presence of God. A sense of appreciation of a spiritual presence far greater and more powerful than us can inspire us to say thanks, and to acknowledge that deep in our hearts we need to belong to a community that centres on love and trust. That sense of awe, often found in silence, can be felt too in music and prayer.
Our feelings and thoughts can be guided in part by the symbols of community. For example, the sacraments of bread and wine, and the reading of stories found in the writings we call sacred. These are but signs or symbols, pointing us to a presence outside of ourselves, but equally, deep within us. They are, to use the traditional phrase, a means of grace.
Grace can elude us very easily. The Councils of the Church, fraught with division and conflict, can be graceless occasions. Doctrine can become more important than acting in love. Our human ego’s can so easily get in the way, and in a competitive world, it is difficult to move from competition to co-operation. Grace and forgiveness are two values or human gifts that enable God to come into our lives and our relationships.
Let me conclude by summing up these points.
Within the biblical narrative we have different points of view and different contexts in which the stories are told and understood. The internal tradition is speaking within itself to these differences. Later doctrines developed, such as the doctrine of the Trinity, to express and develop different understandings. The theological tradition has also shown similar developments, responding to understanding God in different contexts.
Today we need to engage our minds in similar ways. Our knowledge of God requires some participation on our part. We need an open mind, and an attitude of humility to experience the awe and wonder of God’s presence. When we pray a prayer of thanksgiving we are opening ourselves to this wonder and when we praise God, we begin to sense the presence of God.
The symbols of faith, especially the sacraments and the reading and interpreting of the sacred texts, can guide us into grace.
John Howell
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