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Hey everyone! Welcome to another episode of Digging into God's Word! This week we have
another festival to celebrate. The Sunday after Pentecost is the Sunday of the Holy
Trinity.
This is an interesting festival because most festivals that we celebrate in the church
year have to do with people or events.
This is a church festival that focuses on a church teaching -- the church teaching about
God. This teaching about God is at the very core of the Christian faith. Without the Trinity
there is no salvation.
So while we can't explain how the Trinity works, we must confess it as it is attested
to in scripture. Our readings focus on a few of these examples in scripture.
Our Old Testament reading this week is one that is familiar from Sunday School, but not
one that we hear often in church. It comes from the book of Genesis and is the account
of God creating the world.
God delights in his creation. He planned it out. He made it in an orderly fashion and
he really loves it.
In Genesis we see the father creating all the things that we can see and even those
things that we can see.
We hear the spirit hovering over the waters.
And we are reminded of John 1 where it says that "in the beginning was the word and the
word was with God and the word was God. By him all things were made."
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were all present for creation --
Day 1 brought light
Day 2 brought the sea and the sky
Day 3 brought land and plants
Day 4 brought the sun and moon and stars
Day 5 brought the birds and fish
Day 6 brought the animals and the pinnacle of God's creation -- man and woman
Throughout all of this we hear God say that things are good.
The other thing we learn from this reading is that as Creator of the World, God gets
to make the rules, including those that govern our lives. He gets to have expectations of
his creation and pass judgment on whether or not creation has met those expectations.
Our second reading this week comes from the book of Acts and picks up right where we left
off last week. If you remember the reading from Acts last week, Peter gets up and addresses
the crowd that is shocked that they can understand these men from Galilee as they speak in various
languages telling them about what God has done.
Peter tells them that what they are witnessing is in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy about
God pouring out his spirit on his people.
This week Peter continues with his sermon and starts talking about Jesus. Jesus, he
says, was sent by the Father and the miraculous things that he did testified about him and
who he was.
Then Peter drops the hammer. He tells the crowd that they were responsible for killing
him -- although he includes the fact that this was all a part of God's plan. Then God
the Father raised him up.
Peter does something interesting at this point. He quotes David and the hope that David had
about the resurrection. Peter reminds them that David is dead, but that he foresaw the
resurrection.
These men who are speaking are all witnesses of the resurrection and have now received
the Holy Spirit poured out upon them.
Here again in this text we see the working of all three persons of the Trinity. We see
the Father's actions, the son's actions, and the Holy Spirit's actions.
Peter ends by telling the people that they can know for certain that Jesus, who they
crucified, is both Lord and Christ -- that is the Father's anointed one.
Our Gospel reading this week comes from the end of Matthew and is a fairly common and
recognizable text. It is often referred to as the Great Commission.
Jesus' disciples gather on the mountain where Jesus had instructed them to go. It is interesting
here because even at this point -- 40 days after Jesus had risen, the text says that
some still doubted him. The others worshipped.
Jesus gives them an instruction -- he says, ""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, teaching them to observe all that
I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Here we hear the Triune name again -- Christian baptism is with water and in the name of the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Which makes sense when considering baptism
to be the moment when God adopts you as his child like Paul writes about in Romans. A
child who is adopted receives the name of the people who are adopting him or her. In
the same way, we receive God's name placed on us when we are adopted into his family.
One notable thing about this passage includes the grammar of the instruction that Jesus
gives. The main clause is make disciples. The how comes next. Disciples are made through
baptizing and teaching. The order is irrelevant. You can baptize and then teach or teach and
then baptize. Neither should be avoided, however. Children, including infants, are baptized
and then taught while adults often are taught and then baptized.
Another notable thing is Jesus' last words. "I am with you always, to the end of the age"
We often lose points of emphasis when we move from the original Greek into English. Sparing
a long Greek lesson, Jesus uses an interesting construction when he says "I am". He could
have used one word if he wanted to indicate he was speaking of himself. However, he uses
two words ego eimi -- the same two words that are used in the Greek version of the Old Testament
to translate God's name that he gives to Moses in the burning bush.
Remember that? Moses asks who should I say sent me and God responds, tell them I AM sent
you. Jesus' words mirror that phrase. Many scholars believe this was intentional which
means that he's saying "God, the creator of Heaven and earth, the one who brought you
up out of Egypt" will be with you until the end of the age.
Wow! That's pretty awesome!
Alright, well, I hope you're having a great week. As always, if you have any questions
about this or next week's text please send them my way. God's blessings to you as you
study his word!