2025-06-15 Holy Trinity

Scripture Readings

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!

Holy Trinity Sunday. We have crossed the threshold in the church year. From Christmas to right now our focus has been on the life and ministry of Christ Jesus our Lord. As we enter the second half of the church year which emphasizes the life and ministry of the church, we do so by commemorating that God is revealed to us as a God in Three Persons, a blessed Trinity. Even though this precise term of trinity doesn’t show up in the scriptures, it is indeed a fine concept for us to try to wrap our hearts and minds around as we speak about Who God is and what He does for us and our salvation.

There’s lots of Scriptures that reveal this idea to us from Genesis all the way through Revelation. Our Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan river sticks out as one of the prime examples with Jesus, the Son of God, in the River being baptized, the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove and the Father speaking loudly from Heaven “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (MT 3:17). And of course, the Great Commission that Jesus gives the church: “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” (MT 28:19-20). You can start to see a bit of a pattern emerging here with Baptism and the Holy Trinity. This is the place where God’s Triune Name is applied to His people in a very personal way.

And if you spend some time thinking about a name, particularly a family name, it’s indeed a powerful thing. When you get married, traditionally the wife takes the husband’s name, meaning she is now a part of that family. Or if you adopt a child, the child generally takes on the adopted family name. It’s all to emphasize belonging. You have this name, you belong here. You have this name, you are a part of things. You have this name, you partake of the blessings. This is why Baptism is so central to the Christian faith and our life together in Christ our Lord. We have God’s Triune name, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit upon us by the promise of the water and the word. Children of God we become, members of the family of God. Brothers and sisters in Christ, belonging to and sharing in “One Lord, One faith, One Baptism” (Eph. 4:5).

But this isn’t a uniquely New Testament thing. Like everything else, it finds its beginning in the Old Testament. And perhaps, there’s no clearer place than in the concluding words of pretty much every single Lutheran Divine Service: “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them” (Numbers 6:24-27). The Aaronic benediction. Aaron and the priests would literally put God’s name upon the people of Israel and in so doing bestow blessing upon them. It’s not just some nice Hallmark warm fuzzy. It’s actually bestowing and surrounding the people with the blessings of God and we notice that there are indeed three of them in this Benediction. What a surprise!

Using the Aaronic Benediction at the end of a worship service is a uniquely Lutheran thing. Luther added it to his German Mass way back in 1526 and for good reason. It was for the same reasons God originally commanded Moses to tell Aaron to do it. There is abundant power and blessing in the name of God. There is an entire commandment dedicated to treating God’s name with the utmost respect and care. “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.” What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks to quote the Catechism.

And the Name of God is none other than the great I AM that Moses received from the burning bush. I AM. Yahweh in Hebrew. The Name that was so Holy and precious that God’s people wouldn’t even use it less they sin against it. Instead they would replace it with Adonai which we translate as Lord or LORD with the small capital letters in many Bible versions today. And this is precisely what we see in the Aaronic Benediction. God’s thrice holy name is applied to His people with 3 distinct blessings.

The first one is may the Lord “Bless you and keep you.” What does this mean? Think about gardening. When you plant garden seeds or trees or perennials or whatever, nobody chucks the seeds or saplings in the ground and walks away. First you prepare the soil, loosening it up or tilling it to make it easier for roots to grow and spread. You might then also add some amendments like compost or fertilizer or bone meal to make sure your plants have loads of nutrients to not only survive but thrive. Then you plant. Then you add water. You have provided everything those plants need to get a great start and live long happy and healthy lives. This is what it means when God blesses us. He has given us His word, the Scriptures and the promise of the Gospel of Christ. Our Saviour has died on the cross and rose again for our forgiveness, life and salvation. He richly provided us with spiritual food in Holy Communion, the blessed nutrients of eternal life in the body and blood of Christ our Lord. He has lavishly washed us in Holy Baptism, providing us an abundance of the water of life. This is how God blesses us.

But He also “keeps” us too. What does this mean? Keeping with the gardening motif, this is when you put a fence up around your garden to keep out the ‘waskawee wabbits’ and the deer and the birds and everything that wants to eat and destroy your precious plants. This is when you put diatomaceous earth down and try to keep the potato bugs and other insects from wreaking havoc. You root out the weeds that would choke your plants and steal the nutrients they need from the soil. You guard and protect your plants at all costs. This is what it means that God keeps us from harm and danger.

And what’s the next benediction blessing? “the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.” The shining face of God. You know when you’re having a spat with your spouse or coworkers or friends or whoever, you instinctively look away from them, right? You have the hardest time in the world looking them in the eye. Your face is not shining. It’s doing the complete opposite. And, on the other side of the coin, when you have a good relationship with people, you have no problem making eye contact and smiling a big toothy grin! This is possible because the relationship is in good standing. Now by nature, none of us are in good standing with God. He is holy and righteous and we are not. But because the Lord is gracious, He looks upon us and makes His face shine despite our sins. When we, like the tax collector, standing far off, beating our breast and saying “‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (LK 18:13) it is then that Lord lifts up our heads and looks us right in the eye. He restores the relationship by His grace and mercy alone.

And finally, may Yawhweh, the great I AM, “lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” ‘Countenance’ is just a $5.00 version of ‘face.’ It’s exactly the same word in the original language. The idea that ‘God has a face’ because God is a person - actually 1 God in 3 persons - is really the foundation stone of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The person hood of God is being revealed. Now, put on your water-wings because here’s the deep end of the pool for our Pastors and Greek Scholars in the congregation: Christian theologians like the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa), used the Greek word prosopon (face) alongside hypostasis to articulate the distinct persons of the Trinity. And the Septuagint translation of the Aaronic Benediction uses prosopon for this precise reason. The relational connotation of prosopon — God turning His “face” toward humanity — paralleled the Trinitarian idea of distinct persons in eternal communion, sharing one divine essence or ousia. The Cappadocians adopted prosopon to emphasize the relational distinctions between Father, Son, and Spirit, while hypostasis clarified their ontological distinctness. This was critical in countering modalism (which denied distinct persons) and Arianism (which subordinated the Son to the Father).

For everyone else, that’s just a $100.00 way of saying God has a face and that face is Christ. And Christ gives us peace. Our Lord tells us straight up: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (JN 14:27). God gives us His peace in the forgiveness of our sins, an integral part of the way our Lord blesses us and keeps us and makes His face shine upon us. He welcomes us in to His family. He puts His Name on us. That name that is above every name (Phil 2:9-11) is yours. He calls you his own. He promises to guard you and keep you smiling upon you in His rich abundant mercy and love. Now and forever more be glory to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit, One God in Three Persons. Amen!