Feast of the Most Holy Trinity
June 15, 2014
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Introduction
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, the First Sunday after Pentecost or Ordinary Time. Today we celebrate our faith in one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Bible does not mention the word "Trinity" nor is there any verse that says "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one God." Rather, we come to believe in the Trinity by taking into consideration what the whole Bible says. The Bible says that there is only one God, as contained in the ancient Jewish declaration, the Shema:
שְׁמַע, יִשְׂרָאֵל: יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ, יְהוָה אֶחָד.Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
At
the same time, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God; for
example, in Philipians 2:6: The words "in the form of God"
does not mean the same thing as "the image of God". The
Greek word for "form" is μορφη,
morphē,
which in the whole New Testament applies only to Jesus himself (cf.
Mark 16:12). But the Greek word for "image" is εικον,
eikon,
which applies to humans (e.g., I Coirnthians 11:7 and 15:49, &
c.) but which can also apply to Jesus (e.g., Colossians 1:15 and
Hebrews 1:3). In other words, "the image of God" applies to
both humans and Jesus because Jesus is also human; but "the form
of God" only applies to Jesus because he is divine.
Meanwhile,
the Bible is also clear that the Holy Spirit is God, because he is
called "Lord": "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians
3:17).
Today,
I would like to begin a sermon series on the Old Testament,
specifically on the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. For
Year "A", the Revised Common Lectionary (according to the
usage of The United Methodist Church) gets the Old Testament
readings from the Torah (plus Joshua and Judges) during the Season
after Pentecost (or Ordinary Time), which stretches from June to
November. No many Christians, the Old Testament is a "closed
book"--even though it comprises two-thirds of the Bible! In the
coming months, we will unlock the riches of the Old Testament (the
Jewish Scriptures) and see its relevance to us Christians today.
What
is the role of the Holy Trinity in Creation?
I.
The Father
In
Genesis chapter 1, God the Father is the Creator: "In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (v. 1). This is
the basic affirmation of the Bible.
God
creates out of nothing (creatio
ex nihilo):
"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon
the face of the deep" (v.2). This does not mean that there is
something existing before Creation; that there was already "earth"
and "waters" before Creation. This is simply the Bible's
way of saying that there is nothing before Creation; and out of this
Nothingness nothing can come. In other words, something cannot come
out of Nothing.
God
creates by his Word.
"And God said, Let there be light, and there was light" (v.
3). It is through his Word that God brings something out of nothing
(creatio ex nihilo).
God
affirms that his creation is good. "And God saw the
light, that it was good..." (v. 4). When God creates out of
nothing, he creates good. Nothing good can come out of Nothingness;
only God can bring good out of Nothingness.
But
God the Father was not alone in Creation. The Holy Spirit was moving
upon the face of the waters (v. 2). In the Creation of man, God said,
"Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness..."
(v. 26). The Son and the Holy Spirit have their role in Creation.
II.
The Son
Jesus
Christ was existing before Creation, just as the Father existed
before Creation. "In the beginning existed the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). This Word
was Jesus Christ. By his Word the Father created all things, and this
Word was Jesus Christ. Everything was created through Christ, and
without Christ nothing could be made: "All things were made by
him, and without him was not one single thing made that was made"
(John 1:3).
Jesus
Christ was not only involved in Creation, but also in the making of
all things new. The Bible tells us that Creation was ruined because
of sin. But "if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation:
the old things are passed away" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
III.
The Holy Spirit
In
Genesis chapter 1, we read that in the beginning, "And the earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
deep"--that is, nothing existed except Nothingness. But we also
read, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"
(v. 2). According to Bishop Emerito Nacpil, in his book "A
Spirituality that Secularizes" (Vol. 1),
The Spirit is God reaching out to the formless void, the deep covered with darkness... This reaching out of the Spirit which is of God and from God is what establishes...the binding bond between God and the heavens and the earth... (p. 35). [It] means making creation possible out of its non-possibility in the pre-creation condition, which is Nothing (p. 36).
The
Bible also says that the Holy Spirit is involved for the renewal of
nature. Psalm 104 tells us of the beauty of Creation and of God
provides for all his creatures, whether animal of human. After
describing death, the taking away of breath and the returning to
dust, the psalm tells us in verse 30, "Thou sendest forth thy
spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
The Holy Spirit is not only involved in Creation, but also in it's
renewal!
Conclusion
One
of the stories in my Philippine Literature class is the Bikol
epic-fragment entitled "Ibalong" (see the story in my
educational blog and my review of the play staged by Tanghalang
Pilipino). It is the story of a ruler named Handiong and his son
Bantog who came from a faraway place and settled in the rich land of
Ibalong. In order to make room for their people, they cleared the
forest and killed all the monsters that lived there. They were
resisted by the snake-woman Oryol and the monster Rabot but they were
defeated by the humans. The golden age of Ibalong came with the
founding of a town and the invention of agriculture, cooking,
writing, & c. But in the end the town was swept away by floods
and earthquakes, as if the destruction of nature was so much that it
destroyed them.
As
Christians, part of our responsibility to Creation is to recognize
that it is created by none other than the Triune God, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. And since Creation is made by the Triune
God, it is our responsibility to take care of it. Amen.
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