I’m no theologian and hardly the person to parse the ins and outs of the doctrine of the Trinity, but truth to tell, I’ve never found it so hard to believe. God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Well, why not? Sunday, May 22, is Trinity Sunday. So at the risk of drowning in murky theological waters, let me tell you what the Trinity means to me.
1) God is love.
We know love when we experience it, when it shows itself. Love is not just a lot of talk, not a lot of hot air. Love is an action. So what does God’s love look like? God sent His Son to show us.
Jesus heals the sick, Jesus feeds the hungry, Jesus pays attention to the outcasts, Jesus loves the poor. He is not cowed by the powerful. He chooses lowly fishermen to be his friends and followers and empowers them to do what they never knew they could do.
Read More: Mornings with Jesus Devotional
Not long ago our 29-year-old son told us something a colleague at his office said: “You must have great parents.” Wow we were so touched. His colleague had never met us but she thought she had a glimpse of who we were in our son. Similarly, when we see Jesus we see His dad.
2) God is everywhere.
In two millennium of Christian art, you get plenty of images of Jesus and some of God the Father (think of the old bearded guy on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel). But artists have struggled to show the Holy Spirit.
They might take a cue from Scripture and illustrate a descending dove because when Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit came on Him “like a dove.” Or they might show flames of fire because when the disciples received the gift of the Spirit, “tongues as of fire” appeared over them.
But notice these are all similes, expressions with “like” or “as” to show what is indescribable. You can’t pin God down. God is everywhere and the Spirit is everywhere. Like the wind–to resort to another simile–it can’t be seen, but its work is always evident.
3) God is always present.
It’s easy enough to think God is around at our happy moments, our celebrations, but the concept of the Trinity shows us that God is also present when we suffer the most.
I’ve heard people object to the Crucifixion by saying, “What kind of Father would put His Son through such torture?” It seems to me they’re missing the point. God was on the cross with His Son. God suffered with Him. God is there with us in our miseries.
Read More: What Jesus Left Behind to Come Here
At the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus gives his disciples their marching orders, saying, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”
There it is, God in all three persons. God beside us, before us, around us, with us, in heaven and on earth and anyplace we happen to go.
