A woman once went into the marketplace, looked around, and saw a sign that read, “God’s Fruit Stand”. “Thank goodness! It’s about time!” the woman said to herself. She went inside and she said, “I would like a perfect banana, a perfect cantaloupe, a perfect strawberry, and a perfect peach.” God, who was behind the counter, shrugged and said, “I’m sorry; I only sell seeds.”
On Holy Trinity Sunday the Church wants us to celebrate the mystery of Spirit and to recognize that Spirit is nothing less than the creative essence of God. It is where God comes from. It was God who inhabited Jesus. It was God who was unleashed at Pentecost. It is God who is forever attempting to lure us into life.
Our mistake, like the woman looking for “perfect fruit” is that too often we are looking for something finished – a completed project. But God is not about perfection and creation is far from being complete. There is a divine energy at the heart of life initiating and accompanying that drive for perfection; but it is not solely associated with a “finished” project. That popular slogan of a few years back, “Be Patient! God isn’t finished with me yet!” really is true, truer than any of us know. For it means that life (including our lives in particular) is not limited by failure, nor by our illusions of success. There is always a call forward. None of us is there yet.
But how are we to know God? We know God because we have known Jesus. In his prayer Jesus reminded us, “you, Father, are in me and I am in you… so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them.” The Father speaks to Jesus, who speaks to the Spirit, who will “guide you into all the truth.”
The Holy Trinity is about relationship and indwelling. It is about collaboration and the self-communication of God. And it is about our mutuality with each other, guiding, speaking, and declaring to one another the glory of God, Father/Creator, Jesus/Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is our way of life made possible by God.
The words of our gospel are part of Jesus’ final instruction and encouragement to his disciples. This was the end. For three years Jesus had taught them, lived with them, and loved them and now the culmination of his love was at hand in the sacrifice of his life for theirs. They didn’t understand, just as we still don’t fathom the depth of what he did. They saw the truth in everything he did, in every word he spoke and in his very essence. Now Jesus was leaving them, the lessons were over, and he was trusting them with everything that was his. Imagine their thoughts and their fears and, in so doing, perhaps we will see our own thoughts and fears.
As one of his disciples I think I’d say to Jesus: “You want me to do what?” You want me to do what you have done, to love as you have loved, to say what you have said and to say it with authority?” I can’t do it. Yes, Jesus knew their weakness just as he knows ours. What they could not do He could and would do through them by giving them His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth to lead and guide them. Through his Spirit, He still guides you and I in truth today.
Truth in our lives is built in stages. The foundations are as important as the heights we achieve. Karl Barth was once asked the greatest truth he ever learned. “The greatest truth? The greatest truth is this: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so”. We crawl before we run. We walk before we skip. God delights in our growth at whatever stage we’re at. When was the last time you stopped to realize that – God delights in you? Roll that around in your mind this afternoon – “God delights in me” – and see if it doesn’t change your day.
But being sensitive to where we are is combined with the expectation that we’ll grow. If there are truths, we cannot bear now that clearly implies that down the road we will be able to bear them. The most sensitive of teachers also needs a willing student. God expects us to be people who want to grow.
So I’ll ask, point-blank and straight-out, where are you consciously, deliberately seeking to grow in your knowledge and love of God? What have you done in the last six months to increase your awareness of God? There are countless resources: hundreds of books and magazines and tapes; study groups, prayer groups, topical discussion groups, seminars, and courses; individual guides and teachers; the growth that comes from seriously trying each day to be more attuned to God or to consciously serve another. The list is endless. One of the saddest sights I know is the Christian who has stopped growing, who has denied their spiritual birthright, who refuses to let the Spirit guide them into new awareness and truth.
Our Lord made some very serious promises to His disciples in the upper room, before His passion, at a time when they were weak and wondering what to make of all the things that He had taught them. They stayed in that upper room behind locked doors, fearing what was outside. In that same upper room, some fifty days later the Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost, and he gave them the power to save the world. Here we are, gathered together in our Lord’s presence, listening to His words and eating His holy supper with Him. This is our upper room. He has poured out His Spirit of truth on us and has opened the doors to the world and to people’s hearts.
Look to Christ and you’ll find your sorrow turned into joy.
– Deacon Terry Murphy