By The Rev. James T. Batchelor

In the second book of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Ring Trilogy, he introduces a fantasy character named Treebeard. Treebeard looks like a tree except that he can walk, talk, and feel emotions. He is a member of a race that loves and cares for trees. As Treebeard explains his culture to some of the other characters in the book, one of the things he says is, “If something is worth saying, it is worth taking a long time to say.” I think Treebeard would like the Athanasian Creed. It does take a long time to read it – so long that most congregations only read it once a year – on Trinity Sunday.

Now, if you are one of those who thinks this old and honorable creed is just a little on the long side, you should be very thankful for the theologians who came up with the words Trinity and Triune. If it weren’t for these words, you would have to haul out the Athanasian Creed every time you wanted to talk about the community of three persons who are one God. The words Trinity and Triune save a lot of time in theological discussions whenever we want to talk about the true God who is a community of three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

There are those who try to tell us that because the word Trinity is not in the Bible, that God is not a three person community. They would argue that because the word Triune does not exist in the Bible, the idea of the Triune God is wrong. That is a little bit like saying things went flying off into space before Isaac Newton described the operation of gravity and gave us words and mathematics so that we could talk about it.

Things do not come into existence because we have words for them. In fact, the opposite is true. We humans come up with words for things because they already exist. So it is that theologians came up with the words Trinity and Triune so that we can talk about God without saying God who is three persons who are coequal, coeternal, uncreated, and so forth every time we wanted to discuss the things of God.

Even the Jewish leaders in today’s Gospel were quite ready to allow that God is a community of three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. After all, the Psalms declare, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.” (Psalm 2:7) and, as the Bible describes the beginning of creation, it says, “God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2)

The Jewish leaders knew these words well. They just didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God that the Psalmist was talking about. In fact, that is a problem that we still have today. Most people are quite ready to admit that there was a teacher from Nazareth named Jesus. Many are willing to admit that He had some good teachings and set a fine moral example for us to follow. Never the less, they reject the idea that Jesus is actually God.

On the other hand, the Bible tells us that Jesus is God in many ways. Some are very obvious and others are quite subtle.

When John the Baptizer sent disciples to Jesus with the question, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another,” (Luke 7:19) Jesus let his actions do His talking for Him. He said, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.” (Luke 7:22-23) Thus John’s disciples could see that Jesus is the One who was foretold by the things that He did.

Jesus demonstrated His divinity with many amazing signs. He had chats with the weather and storms became calm. He took a boy’s sack lunch of a few rolls and sardines and fed thousands of people. He cured diseases by telling the illness to leave. He even brought the dead back to life. As John the Evangelist wrote in the Gospel, “Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name,” (John 20:30-31) and a little later on in that same Gospel, “There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)

Perhaps the most ironic testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the testimony of His enemies. Christ’s enemies often make it impossible for people to reject the possibility that Jesus is God and then admit that Jesus was a good teacher and example. You see Christ’s enemies often point out the outrageous nature of Christ’s teachings.

For example when some men lowered a paralyzed man through a roof, Jesus said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:20) Now we are so used to the idea that Jesus forgives sins that we might not notice that Jesus is also saying He is God, but His enemies will not let us forget this. Immediately the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” (Luke 5:21) The scribes and Pharisees remind us that when Jesus claims the authority to forgive sins, He is saying He is God.

We have a similar event in today’s Gospel. This time the actions of the Jewish leaders remind us that Jesus claimed to be God. Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.” “Therefore they took up stones to throw at him.” (John 8:58-59). The Jewish leaders were ready to stone Jesus to death because of His statement. They tell us that Jesus was once again claiming to be God.

You see Jesus was not using bad grammar. When Moses asked God to tell him His name, God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” (Exodus 3:14) With the words, “I AM,” Jesus is identifying Himself as the person who appeared to Moses from the burning bush. He is saying that although He has a human body that is less than fifty years old, His person is independent of the beginning of time. He is saying He is the one who is, who was, and who always will be. His enemies obviously understood His meaning because they were ready to kill Him for blasphemy.

This gets us to a conclusion that C. S. Lewis made in Mere Christianity: “A man who was merely a man and said the sorts of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”

The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus’ teaching and called it blasphemy. They wanted to kill Him, but it was not the right time. Jesus hid Himself from this lynch mob and left the temple.

Later, the time would be right and Jesus would allow mere men to nail Him to a cross. The Jewish leaders would once again accuse Him of blasphemy and convince the Romans to crucify Him. On that cross, the Son of God who is also 100 percent human would sacrifice Himself unto death for the sins of the world. As Jesus the Son of God died on the cross, He purchased forgiveness, life, and salvation for all people.

Jesus’ enemies could not keep Him in the grave. He rose from the dead and proclaimed His victory. With this proclamation, we have the promise of eternal life with God.

Even people who do not now believe that Jesus is God have forgiveness set aside for them. It is on lay-away waiting for the day when the Holy Spirit brings their spirits to life and works faith in them. Then they too will experience the love of the Triune God. They too will look forward to the day when they see God face to face in heaven.

Those who reject faith and forgiveness until the day they die will never experience the sweet forgiveness that the Son of God has set aside for them. The forgiveness, life, and salvation that Jesus Christ has already earned for them will remain unused. Instead, they will experience the full, dreadful consequences that they earned with their own sins. They will spend eternity paying for those sins in hell, for they will have rejected the only gift that can save them.

Why is it so important that we understand that Jesus is God on this Trinity Sunday? If Jesus is not God, then He would be a cult leader who started a false religion that has deceived billions of people. We who gather here would be the most pathetic of people, for we would look forward to a salvation that isn’t there.

But Jesus is God. He is the second person of the Trinity who is also human, born of the Virgin Mary. He saved us from sin with His perfect life, and His sacrificial death. He promises us a new life with his resurrection and ascension. One day we shall all see Him face to face and those of us who believe will live with Him forever. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and savior of the world. Amen.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible.

Copyright 2007, James T. Batchelor. Used by permission.