- Revd Dr Lance Stone, Minister, Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Cambridge
Isaiah 6: 1-8;
Romans 8: 12-17;
John 3: 1-17
Sharing in Heaven
[This sermon is based upon Andrew Rublev's icon, The Holy Trinity, so as to give it a visual dimension. It would therefore be necessary to have a copy of this projected or displayed, or printed on orders of service etc. Note that while traditional male language about God is mainly used in this sermon in the cause of simplicity, it is interesting that the figures look remarkably feminine!]
Andrei Rublev's Trinity
Andrew Rublev’s picture which he entitled ‘The Holy Trinity’ was painted in the 15th Century in memory of a great Russian saint named Sergius. The picture is based on the story in Genesis 18 where the aged Abraham is visited by three strangers. Abraham and his wife Sarah offer them hospitality, and they tell Abraham that Sarah will soon give birth to a son. It’s a beautiful and profound work of art and we are going to use it to consider our readings for this Sunday, Trinity Sunday, when we ponder the strange mystery of God revealed as three-in-one and one-in-three.
So we begin with our first reading and we read from Isaiah 6 that Isaiah enters the temple in the year King Uzziah died, and there he has this amazing vision of God, and he sees the seraphim around God’s throne and he hears them calling out, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory!’ And maybe we could look at Rublev’s icon and just imagine that this is what Isaiah saw, as we ponder it for a few moments. Firstly, note the postures of the three figures seated round the table. Note the way their legs are turned inwards, emphasising the inner circle of communion in which these three share. Theirs is a close circle of love. But note the space between the two figures nearest us. Here is the gap where we are invited to take our place. Here there is room for us to partake of this fellowship of divine love; here we are offered to share in the very communion of those we call Father, Son and Holy Spirit; here we are drawn in to participate with the cherubim and seraphim in the very worship of heaven.
And this is what we do whenever we gather for a worship, whether it is in a great, soaring cathedral or a small gathering of the faithful in some small, draughty chapel. It is as if the roof is lifted off and we are raised to share in this great heavenly communion.
But now we focus in especially on the two figures in the centre and on the left of the picture, almost certainly the Father and the Son. Looking at this part of the picture raises the question of sonship and therefore what it means to be a child of God. In our passage from Romans today Paul talks about the children of God, but who are they? Who are daughters and sons of God? Well, one answer would be that all human beings are children of God, all people everywhere. We all bear the divine image. We are all God’s offspring. We all share in that relationship between the Father and the Son portrayed here by Rublev. Elsewhere in the New Testament Paul writes, ‘I bow my knee before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named’ and that suggests that we are all named as children of God, whoever we are. And that is crucially important, because it means that there is something that unites the human race. There is some basis for unity. Our modern world is one in which we are more and more aware of our differences: different cultures, different religions and indeed we are rightly suspicious of anything at all, like empires for example, that tries to unite all people. And this is because all too often attempts to unite people have tended to eradicate individuality and diversity. Stressing what we have in common is all very well, but it can threaten my particularity, what makes me me and not you. And so political parties in this week’s elections will play upon people’s fears of losing their ‘Britishness’, their national identity. Even vegetables apparently have to conform to certain shapes! But of course we are in a double bind, for by emphasising our difference and distinctiveness we run the risk of ending up with an increasingly fragmented world. And a fragmented world all too easily becomes a violent world.
Let’s look again though at Rublev’s icon for there surely we see a grounding for both unity and diversity, sameness and difference. Look again at the Father-Son relationship between the figure on the centre and the one on the left. If God is Father or parent of us all, then any human being on earth can identify with that figure in the centre. Jesus here represents every human being and therefore all humanity sits where he sits and shares in that divine circle of love. God as parent of us all holds us all together in one embrace and here we are united. But then widen your focus and look at the rest of the picture. Here there is diversity. Here there are three figures, all different and to take our place in this circle is to be welcomed into a circle of variety. Unity does not therefore need to mean uniformity. It does not need to mean sameness. Here there is a divine grounding for a wild and rich diversity, where people retain their individuality and no-one can impose an identity on anyone else.
Now that’s all great – the holy Trinity as a grounding for one human family, all children of God yet all different. We must however stay a little longer with these two figures, because from another angle what is portrayed here is a very special relationship indeed. In fact it’s unique. It’s a one-off. This is God the Father and God the Son, a relationship which has been for all eternity, from before the foundation of the world. You see, there is sense in which Jesus is the only child of God. He is ‘the only begotten of the Father’ as Christian tradition has put it. In a sense this is an utterly unique relationship, and it is one that is held and bound together by this third figure on the right of the picture – the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been referred to as ‘the bond of love’ between the Father and the Son. And what’s more, this unique relationship is one that is marked by one word – ‘Abba’: not a Swedish pop group, but the word for Father in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, and the word Jesus used to address God. It is a close and intimate word for father, and in his case it denotes this very special unique relationship that he shares with the Father, one that is his and his alone. But listen to a great mystery. We get to call God Abba too. We get to echo Jesus’ cry of Abba. We get to share in heaven. How? Well, because by our baptism we are so united to Jesus, so one with him, that his special relationship with his Father becomes ours. This is the great gift given to Christians. In other words being a child of God is not just a matter of being a human being. It’s not just about sharing the flesh and blood of a common humanity. It’s about being born into this new relationship in God by the Holy Spirit. That is what Jesus is trying to tell Nicodemus in that great passage from John 3. Nicodemus probably thought that being Jewish was enough to make him a child of God, but he was wrong. Becoming a child of God is a miracle of re-birth into this special relationship between the Son and the Father. Suddenly we are bound to God is a new way as Jesus’ cry of Abba echoes and resounds in our hearts. And every time we call God Father we are reminded of that profound and precious relationship which we are privileged to share. So it is that Paul declares in our reading from Romans that when we cry ‘Abba! Father!’, ‘The Spirit of God affirms to our spirit that we are God’s children.’
And just think of one particular occasion when Jesus cried ‘Abba! Father!’ It was in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was wracked by the ordeal that he was about to go through. Then he cried, ‘Abba, Father! If you are willing, let this cup pass!’ And if ever there was a moment when Jesus was tempted to disobey or to doubt, that was it. If ever there was a moment when Jesus’ unique relationship with God hung by a thread, that was it. There and then Jesus’ relationship with the one he called Father came under the most intense strain. It was at breaking point. And I imagine that the cherubim and seraphim that surround the throne of God in Isaiah’s vision stopped crying ‘holy’ and held their breath in silence as they watched and waited. There the whole weight of eternity rested heavily on that lonely figure in the garden. And at that moment this third person on the right of the picture, the Holy Spirit, was working overtime to hold this bond of love between the Father and the Son together. And it held, praise God! The bond held firm.
So with us too. In our dark, Gethsemane moments of doubt and despair the Holy Spirit works overtime and the relationship holds. And we share therefore, says Paul, not just in the Sonship of Christ but in the sufferings of Christ. And of course we can go a step further and say that even when we fail and sin and betray our baptism, still the bond holds. Even when we let go and fall the Spirit that unites the Father and the Son holds us firm in God’s love, despite our shame.
So, on this Trinity Sunday, let us celebrate that we share in heaven. We share in heaven in our worship, joining with the heavenly host around God’s throne. And in our walk with God too, we share in heaven for we are children of God, not just by our creation as human beings, vital though that is. We share in heaven as we are reborn by God’s Spirit into a special relationship that lies at the very heart of the life of God. And to God be the glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit forever.
Amen.
