TITLE: “The Divine Love of the Holy Trinity”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for this morning is from the Gospel lesson just read from John chapter 3 as follows: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The love of God is not a stationary thing.  When we think about love, often it is something like a ditch.  I fell into the ditch.  I fall in love.  It’s like some sort of divine accident that happens to you along the road of life.  But it is not so with God.  As Saint John said, God is love.  Love defines God.  And so the reverse is true: God defines love.  There is no such thing as love apart from God.  Even the love that an unbeliever has is but an imperfect reflection of the great love of God.

To say that God is love tells us something about the nature of God the Holy Trinity, doesn’t it?  What does it take to love?  It takes two, or at least two.  Love by nature means to give, to sacrifice, to put the other first, to seek what is best for your beloved.  So we say that God is love.  God is triune, that is, three-in-one.  The love of the Father for the Son in the Holy Spirit goes back to all eternity.  This is a great mystery.  Saint Paul put it best in our Epistle lesson for today:

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33)

 We can’t know the depths of God, but we do know what He has revealed to us in the Word of God.  And what does this Word of God say?  It says, For God so loved the world.  Now just stop there for a minute.  This essence, this very character of God as love, that is what God wishes to give to the world.  He loves the world.  He will sacrifice, he will give of Himself, He will do whatever it takes for the best of the whole world.  God so loved the world.  Our God, the God of the Holy Scriptures, is not satisfied to live up on Mount Olympus or off in a faraway place and watching His little toys that he’s created.  No, that is not the God we worship.  Many people think of God this way, but it is not true.  For God so loved the world.

This love of God moves Him to do something.  He gave His only-begotten Son.  He gave His firstborn Son.  He gave the one He loved first, before the foundation of the world, so that He could save His lost ones, you and I.  He gave His only-begotten Son over to die so that you won’t die and perish in hell and condemnation.

Incredible.  Unsearchable.  The love of God moves Him to give His only Son to die so that you might live.  When we talk about the Holy Trinity, and when we sing hymns about the Trinity and when we sing the Holy, Holy, Holy of the liturgy every week, we are not talking about high and lofty ideas, too far away to understand.  We are talking about your life.  We are talking about water poured on your head by a pastor, be it today as it was for Christa, or years ago.  We are talking about God giving Himself to you through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are talking about the faith of your parents and grandparents.  We are talking about the faith of the prophets and martyrs and apostles.  This is the faith that clings to Jesus Christ alone for life and for eternity.

So this is what Nicodemus came to talk to Jesus about on a night some 2000 years ago.  Nicodemus was a teacher of the Law, an elder in Israel, respected by friend and foe alike.   He had heard about this teacher, this Rabbi named Jesus, and so came to ask Him about the faith.  Jesus wastes no time with Nicodemus, and gets at the very heart of the matter:

Most assuredly, I say to you, [said Jesus] unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

For us human beings, there is only one way into the kingdom of God.  That one way is God’s way of Holy Baptism.  Baptism is not a peripheral event in the life of the Christian.  It is front and center, just like that font.  If you push Baptism to the side, or say it is unimportant or just an outward, external thing, well, you have just pushed yourself outside of the kingdom of God.  In order to be of the spirit, we must be born by water and the Holy Spirit.

This is Trinity talk, my friends.  This is about you Christa, and you, Sharon, and about each one of you who gathers here today to hear His Word and receive His body and blood for eternal life.  God gives Himself to you, and He washes away your sins.  They are gone forever in His sight.  You are now in God, and God is in you.

But, you might say, how can water do such great things?  I mean, its just water.  Shouldn’t we get to the more important stuff like good works and doing things?  No, no, a thousand times no.  As Christians we dwell, no, we revel in God’s work in us through Word and Sacrament.  That is our delight and our joy night and day. 

So this is the wonder and joy of this day.  God added Christa to His family today by Holy Baptism, and He comes down, brings you back, and draws you close to His side once again.  His love for you knows no bounds.  His love for you is everlasting.   We, like Isaiah in our Old Testament lesson, are unworthy and have unclean lips to enter into God’s presence and speak His name.  But God feeds you from His altar today you with His body and blood, to make you clean and whole once again.

So, rejoice you sad hearted and lonely.  Your heavenly Father has come down to earth to draw you up to him.  Rejoice and be glad!  God loves you with everything He is, and He gives you eternal life in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Welcome to the family.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.