(Audio)
Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses there
and proclaimed his name, "LORD."
The New Testament is concealed in the old. In the theophanies of the Old Testament are found hidden manifestations of the Trinity. In the reading from Exodus we already have the one who speaks, the Word spoken, and the cloud surrounding them. The cloud did obscure, but it hinted at a depth that was not entirely monolithic. It pointed to a oneness that could not be captured by the normal images or concepts we would use to convey it. It eschewed representing the idea of one even by symbol, which in one sense would have been simple enough. But reality itself was not so simple.
Cyril of Jerusalem spoke about why God is inherently mysterious, "[f]or we explain not what God is but candidly confess that we have not exact knowledge concerning Him. For in what concerns God to confess our ignorance is the best knowledge."
Yet although there is a cloud, the cloud is still more than an absence. There is something legitimately revealed, and therefore a reason for the revelation. It may never turn neatly into concepts in our minds, but it assuredly did already turn the world upside down and continues to do so.
The same speaker, the same cloud, and the same Word were present when Jesus was baptized. In the light of the incarnation this mystery of God began to take on density, even if it would always remain mysterious.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
The Father sent the Word, the Word whom he is always speaking, into the world. He spoke him specifically to us by the incarnation. And as a word is spoken together with the breath, so too is the giving of the Word tied up with the giving of the Holy Spirit.
In the visible mission of the Son we see the inner life of the Trinity lived out in space and time. We see a profound interaction of love between Father, Son, and Spirit, which overflows into his creation.
Looking back to Exodus we begin to realize that this truth always marked the inner life of God, it was not just the way that he later chose to interface with creation. God did not simply decide arbitrarily to be loving. Rather he himself has always been Love itself.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God (see First John 4:7).
So while we will never have perfect words to capture the Trinity, there is a real way in which we experience him by love. His invitation to us is to allow ourselves to enter more fully into this great dance of love between Father, Son, and Spirit. It is this dance to which Paul invites the community in Corinth.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
For Paul the reality of the Trinity is lived out, even incarnated, in the love of the community.
Mend your ways, encourage one another,
agree with one another, live in peace,
and the God of love and peace will be with you
In our abstractions we will always be a little off the mark. But in our love the reality is revealed.
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