Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,
"The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity."
The God of Israel always desired to make himself know. He was not a disinterested or elusive deity to be found only at the end of a long search when his efforts at hiding or evading detection by humans were finally overcome. He was not such a deity as man often imagines in the context of our so-called search for God. The God of Israel was indeed said to be found by those who seek him (see Proverbs 8:17), but this precisely because he always sought them first. It was God who took the initiative and established covenant relationships with Abraham, Moses, and David. It was he who spoke first to the prophets, giving them their own commissions to speak in his name. Those leaders whom he chose, when they were at their best, reciprocated the desire for this relationship, a relationship that was first and above all to be about being together with one another.
Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.
Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord,
do come along in our company.
There was however an obstacle to God's desire to be in relationship with mankind, for since the fall they were a stiff-necked people given to wickedness and sins. The hearts of his creatures were meant to be given over entirely to him but instead were divided in their allegiance to many created things and pleasures which could never provide lasting satisfaction or joy. We were meant to find all of our joy in our relationship with God, in such a way that created things too were sources of joy because they were properly ordered to him, but chose instead lesser things and inevitable unhappiness. For a time God overlooked such sins in mercy as he prepared a remedy that would finally address the issue. Only such a remedy could unlock the depths of relationship with him that he had always intended for us.
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.
God had always been Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But sin made God appear to us to be too distant to fully reveal himself in this way. He appeared as the Father of Israel but not so much as the Father of individual members of Israel. He often appeared stern and aloof as his creatures misread his intentions through the lens of our their selfishness. This is why much of what Jesus did in bringing the Father's salvation to us was to make known the true face of the Father, the face of love.
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (see John 14:9).
I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them (see John 17:26).
Those who would not accept the truth of the love of the Father and the Son remained in the state of condemnation that they were already in, the state into which any human life devolves when connection to God is lost or damaged. But this was the very opposite of God's desire for us. Thus Jesus himself would go extremes, to the very depths of God forsakenness, to persuade us to trust the Father as he did..
The Father sent the Son into the world as a sacrifice to save the world from sin and thus open the way for us to return, together with the Son, to the Father. The Father and the Son were always united in love, and desired that we ourselves partake of that love. The outpouring of this love into our hearts is what we celebrated at Pentecost. It is this very love, which could not indwell hearts given over to sin, that now fills us and makes us sons and daughters in the Son, teaching us the true nature of the Father's heart, helping us cry out "Abba!" (see Romans 8:15). It is no coincidence that we celebrate Trinity Sunday only after Pentecost, only now that we see that the Father and the Son have together poured out their Spirit upon believers.
There is great consequence to the fact that our God is Trinity, a living exchange of love. It is not merely a doctrinal fact, but a living, healing reality that is meant to transform our lives.
Brothers and sisters, rejoice.
Mend your ways, encourage one another,
agree with one another, live in peace,
and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
When we embrace the reality of relationship with the Triune God we begin to take on the attributes of individuals united to God and neighbor by a living bond of love. We come to possess a joy and a peace of which we ourselves are not the origin. And this precisely because our lives are no longer self-enclosed islands, but now are ourselves received from God and offered back to God through the Spirit. We still stand in this world of created things, but somehow also above it, directing and ordering it all back to God as our song of praise and thanksgiving.
Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,
praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.
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