Thomas J Parlette
“The Puzzle of the Trinity”
John 3: 1-17
5/30/21
In the late 1980’s, artist Jim Sanborn was hired to create a piece of art to be displayed at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. So Sanborn thought he might have a little fun with this project and create something a little out of the ordinary. He contacted a man named Edward Scheidt, the retired chairman of the CIA’s Cryptographic Center. Scheidt is an expert in encryption and cryptology. Sanborn wanted Scheidt to help him create a message in code for his CIA art piece.
On November 3, 1990, Jim Sanborn’s piece of art was unveiled at CIA headquarters. It’s called Kryptos – which is the Greek word for “hidden.” It’s a giant copper screen that looks like a wavy, unrolled scroll. On this giant screen, there is a word puzzle. To the untrained eye, it looks like a mass of random letters. But Sanborn and Scheidt say there are four encrypted, or hidden messages within that mass of letters. And those four messages make up a riddle.
Jim Sanborn thought the folks at the CIA would figure out the puzzle in a matter of weeks. But he was wrong. Over the past 30 years, three of the four messages have been decoded, but the fourth remains a mystery. And even if someone were to correctly decode the fourth message, they’d still have to put the four messages together and solve the riddle. Code experts and amateurs all over the world are still working on cracking the code and revealing the message of Kryptos.(1) Quite a puzzle.
An even more fascinating form of hidden message comes from the year 499 BC. There was a Greek ruler named Histiaeus who tried to stir up a revolt against the Persian King Darius the 1st. There is an old legend that he sent the plans for the revolt to his nephew by shaving the head of his servant and tattooing a message about the revolt on the servant’s scalp. Then he let the servant’s hair grow back over the tattoo, and sent the servant to visit his nephew, with instructions to shave the servant’s head once he arrived.(2)
What an ingenious way to hide a message in plain sight. Turn the messenger into the message. When you think about it, that’s what God did with Jesus. God sent Jesus to be both the messenger and the message. As John put it in his famous Prologue, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
Today is Trinity Sunday – the day we celebrate the mysterious puzzle of God in three persons, one in three, three in one. Indivisible yet everywhere. Beyond time. Without gender.
One of the great things about Trinity Sunday are the hymns.
“Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty” – the first hymn in our last two PCUSA hymnals.
“Come, Thou Almighty King,”
“Sing Glory to the Name of God,” to name just a few.
In many ways our theology shines through in these hymns, and our personal faith is formed by the music we sing. When we consider the mystery of the Trinity, it’s nice to have these songs to sing to make the mystery make a little more sense.
Our first hymn draws inspiration from the passage in Isaiah prescribed for this Sunday. Isaiah describes God’s throne room, crowded with many-winged creatures, shaken by earthquake and filled with smoke. The creatures’ song ricochets from the walls, endlessly repeating a single mantra – “Holy, Holy, Holy!”
Then we hear from Paul, who invites the church in Rome to imagine a different image, to offer a different song. Paul chooses language, not of royalty, but of family: “Abba.” This God who is attended by angels, whose hem brushes the corners of the universe, is our parent, and we are children who confidently sing “Abba.”
Which brings us to Nicodemus. His song is full of questions – “How can this be?” Something about Jesus and his words intrigues Nicodemus. Jesus has just tossed both tables and tradition out the Temple door. Nicodemus is shocked – and also a bit intrigued. So he creeps toward Jesus under cover of darkness. By the flickering light of an oil lamp, Nicodemus sings – “How can this be? How can we be born again? How can we read the wind? How can we understand the signs? How are we to address you? How can any of this be?”
After a slight pause, perhaps a smile crept across Jesus’ face as the light flickered in his eye. Then Jesus offered his own song. A song that turns the messenger into the message – “For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Martin Luther famously called this verse “the Gospel in miniature.” If all the Bibles in the world suddenly vanished and we could hold only to this one verse, we would know everything that we really need to know. The puzzle of God in Three Persons is answered in this one verse – the Gospel in miniature.
I once heard one of my storytelling friends tell about this big conference she attended where speaker after speaker lined up to speak on various topics. Finally, the last speaker of the evening stepped up to the mic. He said, “I have only 10 minutes, I barely know where to start.”
And from the back of the room, someone shouted, “Start at the 9th minute!”
If pressed on how to understand the Trinity, or explain the nature of God’s character, God’s love and God’s desire for humanity – you really couldn’t go wrong if you jumped to the 9th minute and simply said – “For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Pastor Adrian Rogers makes the point that a lot of people reject the message of God’s love in the life and death of Jesus because it’s too amazing to understand and too simple to accept.
Rogers met a lawyer one day, and they were talking about the books they read. Rogers said the primary book he reads is the Bible. The lawyer thought this was a little short-sighted of Rogers. “If you don’t read any further than that,” said the lawyer, “how do you know what to talk about when you speak to people?”
Rogers responded that all people everywhere have only three problems – sin, sorrow and death. And he found the wisdom to address those problems in the Bible.
The lawyer disagreed. There are so many more problems in the world. But Rogers suggested he take some time to think about it and get back to him. The lawyer took some time to ponder their conversation. And when he saw Rogers again, he said, “I think you’re right – Humanity has only three problems – sin, sorrow and death.”
And Rogers responded, “And Jesus Christ is the only answer to all three problems. You can give me all the wisdom of this world… but there is no other answer apart from the cross.”(4)
Sin is what separates us from God.
Sin is what causes our sorrow and death.
But God so loved the world that God couldn’t leave us separated and broken. God sent Jesus to restore our relationship to God.
The famous theologian, Karl Barth, was once asked what he thought was the most important word in the New Testament. You would think the answer might be “Jesus” or faith, or love or grace – there are lots of options. But Barth answered none of those. Instead he said the most important word in the New Testament was “huper.” Huper is a Greek preposition that means “on behalf of” or “in place of.” So when Barth called huper the most important word, he meant the most important of all truths is that we are significant because Jesus took our place on the cross that we might be saved.(5)
The mystery, the puzzle of the Trinity and the nature of God can be answered with one verse – “For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
And for that, may God, the Great Three in One, be praised.
Amen.
1. Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p26.
2. Ibid… p26.
3. JoAnn A. Post, Christian Century, May 19th, 2021, p20.
4. Dynamic Preaching, Vol, XXXVII, No. 2, p27-28.
5. Ibid… p28.
