Festival of the Holy Trinity
***This sermon was preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Baltimore in honor of the retirement of Pastor Charles McClean***
Text: John 3:1-15
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
To begin pondering today’s Gospel, you have to start by considering who Nicodemus is. He is a great teacher of Israel. He’d be well-known within the circles of power and influence. People would seek him for wisdom, and they’d see him as the most righteous of men.
As Martin Luther put it regarding Nicodemus in his sermon for the Holy Trinity, “In the government [Nicodemus] is the ruler; in knowledge, the wisest; and in life, the most holy.”[1]
That’s a great weight for a person to carry, isn’t it?
To become this person, he had to be deeply committed to studying and reading in pursuit of knowledge. For a ruler or government official, there are expectations both internally and externally placed on him and his family. To be the most holy, that individual must withstand immense pressure to be perfect in both words and actions.
But for all practical purposes, it seems that Nicodemus is this person and has it all; he’s truly at the peak of his life.
So why is Nicodemus, the esteemed teacher of the Pharisees, coming to Jesus? He comes at dark and says: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2)
This is an interesting statement from Nicodemus because he approaches Jesus with gentleness and respect, even calling him a teacher and rabbi.
But in response to Jesus’ words, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” Nicodemus is confused and responds with doubt, asking, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
These words of Jesus strike Nicodemus, the great theologian and man of wisdom, with a blow as he sits in the shadow of his own darkness and confusion. It must have been uncomfortable for such a learned man to realize that he and his fellow Pharisees do not possess a knowledge of all things, that they do not understand or truly know the ways of God.
Obviously, as the world considers birth, they view it through the perspective of a mother carrying a child in her womb for nine months before bringing it into the world.
For Nicodemus, this is the only way a birth can occur.
However, Jesus is speaking of a different birth—a heavenly one given by God above, through water and spirit, water and the word. This is the kind of new birth that occurs through the waters of Holy Baptism, making a person a child of God.
The reason for and necessity of this new birth, this second birth, is that humanity was born with the sin of their first parents, Adam and Eve—the kind of sin and arrogance that can lead to believing one has control over others, that they are the wisest in the room, and the most righteous of men.
It’s this sin of pride that now flows through the arteries of your heart. You also need to be born again to have the stain of sin removed. The whole person must become a new man; otherwise, you will not receive the forgiveness of sin and the eternal life that Jesus promises.
All of this comes from Jesus Christ, as the new life He gives you grants faith, love, and humility.
In many ways, this contrasts with the image presented at the start of today’s sermon of the Pharisees, of which Nicodemus was a member.
Faith, love, and humility are also very challenging for the typical person today.
Due to our desire for power, we aim to be seen as the wisest person and the most holy of men.
The danger of becoming this man or woman is real.
Having lived in the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) for many years myself while serving in the military, I met a chaplain who initially disliked being assigned to the area. In the beginning, he would comment on the politics, the traffic, the heat… But over time, he grew to love it here, and perhaps not for the reasons you might think: he fell in love with the intellectual conversations he started having with peers he saw as equals, arguing and debating those esoteric questions of faith, the deeper and hidden questions of faith. He began to see this region of the country as a place where iron sharpens iron.
Being intellectual is not a bad thing; God has given some people a higher I.Q. as a gift, if they can wield their knowledge and wisdom charitably. But in this arena of life, wisdom and intellect are often used as weapons in a coliseum, where the pursuit of knowledge is dominant, and being the wisest, most powerful, and “seen” as the most holy is most important.
When someone feels they have lost these qualities or faculties, such as any kind of power or high position in society, or if the mind begins to weaken, or the manner of ones living no longer reflects a once holy life, a darkness may enter the heart—a darkness that shields one from seeing the One who truly holds the world in His hand, whose wisdom is beyond understanding, who entered the most holy of holies with His own blood for you—Jesus Christ.
This darkness can manifest in different ways, like feelings of regret, a sense of failure, or the fear that you’ve let others down. When this happens, your heart is often filled with doubt, anxiety, or even signs of depression.
This darkness can turn into the loneliest place for man.
But despite all the power, wisdom, and outward appearance of holiness, Nicodemus does something many of us forget to do when it feels like our mind, body, and soul are failing; he sits silently in the darkness of his confusion and simply listens to the words of Jesus.
And in these words of Jesus that follow, you hear how the children of God must not only be born into this world but also be born from above through the waters of Holy Baptism, born of their Father in heaven, where forgiveness and faith are present for them. Jesus teaches that He must enter the darkness of man, your darkness upon the cross of Calvary, where He will take upon Himself your feelings of failure, anxiety, doubt, and shame.
In a remarkable way, Jesus is already guiding Nicodemus to His cross, where life and salvation will be secured for him and for you. It will be at the cross that Nicodemus appears again, this time in the darkness of night, to assist with Jesus’ burial.
There’s a beautiful sermon here about the name of Nicodemus. It’s a compound name; “Nikos” means victory, and in this case, “Demos” means people. So together, Nicodemus means victory of the people. In this way, his name begins to confess who Jesus is—the victor of God’s people, the One who those with faith receive eternal life.
However, remaining in this faith can be as challenging as contemplating and understanding the Holy Trinity, which is the focus of this day’s celebration. The Holy Trinity is a profound mystery that cannot be fully grasped or explained through human wisdom and knowledge. Instead, it invites you, the Christian, to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn how, out of great love for you, His Father sent Him to redeem you upon the cross. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, you become a new creation—born again by living out the baptismal life of daily drowning the Old Adam within you as you repent of the sins and darkness that cling to your heart, then be raised from the water to new life through the words of absolution, the words of God’s forgiveness, spoken to you from the lips of the pastor.
So, how do you avoid being drawn into the darkness of sin and unbelief? Whether he realized it at the time or not, you follow the example of Nicodemus; you go to Jesus, who “Has the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) You become subordinate to Him, sit at His feet, and learn from Him.
Which is why we come here each Sunday, to be present where Jesus has told us He will be for us—in His Word and here at the altar, in the bread and wine, now made flesh and blood, for the forgiveness of our sins.
To avoid falling into torment throughout the week, you are encouraged and admonished to read the Scriptures, to sit at the feet of Jesus each morning and at the end of the day, to pray for help when pride begins to fill your heart or when feelings of doubt, anxiety, or depression threaten to consume you.
As we honor and give thanks for the service of Pastor McClean today and reflect on the many ways God has used him to shepherd His people, I believe the closing hymn is a favorite of his. Unfortunately, not all the stanzas are in the hymnal; one of the missing stanzas, stanza six, I believe, beautifully summarizes the festival of the Holy Trinity and also relates to the sermon before us as it continues.
Spare Thy people, Lord, we pray,
By a thousand snares surrounded;
Keep us without sin today,
Never let us be confounded.
Lo, I put my trust in Thee;
Never, Lord, abandon me.
(940 Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, St. 6)
My friends, your Lord has not abandoned you and has promised never to do so. Trust in Him with all your heart, and don’t be confused by the teachings of this world or the traps of life. Don’t let your heart and mind be overtaken, because Jesus has overcome the world for you.
Let this be your prayer and confidence. +INJ+
Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Website: www.goodsheptomah.org
The Shepherd’s Voice Podcast: https://goodsheptomah.podbean.com/
[1] Martin Luther, “Gospel for Trinity Sunday,” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 78 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 30.
