The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, 2023
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. John 3:1-15
The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity
June 4, 2023
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Nicodemus was seeking after something. He was a ruler of the Jews. But he came to Jesus by night, that is, in secret, no doubt, because he was afraid of the Jews; ashamed of what his colleagues would think if he was seen associating with Jesus. He was afraid to be seen publicly with Him. But nonetheless, Nicodemus was seeking after something very important. He was seeking the Kingdom of God. He wanted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom and so he came to Jesus. He came to this seemingly obscure rabbi and teacher and confessed, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him.” But still, he came by night. He came by night and in secret because he was ashamed and afraid of being associated with Jesus. The same sentiment rules in our day.
But even still, Nicodemus was seeking after the right thing. Immediately, at the outset, Nicodemus confessed that Jesus had something to do with God, perhaps God had endowed this rabbi with supernatural abilities, likened unto the prophets, such as the ability to turn water into wine. It’s possible, according to Nicodemus that Jesus could be from God or of God; he wasn’t quite sure. But he sought answers, so he came to this obscure rabbi in the dark of night, in secret.
Notice, if you will, how Nicodemus doesn’t come right out and say what he wants. But Jesus, God in the flesh, knows all. He knows that this ruler of the Jews is seeking after the Kingdom so Jesus tells him plainly what must be done for someone to enter into the Kingdom of God, “Most assuredly, I say to you,” Jesus says, “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” At the outset, this may have seemed ridiculous. How can someone physically be born again? Thus, Nicodemus’s reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he possibly enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Nicodemus is too literal and wooden in his interpretation and so Jesus gives more detail, “Most assuredly, I say to you,” says the Lord, “unless one is born of water and of 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. Do not marvel that I say to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
When we hear Jesus say, “Unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God,” to what is our minds automatically drawn? We know that Jesus is speaking about the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Unless you are baptized, He says, you cannot know or appreciate or even enter the Kingdom of God nor can you even begin to comprehend the Kingdom of God. Unless you are born again, unless you are baptized, you cannot begin to appreciate the things, the benefits, the blessings of the Kingdom of God. “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved,” says our Lord at the end of Mark’s inspired Gospel. If you do not understand Baptism and how it is an act of God that saves; how it is a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit, then you cannot know the Kingdom of God and furthermore, you cannot possibly begin to comprehend or even rightly confess rightly, the ruler of this kingdom: the Holy Trinity.
The Gospel account from John, chapter 3, appointed for this Feast of the Most Holy Trinity enlightens us with a theological truth: if you do not understand Holy Baptism and rightly confess it, then you cannot rightly confess the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Now I’m not saying that you must have a perfect working knowledge of Holy Baptism which will bring you to a perfect working knowledge of the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity—how the Trinity functions and operates within Itself as three Persons and yet One God, or what the Trinity looks like. Because in this life, on this side of glory, because of our sinful flesh, we cannot perfectly know and comprehend these things. Who knows what the Kingdom of God is truly like? For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to Him? The reason Jesus speaks in parables concerning what the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven is like is so that we who are simple human beings might begin to understand the immense and perfect grace that God gives us through Jesus Christ. Jesus speaks to us in parables using language and situations we can comprehend as He relates it to what the Kingdom of Heaven is. And in speaking to how someone enters this Kingdom, He simply says, “You must be born again. You must be born of water and of the Spirit.”
Obviously, even though He does not use the phrase or say the word “Baptism,” we know He is speaking about Baptism, much in the same way three chapters later in John 6, Jesus foreshadows the great gift He will later institute as the Sacrament of the Altar. Now no one is saying that the great feeding miracle in John 6 is the Sacrament. It’s not. But God is not arbitrary. Just as He fed a great number of people in the wilderness, so also does He feed us with the Sacrament in the wilderness of this world. And if we want to receive this holy meal, we first must be born again of water and of the Spirit, as He says in John 3, that is, we must be baptized. Just as an aside, it’s no coincidence that John 3:5 is the verse most often quoted by Luther in the section on Baptism in the Large Catechism. So let no one say that even though Jesus doesn’t use the word “baptize” or “baptism,” clearly, He is talking about being baptized when He says you must be born again of water and of the Spirit.
Baptism is a Trinitarian act. How can you confess the Most Holy Trinity if you do not understand Holy Baptism? The fact of the matter is you can’t. Holy Baptism is in its essence a Trinitarian event. First, our Lord Jesus Christ commands that we be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in the last chapter of Matthew. Right off the bat, we see how in Holy Baptism, the name of the Holy Trinity is placed upon us and given to us as a right. The Holy Trinity is a family. The Trinity consists of a Father, His only-begotten Son, and their Spirit. This is what’s given to us in this initiation Sacrament—this heritage, this love, this ordering of our lives. We who are sinners, corrupted by our sinful nature are washed clean by water and the Word and are brought into this Holy Family of Father, Son, and Spirit and are adopted as sons and daughters by grace. This is why Jesus tells Nicodemus that you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven—a kingdom ruled by the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—unless you are born again through Holy Baptism.
So also this is precisely why someone who does not rightly understand and does not rejoice in the saving nature of Holy Baptism cannot rightly confess the Holy Trinity. We see this, most obviously, in non-Trinitarian sects, which claim to be Christians such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, and those who call themselves “spiritual but not religious.” These three groups, at least these three groups of people do not have a correct understanding of the saving nature of Holy Baptism, nor do they—at least the JW and Mormons by their official doctrines and teachings—believe, teach, and confess the Holy Trinity. Sure Mormons may use the phrase “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” but they do not mean what you mean when you confess the Athanasian Creed. That’s why this creed is confessed on this day. It is perhaps the greatest description and confession of the Holy Trinity that has been written by man. So also, those who are “spiritual but not religious,” at least in my experience, really find no value in Baptism or the Lord’s Supper or the Sacraments in general. They claim to not be religious. And yet, at the same time, James writes in his epistle, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” You know what is not unspotted and of the world? Demons. Demons are also “spiritual but not religious.”
Don’t be like them. Instead, continue to confess and keep on learning the what the Bible says about Baptism. Learn by heart the Bible passages Luther cites in the Small Catechism concerning the Sacrament: Matthew 28:20, Mark 16:16, Titus 3:5-7, and Romans 6:4. It doesn’t take that much effort. Learn your doctrine; relish it; recite it; confess it. And so also, keep confessing the Holy Trinity. Even though the Three in One and One in Three does not make sense to our fallen minds, we believe in it and we confess it by faith. You have been baptized. The name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has been placed upon you and given to you. You are part of this holy family, not as servants who sit as doorkeepers but as those who dwell in the tent and house of your Father, His Son your Brother, and Their Spirit.
Surely, you are here this morning because you desire the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is here. And by your baptism, the Kingdom of God is in you. Nicodemus came at first by night, in secret, not wanting to be associated publicly with Jesus while seeking these things. But God be praised, in the end, he came around. Because it was Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who went and took care of the Body of Jesus after His crucifixion and prepared it for burial. And even as Jesus died so would both Joseph and Nicodemus. But because Jesus lives, so will they. And because you believe and are baptized, so will you.
In +Jesus’ name.
