Devotion for the Third Sunday of Advent, Year C (Humes)

Above:  Icon of the Holy Trinity, by Andrei Rublev

Image in the Public Domain

A Glorious Mystery

DECEMBER 13, 2020

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Zephaniah 3:14-20

Luke 1:67-80

Philippians 4:4-7

Luke 1:57-66

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St. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah.  Perhaps one would expect the pericope from the Hebrew Bible to be a messianic prophecy, given the cluster of readings for this Sunday in Advent.  One would be mistaken.  Zephaniah wrote of a time when God would rule directly on the planet; the prophet did not write of the Messiah.  Bishop N. T. Wright picked up on God ruling directly on the planet, as in Zephaniah 3.  Wright wrote in Jesus and the Victory of God (1996) that God (YHWH), not Jesus, is the king in Biblical eschatological prophecy, even in the New Testament.

I write and think of the Trinity with all due theological caution; I prefer not to commit any of the plethora of Trinitarian heresies.  My reading of the history of Christian theology informs me that well-meaning attempts to explain the Trinity have frequently led to or bolstered heresies.  I also know that I have been guilty of entertaining notions bordering on Sabellianism, although I did not know that term when I did so.  Yes, I affirm that Jesus of Nazareth (the human being whom Roman officials executed on false allegations in 29 or 30 C.E.) was the incarnated form of the Second Person of the Trinity.  In my mind, “Jesus” runs together with “Second Person of the Trinity” after the beginning of the Incarnation.  Likewise, I refrain from calling the pre-Incarnation Second Person of the Trinity “Jesus” or “Christ,” due to my chronological manner of thinking.  And, when I write “God,” the meaning varies, according to context.  Sometimes I mean the Trinity.  On other occasions, I narrow to the focus to one of the three Persons (literally, “masks,” in Greek) of the Trinity, especially YHWH.  (That is mask, as in a mask a Greek actor used.)  Etymology is one issue.  How accurate Greek word choices are is another matter.  Sometimes language fails us; even our our descriptions cannot always do justice to reality.  I do not attempt to explain the Trinity, a glorious mystery.

How can I explain the Trinity when even orthodox Trinitarian theology makes no sense?  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are co-eternal, right?  Okay.  Then how can the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father or from the Father and the Son?  And does one accept or reject the filioque clause?  Orthodox Trinitarian theology, established by a series of Ecumenical Councils, is as close to the Trinitarian reality as one can get in this life.  Nevertheless, The confusion that results from following orthodox Trinitarian theology proves that one should accept the glorious mystery, refrain from overthinking it, and revel in that mystery.  The beautiful reading from Philippians provides some advice for this revelry:

1. “Let your tolerance be evident to everyone.”
2. Do not worry; trust in God.
3. “Fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honor, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.”

The context for this counsel is Christian community, of course.

The translation is The Jerusalem Bible (1966).

May we, in the words of the Larger Westminster Catechism,

glorify God, and fully…enjoy Him forever.

The details of Trinitarian theology, Trinitarian reality, and Messianic prophecy will tend to themselves.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 10, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF FOLLIOT SANDFORD PIERPOINT, ANGLICAN EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OGLIVIE, SCOTTISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1615

THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/a-glorious-mystery-part-ii/

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