Then Jesus said to them, “Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? – Luke 20:41

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 5, 2014): Luke 20

The most consistently contested claim Christianity might be our belief in the Trinity – the belief that God is singular (that God is God Alone) and yet somehow also manifested in our presence as three - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is a doctrine that the detractors of Christianity have found to be quite humorous – how can God be one and yet three. It is the first line of attack for novices in their attempt to discredit Christianity. And even some sects within Christianity at times seem to tire of the fight and appear ready to abandon the doctrine. Questions begin to arise about how important the belief in the Trinity really is to Christianity. In most mainline denominations, it sometimes feels like belief in the Trinity is kind of like the uncomfortable presence of the weird uncle of the family - we know that he is there,  but there is this overwhelming feeling that if we ignore him he will go away. And so we don’t speak of the Trinity much other than to acknowledge the belief in some of our rituals and prayers (e.g. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.) Beyond that the doctrine lies dormant. It is simply too hard to explain and too hard to understand.

Part of the problem is that, unlike other contested doctrines like the Virgin Birth or the Resurrection of Jesus, the doctrine of the Trinity is never openly described in the Scripture, it is only doctrine to which the Bible alludes. Matthew makes mention of it when he instructs us to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19) and John strongly alludes to it in the opening words of his gospel (that the Father and Jesus are One in John 1) and then again in the Last Supper discourse (especially John 15 – 16) and the High Priestly Prayer (John 17), but these are more hints alluding to the doctrine then they are explicit instructions regarding the doctrine.

And here in Luke we have another allusion to, at the very least, the God–Jesus paradox of the Trinity, and it is the relationship between God and Jesus that seems to cause us the most trouble. We need to understand that the question that Jesus asked was an important one. The concept of the Messiah at the time was most commonly referred to as being the “Son of David.” The title itself occurs several times in the Gospels, and each time the one using the title was indicating a belief that this Jesus truly was the Messiah. It was as what they meant when the people asked “Could this be the Son of David” (Matthew 9:27)? – Is this man really the Messiah? So Jesus questions how the Pharisees understand the Messiah. Specifically, he asks them how it is possible that the Son of David is also the Lord of David. The two would seem to be mutually exclusive.

Except that we hold a belief in the Trinity – a belief in the Father who became the Son, the God who became a Man. As God the Messiah was David’s Lord, but as a man Jesus was clearly the Son of David. The real question that Jesus was asking the Pharisees was very similar to the one that Jesus had asked Peter – Who is it that you say the Messiah is? Who do you believe that I am? And it is a question that Jesus keeps asking his church. And in our confession that Jesus is the Messiah, we are agreeing that he is David’s Lord, as well as the Son of David, and he is also the Spirit who holds the church together giving to her the strength and wisdom she needs in order to minister into the 21^st Century. It is impossible to answer the question of who Jesus is without referencing the Trinity, because that is exactly who Jesus is.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Luke 21