+ Trinity Sunday – June 15th, 2025 +

Series C: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Acts 2:14, 22-36; John 8:48-59

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

“The Triune God of Abraham”

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.

This is what Jesus says to the Jews near the end of their rather lengthy debate over his identity and divinity, a debate that takes up a better part of John 8, until Jesus lays down his final arguments in the debate by claiming to be YHWH in the flesh, the Great I AM incarnate.

And it makes you wonder…what was it that Abraham saw about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, that would cause him to rejoice and be glad. After all, Abraham saw many things.

Could it have been when YHWH called Abram to leave his father’s house and go to the land God would give him? Or when he promised…I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great? Or when YHWH caused a deep sleep to come upon Abram and made his covenant with him and promised to send him a son through whom all nations would be blessed?

Could it have been when Abram and Sarai were given new names or when YHWH delivered on his promise and gave Abraham and Sarah their beloved son, Isaac? Or when YHWH rescued Abraham and Lot and their families from the destruction of Sodom, or on the mountain where YHWH told Abraham to bring his only son, Isaac, whom he loved, for a sacrifice but the Lord provided another sacrifice?

Yes…all of the above.

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. Abraham rejoiced and was glad because the God who called him also calls you, out of this dark and dying world into the new creation in Christ ushers in on the cross and out of the grave.

Abraham rejoiced and was glad because the same God who promised to bless him and make his name great has a greater name which is above all names: the Name of the Holy Trinity, which we confess and rejoice in today: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And because the God who made his covenant with Abraham, is the same God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who brings you out of the sleep of death, and the darkness of sin, in the covenant and promise of Holy Baptism. There he places his eternal, holy, Triune name upon you.

Abraham rejoiced and was glad, because even though his sin, and yours and mine is as numerous as the stars in the heavens, the steadfast love of the Lord is far greater; and in his mercy he calls us children of Adam to be children of God. The same Lord who gave him and Sarah new names, has also given you a new name: saint, baptized, beloved, heir…all by the work his saving name accomplishes for you. The name that we confess today: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Abraham rejoiced and was glad because the same Lord who promised the birth of Isaac himself was delivered, born of the Virgin Mary, a child of promise born to save Abraham and you. And this beloved Son of God, born of Mary, is also the only begotten Son of the Father, …and one substance with the Father. He and the Father are one. And the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son to you. For the same Lord who rescued Abraham and Lot and their families, came to live, suffer, die, be buried, and rise again to bring you into his family and make you members of his holy household by grace. The Father sends his Son for you. The Son gives his life for you. The Spirit is poured out for you to bring you back to the Father through the Son.

Abraham rejoiced and was glad because he saw from afar the dawning day of the greater Isaac, the only begotten Son of the Father, who was not spared on the mountain of sacrifice but gave his life for Abraham, Isaac, and for you. Abraham saw who Jesus is. The Jews in John 8 do not. Standing before them was the one who was before Abraham, who is and who was and who is to come, the great I AM incarnate who declares to you…I AM the resurrection and the life.

There’s no middle ground when it comes to Jesus’ words here in John 8. Either they are the height of blasphemy and the Jews were right to pick up stones and hurl them in his direction…or Jesus is exactly who he says he is…that he and the Father are one, and he is God in the flesh to save you, sent from the Father and sending of the Spirit.

This is the holy confession we echo in the Creeds today and every Sunday. That we worship the Trinity in Unity, and the Unity in Trinity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.

The question isn’t about whether or not we can perfectly understand this mystery. We can understand it no better than the Jews in John 8 ready to stone Jesus. The question isn’t whether or not  you can explain Jesus’ words or the mystery of the Trinity, but do you believe this confession? Do you trust his words? Do you believe him when he says that he and the Father are one? Do you believe him when he says, before Abraham was, I AM? Do you trust that he – and he alone – is the one whose words are life and whose life is given to you that you would never see death (the big D, everlasting, Death)?

And with those famous father’s words, we confess…Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps me in the faith, just as he did for Abraham. The Lord Jesus gives you what you lack, just as he did for Abraham. The Lord Jesus gives you a righteousness that is not your own, just as he did to Abraham. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

As it was for Abraham, so it is for you. Today you confess and rejoice and are glad in the work and mystery and saving rescue the Holy Trinity brings to you in Jesus. Today you confess that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is also the God who is the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – to save you by grace. Rejoice and be glad, for with Abraham and all the saints you confess and live in the saving name of the Holy Trinity, and the undivided unity.

A blessed Trinity Sunday to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.