Matthew 28:16-20

The disciples worshiped him but they doubted. How very curious. These were the 11 men who had been tapped on the shoulder and called out of the only life they knew to follow a charismatic man who was like no other man in history. They saw him walk on water, multiply loaves, change water in wine, heal the sick, drive out demons and, even more incredibly, raise the dead. They were with him in the upper room when he predicted his passion, they watched as he was arrested, scourged, crucified, died and was buried. They saw him resurrected and glorified, appear and disappear from their presence. They touched his wounds, ate with him, listened with him, talked with him and walked with him and yet they doubted.

What, by that point in time, could they still doubt? They doubted for the same reason we doubt. As much as they know and for as much as we know, we only know a little, just a bit of the mystery which is the trinity.

It is easy to talk about the one God with three faces, God the father, Jesus the savior and the Holy Spirit and to rationalize the concept of three in one but can we really grasp it. I mean really, really grasp it. We can’t so we worship we can grasp but doubt the rest.

I love a good mystery. I like to read good murder mysteries like those written by James Lee Burke who can draw you into his stories by animating characters who are flawed but capable of nobility and you can become so caught up in the flow of the story you forget to watch for the clues which will lead you to the final revelation of who dunnit at the end of the book. The theology of his books is intensely powerful but not in a traditional manner even though the main character, the antagonist and his family are devoutly Catholic. The stories are filled with Cain versus Able dynamics with vengeance, greed, jealousy all driving the behaviors of every richly drawn character. The end always results in redemption for those who confront evil in imperfect ways and justice for the wrongdoers.

The victims, despite being human and flawed with their humanity, are innocent. Even when the puzzle is solved and the story is ended, there is a mystery which continues, a mystery which conceals how they carry on beyond the end of the words.

British murder mysteries on BBC also fascinate me. The best of them provide a look at place and time where crime seems but familiar but out of place. The main characters always seem to be most unlikely of victims and criminals and often times when the final scene plays out, the murderer often seems as surprised to discover they committed the crime as the victims when they realized they were being murder.

The trinity is not a mystery like we encounter in books and on cinema. There is not a puzzle to solve or riddle to unlock. The trinity is mystery, a place where we see a little, understand a little but never more than that. We are not capable of more, not while we have to use human faculties to capture the supernatural as if it were lightning in a bottle. To believe are capable of more leads to the deceit of pride which clouds our vision or, as it is said, clouds our intellect and we understand less and not more.

So we worship but still doubt. God understands that it is why he has revealed more and more himself over time until revelation was completed in the second face of the trinity and then sent the third face, the Holy Spirit, who connects God to us and us to him. The Trinity is a mystery we can only submerse ourselves into like a deep, dark, bottom pool in which we can float effortlessly but accomplish nothing more. To be at peace in the mystery whether it is for a few minutes or even longer is the reward for worship.

Still we doubt but still we are forgiven.

Sadducees Set A Trap

Oh how smug those Sadducees were. Oh how clever they imagined themselves to be. Can’t you see them nodding their heads at each other with knowing smirks on their faces? “We have got him now,” they said to one another.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, as we learned in the gospel. For them there was nothing like a everlasting life for humans nor did they believe in the existence of angels. Life on earth was a reflection of heaven which ended with individual death. The only thing that survived was the tribe, the community of believers who passed knowledge, as they perceived it, from one generation to the next. On the contrary, the Pharisees had a clunky and ill-defined concept of the afterlife. Only those who listened closely to Jesus were blessed with a better understanding of what was come after death.

They, the Sadducees, did not think Jesus would be able to outwit their neatly constructed trap without contradicting the Law of Moses. They were wrong. He turned their argument right back against them. Explaining resurrection in simple terms, Jesus said we would be like angels. Earthly things like marriage would remain behind on earth where they properly belong to living and we are living are expected to live according to the law as instructed by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In the resurrection everything changes. There is no contradiction of the law because the law has been fulfilled. The law applies to human, not to angels.

Scripture does not describe how the Sadducees reacted to being caught in their own trap so we can use our imagination to color in the blank spots on the canvass. The smirks were wiped away and they no doubt were left sputtering and grumbling.

What lesson today can we draw this from the passage? What happens when we act like the Sadducees?  Inevitably we fall into the trap we ourselves set by not humbly asking for God guide us. The message for us two-fold. First, God is the God of the living. Revelation has been all about how we should live, constantly mindful we were created in his image and hopeful for justice and mercy as our days speed toward human death. Second, informed by our belief, we have an image of our life after death through the gift of the resurrection. God is the God of the living and, if we believe, we will never die but will live forever with him. There is no contradiction for us, only understanding.

God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God of Moses, let our hope to be like angels after death encourage us to live today as you have taught us.