Sermon for the Festival of the Holy Trinity: May 30, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Throughout the Old Testament, God set before men like Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other prophets, an incredibly difficult, uncomfortable task. They were not called upon to explain the sublime doctrine of the Trinity, but what they were given to do was prophesy – prophesy concerning Israel’s impending destruction at the hands of her enemies. It’s a message of judgment, so it should come as no surprise to learn that these men suffered continual rejection in their quest to be faithful to God’s call.

On one occasion, for instance, Jeremiah was beaten by the chief officer of the Temple and placed in stocks so people could ridicule him as they passed by on their way to their false, hypocritical “worship.” At one time Jeremiah became so despondent on account of his God-given task that he complained of ever having been born. He wrote: Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you – a son!” May that man be like the towns the Lord overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever. Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame? (Jeremiah 20:14-18)

In similar fashion, the holy man Job also suffered. However, unlike Jeremiah, he didn’t suffer at the hands of God’s people who rejected his preaching. Instead, Job suffered afflictions of body and soul which God permitted Satan to inflict upon him. He lost seven sons and three daughters in one catastrophic event. All his flocks of camels and sheep were stolen right out from under his nose. Satan was even permitted afflict him “with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.” So in his forsakenness, the famously patient Job also reached the point where he despaired of his birth, and said: May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’ May that day turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it. Why didn’t I perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day? There the wicked cease from turmoil and there the weary are at rest. (Job 3:3-6)

Yet the regrets of one’s birth are not confined only to the prophets. All who enter into this life and reject the faith God desires to give us all – who willfully live in conscious opposition to the Lord’s Christ – will likewise also regret their birth someday. Recall, for instance, what Jesus said of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord of Life to His death. He said: “The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born!” (Mark 14:21)

Consider how some people, even today, regret having ever been born because of the course their life may have taken – because of regrettable actions they have done or because of regrettable punishments they may have suffered at the hands of evil men. Due to terrible things that happened to them, both Jeremiah and Job wished they had never been born. And, it would have been better for Judas not to have been born – not because of what he suffered, but because of what he willfully undertook – even though if he had not betrayed our Lord, someone else would have stepped up and taken his place.

But, you may be thinking that Jeremiah, Job and Judas are extreme examples. Maybe so. Is it not true, though, that each of us – sinners all – at one time or another are inclined to look back on our lives with a deep sense of regret? Is it not true that many addictive people rue the day they first gave in to temptation? Is it not true that many lament the sufferings they’ve experienced at various times in their life, not all of which they outwardly seem to have deserved? Is it not true that many would love to go back in time, do things differently, right the wrongs they may have committed, and perhaps maybe avoid some of the pain in their life?

What causes you remorse? Is it the way you may have been treated, the way you’ve treated others – or is it both? Is there something in your life that makes you desire a return to your birth, a chance to start over – fresh, spotless and new? If so, dear Christian, today’s Gospel is what you need to hear. It’s the story of Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night under cover of darkness, with a hunger to know and understand the source of the great miracles Jesus had performed. But our Lord Christ had no desire to discuss the topic Nicodemus wanted to talk about. He didn’t want to get tangled up in explaining the three persons and the single essence of God. Rather, Jesus engaged him in another subject, more to the point: “I tell you the truth,” He said to him, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” – born from above – “begotten of the Father” as we read in John chapter 1– “born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, nor a husband’s will, but born of God.”

Jesus wasn’t speaking to Nicodemus about the possibility that he could return to his mother’s womb – as if that were even feasible – but He did speak with him about a return to the fresh, clean innocence of an Eden-like birth – about a birth of water and the Spirit that restores regrettable, regretting sinners to an unceasing, child-like innocence – an innocence that has no “stain or wrinkle nor any other blemish” – an innocence which only God, and no one else, can give. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about Baptism – his Baptism, your Baptism.

Nicodemus, you see, was more than just a “teacher of Israel,” as Jesus called him. He was also, perhaps more importantly, a battle-wearied sinner – a Word-of-God-speaker who had no idea what He was to speak – a truth-searcher who realized he had run out of places to search for the truth. So he came to Jesus at night and said to Him: “Rabbi, we know You are a teacher who has come from God.”

Here in this Gospel, Jesus taught the teacher, just as He teaches you and me. He teaches us that you can, indeed, return to your birth and start afresh. He teaches that new birth has already come to you as a gift from above – in a birth of water and Spirit that washes away all sins and regrets with their attendant remorse and shame.

As Paul reminds us in Romans 8, there is now no condemnation for the people of God – for you and for me. There is, instead, the continually flowing water of Baptism – a washing of water and the Holy Spirit – that repeatedly blots out all your transgressions, washes away all your iniquities, and cleanses you from all sin. There is no guilt that any longer need weigh heavily upon your heart, for the blood of Jesus has cleansed and purified you.

You need never regret your birth, for our heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has given you a new birth – a birth from above. And so, with Nicodemus, Jesus declares to you this day: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” – born from above says the Greek – you too are “begotten of the Father” – even incorporated into the Holy Trinity Himself, since you are unified with the ascended Christ.

This is the birth that the Holy Trinity has given to you; it’s by the will of the Father, through the death and resurrection of God’s Son, and by means of the Holy Spirit’s gifts. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” and he has been given new birth. After speaking of your new birth, Jesus goes on to speak about the certainty of your forgiveness and salvation with these words: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

Here’s where believing in the Holy Trinity makes a difference for you as a Christian: The Father sends the Son. The Son is lifted up on the cross for the salvation of the world, so that all who look upon Him in faith may be saved. Then finally, the Holy Spirit pours out His grace into your heart and mind, so that having been born anew, you may now and always live in the new life Christ has won for us all. By this faith, children of flesh are made to be children of God, heirs of the kingdom of heaven, and possessors of eternal life. This is the lesson of today’s Festival and its Holy Gospel reading. May our dear, merciful God and Lord graciously nurture and sustain you in it, for the sake of His Son, and for the building up of His kingdom.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Is. 6:1–7 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
Psalm 29 The voice of the LORD is over the waters
Rom. 11:33–36 Oh, the depth of the riches
John 3:1–17 unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.