The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Pentecost Sunday, May 11th: Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23)

Note: this is part of a talk I gave last fall at a Charismatic prayer meeting.

TRANSFORMED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT – PART 2

When it comes to the Trinity, most Catholics say, “The first person of the Trinity, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Yes, I know that.

“And the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord. Yes, I know that, too.

“And the third person of the Trinity, um…well, two outta three ain’t bad.”

Well, two outta three ain’t bad if you’re talking baseball, and your batting average. But just image a three-legged stool. With all three legs, it is very sturdy. But with only two outta three legs, it’s very wobbly. If you try to sit on a stool with only two legs, you will soon find yourself flat on your keister. (I believe that’s the official biblical term: “keister.”)

Knowing just the Father and the Son, but not the Holy Spirit, is wobbly. It produces wobbly Christians, who soon finds themselves flat on their keisters. (When’s the last time you were in church and heard the speaker repeatedly use the word “keister”? I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.)

If we understood the Trinity better, then we would be more likely to know who the Holy Spirit is, and to know what His purpose is, and to call on Him to empower us.

So, would you like me to explain exactly what the Doctrine of the Trinity is, so that we all can clearly comprehend it? You would? Sorry, but I can’t. No one can. The best we can do is offer analogies that kinda, sorta help us get a little closer to understanding.

One of the best analogies I’ve ever heard isn’t really an analogy that explains the Trinity. It’s more of analogy that explains why we can’t fully understand the Trinity. Let me give it a try:

Imagine a two-dimensional world, where everything is flat. There is only depth and width, but no height. All of existence is contained on a flat plane, like a huge sheet of glass extending in all directions as far as the eye can see.

The people living in this two-dimensional world have various shapes. There’s Timmy Triangle, Cindy Circle, Sammy Square, and that free-spirited non-conformist, Trevor Trapezoid. (When’s the last time you were in church and heard the speaker use the word “trapezoid”? Let alone “keister”?)

These flat people can move forward and back, left and right. But in their two-dimensional world, they cannot move up and down.

One day Timmy Triangle said to Cindy Circle, “Hey, guess what? Sammy Square just told me there is someone who is made up of six separate square people but is actually one person.”

Cindy replied, “Impossible! It’s either six different people or it’s one. It can’t be both at the same time.”

“Well, Sammy Square says it’s true.”

“What does he know?” Cindy sneered. “He’s a blockhead. And you, Mr. Triangle, you’re so pointy-headed you actually believe that nonsense.”

“Well, maybe it is true,” Timmy said.

“C’mon, do the math! How can six separate square people be consider one person at the same time? It makes no sense!”

Well, she’s right. It makes no sense...in a two-dimensional world. Six separate squares cannot at the same time be considered one thing.

But what if, unbeknownst to our flat people, there exists another dimension? What if the third dimension, height, really exists and the two-dimensional flat people simply are unaware of that fact? They’ve been living their entire lives on a single plane, going forward and back, left and right, not realizing that they could also go up and down.

With three dimensions, you can take six separate squares and arrange them into one cube. To human beings like us, living in our three-dimensional world, this is obvious. (Well, it’s obvious to those of us who got at least a C-plus in Geometry class.) But to the flat people, living in their two-dimensional world, it makes no sense. They cannot comprehend how six can equal one.

Maybe this is why it’s so hard for us to comprehend the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The Christian faith teaches one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Many people hear that description and say, “Oh, so Christianity is polytheistic. You guys believe in many different gods.”

“No,” we explain, “We believe in one God, who exists in three persons.”

And just like Cindy Circle, the reply is, “Impossible! It’s either three different gods or it’s one. It can’t be both at the same time. I knew you Christians were blockheads.”

Maybe we’re like the flat people, constrained by our three-dimensional time-space existence, and unaware of an additional dimension. We cannot comprehend how one God can exist in three persons.

But from the heavenly perspective, outside of time and unconstrained by physical dimensions, it may be plain and obvious—as obvious as us knowing that six squares can equal one cube.

So maybe when our time on earth is over, and when we enter into the heavenly glory for the first time, we’ll take a quick look around and say, “Oh, now I get it! It makes perfect sense now!”

But as long as we’re on this side of eternity, we just cannot fully comprehend the doctrine of the Trinity. But we can believe it. We don’t believe it because Timmy Triangle said so. We don’t believe it because our parish priest or the bishop or even the pope said so. We believe it because Jesus said so. It’s not blind faith. It’s rational, reasonable faith based on the authority of the One who said so: Jesus.

Some things are simply “articles of faith.” We believe they are true even though we can’t fully understand or explain them. Outside of the religious world, we do this all the time. We believe in stuff even though we can’t fully understand it.

I believe in electricity, but I can’t explain it. In my job, I occasionally work with electrical engineers, and I’ve asked them to explain to me what electricity is. And they say, “Well, it’s the flow of electrons through a conductor, but it’s not actually a flow, it’s more like an instantaneous chain reaction of electrons banging from one atom to the next.”

And by that point I’m already getting a headache. And I say, “Stop, stop. You lost me at ‘electron.’”

So I don’t understand electricity, but I know it’s real. I know that when I hit the switch, the light comes on. And if I ever begin to doubt, I can take a fork and shove it into the wall socket, and I’ll quickly be reminded that electricity is real.

There are a lot of things we believe but can’t explain. I can’t explain how a 30-ton hunk of metal can lift into the air and fly me safely all the way to Pittsburgh—while flying my luggage to Chicago. It’s a mystery. But I know it’s true.

There are a lot of other mysteries. Who can explain exactly how a cell phone works? Who can explain how antibiotics make us well? Who can explain what women want?

Mysteries, all of them. But true, too.

With the Trinity, it’s not blind faith. It’s faith based on the words of Jesus. And Jesus had a lot to say about the identity of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

(Next week: So what did Jesus say about the Holy Spirit anyway?)

©2008