The Passage<\/p>\n
\u201cNow the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.\u00a0 And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Jesus came and said to them, \u2018All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.<\/p>\n
\u2018Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press]<\/p>\n
\u201cO LORD, what are we that you should care for us?\u00a0 Mere mortals that you should think of us?…Happy are the people of whom this is so!\u00a0 Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Psalm 144.3, 16]<\/p>\n
\u00a0 In the Name of Christ + Jesus our Lord<\/p>\n
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In preparation for the Festival of the Holy Trinity this weekend, it is helpful to notice how routinized the Festival has become: We Lutherans pull out the Athanasian Creed with minimal instruction for its annual recitation; We tend to recite the philosophical connections between the Father, the Son and the Spirit; We heartily and joyfully sing the classic hymns resonating with the Holy Trinity\u2019s Life.<\/p>\n
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This weekend, however, may be the time where this routine gets jumbled and we emerge from the liturgies with a fresher understanding of our Lord and God.\u00a0 Granted, the world in which we live pays little or no attention to the LORD God and the hidden yet open ways in which his Life crosses with the world\u2019s people.\u00a0 Most of such people are fully caught up with the gods they have created and are content with the ways their lives are running.<\/p>\n
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The world\u2019s way of thinking also rubs off on those who are baptized and ordained: We routinize the significant Festivals of the Lord\u2019s Life; We express our appreciation to others without mentioning the activities of the Father, Son and Spirit in our own lives;<\/p>\n
We craft memoirs of our lives and work without referencing the Lord who made such lives possible.<\/p>\n
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Such examples may come close to our lives, but they reveal how many of us just assume the Holy Trinity\u2019s presence and its workings in this world, an assumption which, unfortunately, blurs their rescuing, sustaining and creating activity.\u00a0That\u2019s why this weekend, in the Trinity\u2019s presence, we can emerge with a fresher understanding of who the LORD God is and the Life he is continually bringing to this world!<\/p>\n
All of us have been baptized into the Holy Trinity. \u00a0This holy and eternal event not only pulls us from the natural concern for self; from the generator and maintainer of evil (Satan); and from the terrifying realities of death, the event also formed us to be carriers and reflectors of the Holy Trinity\u2019s Life!<\/p>\n
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The details of such forming are spelled out in today\u2019s Gospel from Matthew.\u00a0 Such forming is more than a tap on our shoulders or a request of us, it is an order that pours out from the forgiveness, mercy and grace of the LORD God!<\/p>\n
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Matthew details three realities of this forming, this order, from the Lord himself.\u00a0 First,<\/strong> note the place mentioned in this passage.\u00a0 Galilee was a place of Jesus\u2019 ministry, the place to which the resurrected Jesus was directing his apostles.\u00a0 Recall that this area is a land of darkness and sickness, one populated with afflicted people.\u00a0 The prophet Isaiah described this place as the land of Zebulon and Napthali, the land where the promised Messiah would appear as THE Light in the world\u2019s darkness!<\/p>\n \n This was the area to which our Lord brought his new Life after he was baptized in the Jordan River.\u00a0 Through his ministry there people could glimpse his Life as he rescued them from the ravages of the unholy trio of sin, Satan and death.<\/p>\n \n The land, the world, around us today is an area of darkness, sickness and affliction.\u00a0 The intensity of these conditions swirl around our lives with shootings in our neighborhoods, wars raging in the world, unleashings of every person for themselves \u2013 all of this exposing the downside of human nature.\u00a0 It is vital in such days that there be groups of the Lord\u2019s baptized people who faithfully and honestly reflect the Life that the Holy Trinity brings to this world.<\/p>\n \n Second<\/strong>, note that the biblical reference to a mountain signals the place of the Lord\u2019s presence.\u00a0 Specific directions were given during the resurrection appearances so Jesus\u2019 disciples would know where to be for his forming of them.\u00a0 As the disciples gathered in this place Matthew reports that some disciples worshiped the crucified and resurrected Jesus, but, shockingly, others doubted!\u00a0 Some had no hesitancy kneeling before the One, True God, but others weren\u2019t so sure.\u00a0 The impact of the life given them by the world still lingered and prevented them from seeing the Lord\u2019s Life!<\/p>\n \n Since the land, the world, around us today is inundated with sickness, suffering and darkness, it leaves people with no place to which they can turn except into themselves, worsening their helplessness and hopelessness.\u00a0 It is vital then that there be groups of the Lord\u2019s baptized people who faithfully and honestly reflect the holy places which the \u00a0Holy Trinity brings to this world on a weekly and daily basis.<\/p>\n \n Third<\/strong>, note that Jesus makes a highly significant comment about his authority (it is the Greek word, exousia, a word that is not a part of this world\u2019s life because it is an<\/p>\n authority from eternity!)\u00a0 Recall that this authority is unique to Jesus, the Father and the Spirit; no one else possesses it!\u00a0 It is more powerful than any authority exercised in this world (whether that be political, law enforcement, legal or military), yet it is most mysteriously and clearly displayed by our Lord in the Son\u2019s Cross!<\/p>\n \n Since the land, the world, today is inundating its people with affliction, darkness and suffering, it leaves people attempting to exercise powers rooted in the world\u2019s life, and, in the process, actually make life more dangerous and difficult for the people they claim to help.\u00a0 Thus, it is vital that there be groups of the Lord\u2019s baptized people who faithfully and honestly are aware of and live within our Lord\u2019s unique authority.<\/p>\n \n Note that Jesus tells his disciples that this authority has been given to him, unpacking the relationship which exists between him, the Father and the Spirit.\u00a0 Notice, as well, that when we are baptized into the Holy Trinity, we are drawn into this authority. \u00a0It reminds us that although this authority is hidden in the Son\u2019s Cross, we are to stride out in it on a daily basis!<\/p>\n \n The Life of the Holy Trinity, however, is not just intended for those who are baptized and ordained, it is intended for all the world\u2019s people.\u00a0 Baptism forms us to make disciples of the world\u2019s people (the Greek word for \u201cdisciple\u201d literally means \u201ca person who is learning\u201d).\u00a0 It is such learning which unpacks the Life, the ways, of Baptism.\u00a0 It is a learning that involves turning away from the life of the world into which we were born and being turned into the Life of the Holy Trinity!<\/p>\n \n How are such disciples made?\u00a0 Through the two realities generated \/ continued by Son\u2019s Spirit \u2013 baptizing and teaching them!\u00a0 These holy realities continually revolve around the repentance and obedience of the Lord\u2019s people.\u00a0 By baptizing the world\u2019s people into the \u00a0Name of the Holy Trinity, Baptism makes it possible for all people to be drawn into the Trinity\u2019s Life.<\/p>\n \n This is a stunning reality because it not only surfaces in our lives now, but it also finds its completion in eternity!\u00a0 This rescuing Baptism then leads to the second part of making disciples \u2013 teaching!\u00a0 We teach baptized people to obey the things commanded by the LORD God who has rescued us (the Greek word for \u201cobey\u201d literally means to \u201clisten carefully,\u201d \u201cto carry out what is heard!\u201d)<\/p>\n \n As we go about this baptizing and teaching so that people can learn of their rescue from the unholy trio, Jesus orders us to remember his permanent and solid presence with his people (the Greek word, \u201corder,\u201d does not mean \u201cponder,\u201d \u201cdiscuss\u201d or \u201cshare,\u201d it is an order from him to us!).\u00a0 Thus, remembering Jesus\u2019 permanent presence is not just a recollection, it is an actual participation in his incarnated, crucified, resurrected and ascended Life!<\/p>\n \n This presence keeps flowing into our lives on steady basis because it is the presence tumbling out from his Scriptures along with the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Eucharist.\u00a0 In these few, but extremely powerful verses Jesus is showing his people how he forms up his parish communities so its members can carry his Life into and reflect it in this world.\u00a0 Matthew\u2019s Gospel today makes it very clear who THE authentic God is and where THE real Life is to be found!<\/p>\n \n As we journey through this Pentecost season into November, our lives will be deepened in the mysteries and realities of the Holy Trinity\u2019s Life.\u00a0 Living in the world scrambles our thinking and doing so much we tend to forget where baptized people are to turn and to whom.\u00a0 Our understanding and seeing of the Trinity gets blurred because of our exposures to the world\u2019s life.<\/p>\n \n Thankfully, Holy Trinity steadily pushes their Life into our own so we remain imbedded in the Life flowing from the Son\u2019s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension!\u00a0 That\u2019s why we learn to begin the morning with these words: \u201cO Lord, open my mouth and my mouth shall declare your praise,\u201d and to close the evening with these words: \u201cGuide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Because of the forgiveness, grace and mercy spilling out from the Father, the Son and the Spirit, our routines of living in this world can be jumbled and our understandings of the way they work can be freshened!\u00a0 This spilling out will continue to surround our lives even when we note the huge discrepancies between the gods that are native to the world\u2019s life pulling at us and the LORD God who brought this world and its people into being while rescuing, sustaining and creating them!<\/p>\n \n Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus our Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Festival of the Holy Trinity | Pentecost One (Revised Common Lectionary) | 05.31.26 | Matthew 28.16-20 | Carl A. Voges The Passage \u201cNow the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.\u00a0 And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. \u201cAnd Jesus came and said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,157,853,173,108,110,305,349,3,109,395],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-26350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-carl-a-voges","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-28-chapter-28","category-kasus","category-nt","category-predigten","category-trinitatis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26351,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26350\/revisions\/26351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26350"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=26350"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=26350"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=26350"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=26350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}