Trinity Sunday Yr C (Jn 16:12-15)  05/30/2010

During this season of school graduations, I am reminded that shortly after my college graduation I moved to Florida to attend the Navy’s Nuclear Power School. The school was an intensive 6-month training course designed to teach the details of nuclear power plant operations. The course work kept everyone very busy, with 40 hours of classroom time and usually 30-40 additional hours of study time each week. After several weeks of this rigorous routine, nearly everyone was exhausted. And although we were exhausted, as new Naval Officers we tried to keep a low profile and quietly maintain the demanding study routine…with the exception of one particular student. The one member of the student body that was not a young officer hoping to make it through school and report to their first ship was a Navy pilot – a Captain who had been selected to serve as commanding officer of an aircraft carrier. As the future commanding officer of a nuclear powered ship, he needed to understand how the nuclear power plant worked, so he was sent to school…much to his dismay. One day the Captain raised his hand and said to the instructor, “All of this information is very interesting, but I would like you to teach us only what we really need to know.” Perplexed, the instructor replied, “Captain, this is all important information.” “Oh, I’m sure it is,” replied the Captain, “but the information on the test is probably the most important information, so why don’t you take special care to highlight that information for us.” The instructor, a young junior officer himself, stood speechless in front of the room, wondering how to respond to the Captain’s rather direct request.

Difficult topics require the very best we have to offer. The complexities of our lives and our relationships can demand our very best thinking; demand that we live through moments of uncertainty; demand our patience as we live into the unfolding truth as that truth is revealed. In our Gospel lesson last week, we heard Philip ask Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” (Jn 14:8) Philip’s question to Jesus is asked a short time after Jesus began his farewell address to his disciples in John’s Gospel account. After nearly 3 years of ministry with Jesus, Philip realizes that time appears to be running out and he wants to get to the heart of the matter; he wants to understand the very core of Jesus’ message. Philip believes that seeing the Father will bring clarity to all his confusion; seeing the Father will provide all the answers to life’s questions. Jesus replies, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14:9) This morning, on this Trinity Sunday, we are reminded that as Christians, we not only believe that when we have seen Jesus we have seen the Father, but that we have been given God’s loving guidance through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian belief that the one, true God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is perhaps one of the most difficult topics of the Christian faith…a topic that has filled book shelves throughout the centuries and filled preachers with fear and trembling for just as long. But rather than scratching our heads and shrugging our shoulders at this holy mystery, we need only listen to Jesus and heed his advice.

In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus tells his friends, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, the Spirit will guide you into all the truth.” (Jn 16:12-13a) With these words, Jesus teaches his followers that the journey of understanding is a road that is traveled one step at a time. The path of understanding is often not a direct road – it is a path that can sometimes appear straight and wide open, stretching clearly out to where the horizon meets the sky; but sometimes the path of understanding is full of blind curves and unexpected hazards. Barney Hawkins, a professor at Virginia Seminary, would often say that he was disappointed that the use of satellite navigation would prevent so many young folks from having the experience of becoming terribly lost. They would never mistakenly travel down the wrong road, only to discover a beautiful field of flowers a few miles off the main road or the quaint out-of-the-way restaurant with the best local cuisine…or simply to discover the challenges of becoming horribly lost and the joy of being found again. Jesus is teaching us that he recognizes we will be lost; we will be traveling down the road of life and the blind curve ahead might confuse and frustrate us. But the Spirit of truth will guide us into all truth, if we have the patience and trust to wait and listen. And on this Trinity Sunday, Jesus teaches us that we are in relationship with the one, holy, and triune God; and in relationship with each other as we journey down the road that leads to all truth. There are no set answers for us to memorize, no “cheat sheets” of everything that God would like us to know for the final exam.

The Nuclear Power School instructor quietly looked at the Captain with a perplexed look. Finally, he responded, “Captain, the training course doesn’t work that way. I cannot teach you only the information that will appear on the test. You need to hear everything and from the knowledge you gain, you will eventually understand the important information.” The Captain was not pleased, as sometimes we are not pleased that life appears uncertain and the answers are not easily forthcoming. The world in which we live surrounds us with breaking news and immediate answers. But in our world of headline news and sound bite answers, Jesus reminds us that we are on a journey of unfolding truth, the truth of a loving God that seeks relationship. The relationship of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, reaches out to guide us as we journey together down the twisting and turning road of life.

Let us pray (Collect for Guidance): Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN