TRINITY SUNDAY 2004

Several years ago, there was a television commercial for, as I recall, the air fresheners that plug into the wall. The producers had hired, I believe, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, as their charming Bronx or Queens accents seem best suited for the play on words used in the commercial. Said play on words was based on the two-word phrase "air conditioner". I don't remember which of the two played which part, but the memorably happy confusion over the aforementioned phrase was based on one of the two mentioning their new air conditioner - meaning of course that this new product conditioned the air to make it smell, presumably, more pleasant. The other character of course, assumed that the reference was to the type of air conditioner that cools the ambient temperature inside a room or building. And the play on words went something to the effect of, "Oh, you don't mean an air conditioner air conditioner; you mean an air conditioner air conditioner."

Or consider if an Englishman, a CFL or NFL football fan, and a horse race fancier were in a Las Vegas casino, and someone said to them, with no context to help explain the meaning, "Unless you punt, you have no chance of winning." To which the Englishman might respond, "How can I punt when there is no water, let alone a boat in which to punt." And the football fan, "Punt? Where's the field, and who's playing?" And the horse race fan, "I don't even see any horses on which to bet." By the way, in Las Vegas terms, "punt" means to bet against the house.

With a little thought, I'm certain that most of us could find other examples of English words that have multiple meanings, and thus the capacity in various situations to cause some confusion until the meaning is clarified.

The same is true of the Greek in which the New Testament was written, and, based on certain episodes where a dialogue occurred, one presumes also the Aramaic being spoken by Jesus and His disciples. One such "air conditioner air conditioner" or "punt" is found in today's Gospel.

But before we get to that, some might remark that today's Gospel might seem a peculiar choice for Trinity Sunday. Some might even find it more appropriate to last Sunday, Pentecost, what with its reference to being born of the Spirit, and with no apparently obvious connection to the Trinity. In contrast, last Sunday's Gospel reading was from Jesus' Great Discourse in Chapters 14-17 of John's Gospel, where there are abundant Trinitarian references. Indeed, in last Sunday's reading, from Chapter 14, we find, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name." And the previous week on the Sunday after Ascension, the Gospel reading was also from the Great Discourse (Ch. 15), in which we find, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father." Both of these appear to be highly appropriate readings for Trinity Sunday; but, instead, we have the passage in John Chapter 3 of Jesus and Nicodemus in the garden, with its memorable phrase, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

The Trinitarian reference is there in today's reading; it's just a little more obscure. Jesus most often spoke about Himself in the first person singular, and the Father and the Holy Spirit in the third person singular. But very briefly in this passage, in verse 11, He switches to the first person plural quite clearly it seems, referring to all three Persons of the Trinity, "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness." Next sentence, He switches back to the first person singular, "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not…."

Also, just as in this morning's Lesson which we heard from Revelation, the Gospel reading encourages us to lift our minds to the realm of heaven where the Son lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

But back to our multiple meaning word. If, in our Las Vegas scenario, the speaker had explicitly stated that one must bet against the house, rather than using the word "punt," there would have been no confusion for the various listeners who assumed different meanings for the word. In today's passage from Chapter 3 of John, Jesus uses a word which confuses Nicodemus. In passing, Holy Scripture is full of puns, plays on words, and the like; but they are most often missed when we read an English translation, as, not surprisingly, the pun or play on words is lost in translation.

Today's Gospel reading has one such play on words, and though it is not clearly revealed in English, the passage itself tells us that Nicodemus is looking for a boat in which to punt, instead of placing a bet against the house. In verse 3, Jesus says to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born anwqen, he cannot see the kingdom of God." In English translations of the Bible, anwqen is always rendered as "again". And being "born again" is certainly a sufficiently mind-bending concept that we shouldn't be surprised at Nicodemus' confusion. People such as St. Paul, St. Augustine, and countless others who have undergone instantaneous conversions, can identify readily with the appropriateness of the phrase "being born again."

However, if one refers to a Greek lexicon, one discovers that the primary meaning of anwqen in classical Greek is not "again" but rather "from above" meaning from heaven. Indeed, a lexicon will suggest that in the context of "again," "anew" might be a better word. The passage, even in English gives us the full context, unlike our example in Las Vegas, and reveals to us that being born "from above" is Jesus' primary meaning, whereas Nicodemus is stuck on the earthly concept of physical rebirth. It is also abundantly clear that Jesus is trying to get Nicodemus to raise his thinking from the earthly to the heavenly, from the physical to the spiritual. Alas, even though the conversation bounces back and forth a few times, it is not revealed to us by John whether the light ever went on and Nicodemus uttered, "Oh you mean anwqen anwqen."

As mentioned, the type of rebirth to which Jesus refers is not inappropriately termed "born again," as any who has undergone the Road to Damascus experience will say that such a rebirth is truly a spiritual experience, and one fully acknowledges that the source of that new birth is from above, from heaven - anwqen. As mentioned, "anew" might be a better word, as it bridges the two concepts quite nicely. In fact, if one refers to our Baptism service, where our Lord's words from this Gospel passage are paraphrased, it is rendered, "None can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be born anew of Water and of the Holy Spirit."

The phrase "born again" has become so firmly entrenched in the Christian vernacular that it would be difficult for any of us to try to expand the collective mindset of those who might tend to gloss rather quickly over this passage to recognize the phrase "born from above" as being clearly what Jesus meant, and is a proper translation from the Greek.

There is some cloudy thinking that has invaded a number of reformed churches. In this passage, they have begun to teach that "born of water" refers to the fluid in one's mother's placental sac. Now, yes, there is an apocryphal passage where there is a reference to water in the natural process of childbirth; however, even the context of our Gospel reading today in English, without knowing the other meaning of anwqen, clearly indicates that this is not Jesus' meaning. To such people who insist that Jesus was not pointing to the heavenly, water baptism is a purely symbolic act whose basis if found in other parts of the New Testament. Perhaps if these believers were to come to the knowledge that Jesus actually said, "unless one is born from above of Water" they would understand the Church's traditional teaching on Baptism - that it is not just symbolic; that an actual rebirth, regeneration, from heaven, by God, occurs in those who are baptized.

Certainly, this should not be cause for any sort of divisiveness, rather, I should like to think that other believers would welcome the expanded explanation and the appropriateness of the terms "anew" and "from above" to describe more fully the conversion experience, and the spiritual rebirth, regeneration that occurs at our Baptism.

Trinity Sunday. Nicodemus, earthly mindset, anwqen being born again in earthly terms. Jesus, heavenly, anwqen being born anew spiritually, from above.

Trinity Sunday marks the point in the Church year when our focus is called to move from the earthly to the heavenly. In the first nine seasons of the Church year: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Septuagesima, Lent, Passiontide, Easter, Ascensiontide and Pentecost, our focus has been on God's personal, in-the-flesh interaction with mankind in the Person of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. Now, during this longest season of the Church year, we are called to raise our mind to heavenly things as we contemplate, in the words of the handy little hundred year old book entitled, "The Ritual Reason Why," "the final glory of the Elect in the fruition of the Beatific Vision" - which is to say, the kingdom of heaven.

"Bless us, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with the vision of thy glory; that we may know thee as the Father who created us, rejoice in thee as the Son who redeemed us, and be strong in thee, the Holy Spirit who dost sanctify us; keep us steadfast in this faith, and bring us at the last into thine eternal kingdom (in heaven), where thou art ever worshipped and glorified, one God, world without end." Amen.

THE ANNUNCIATION OTTAWA 2004 CLRK