Matt Mings on Trinity and the “Other”
The Gospel of John will rock your world, if you’ll let it! This text paints the cross as a scandal that cannot be endured. And yet in this scandal we discover Christ’s glory: the revelation of God’s ethic and standard of what it means to be a disciple. It’s a hard pill for me to swallow. Why does Jesus disown himself to the point of death? Why would any who follow this God be called to disown themselves just the same?
The Holy Spirit functions in the life of the Church by always pointing to the Son. The Son, throughout scripture, is continually pointing to the Father. (“Father” is simply who this God is in relation to the Son in the Gospel of John. God has many names and characters, this is the one used here). And notice what John – ever the thoughtful observer – is showing us (in John 8:50): the Father is always drawing attention to the Son through the Spirit. We have a beautiful picture of the Divine Identity always disowning self and drawing attention to the “other.â€? The Father does not seek the Father’s glory. The Son does not seek the Son’s glory. The Spirit does not seek the Spirit’s glory. Each is continually seeking the glory of the other. In John’s first letter, he eloquently evidences this cyclical pattern of life within the Triune God: “There are three that testify: the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood, and these Three are Oneâ€? (1 John 5.7-8).
The scandal of the cross can only be accepted as an action of the Triune God. It is an action of self-denial in preference for others to which every believer is called. God’s love for the “other� within God’s own life flows outward to us. We in turn must disown ourselves and love the “other.� This might be loving our neighbor, not so much as we love ourselves, but as we would rather love ourselves. In an individualistic, selfish American society such a way of life will indeed be scandalous.
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Category: Sacramental Living, Scripture Comment »