Trinity: Welcome Home

Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. If you are from a Christian tradition that embraces the Apostles' Creed, you have probably said those words. We know them to be true. the disciples watched Jesus move farther and farther away from them as he ascended. And where Jesus went was to heaven. Have you ever wondered what that looked like?

When artists consider the Trinity, it's often like this painting by Masaccio. Jesus is on the cross, his arms outstretched. The first person of the Trinity stands behind Jesus' head. A dove representing the Holy Spirit hovers between the two. This is the Trinity at the moment of Jesus' death. But what about after the Ascension? What happened when Jesus returned to heaven?

Pieter de Grebber. God Inviting Christ to Sit on the Throne at His Right Hand. 1645. Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht.

Pieter de Grebber, a 17th-century Dutch painter, imagined that scene of "What happened next?" In this scene, Jesus kneels before the first person of the Trinity, who is seated on a throne. The symbol for the Holy Spirit, a dove here as in Masaccio's painting, hovers nearby. The enthroned God stretches out a hand inviting Jesus to take his place to the right of the throne.

Is this how you picture this part of the story? Have you imagined this scene at all? In the version here, Jesus appears to be still wearing the fabric wrapped around his hips that we see in many versions of the Crucifixion/Resurrection. Jesus is kneeling, with hands raised so we see the wounds in his hands. There is red fabric - some kind of cloak, perhaps - behind Jesus.

It occurs to me that this doesn't really look like a long-lost son coming home. It absolutely doesn't look like a triumphant king returning home after a win. It looks like someone who didn't count equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8).

Previous posts for Trinity Sunday can be accessed through the scripture index tabs under the blog title.

One of the earliest (maybe THE earliest?) depiction of the Trinity. This week on Art&Faith Matters on Facebook.

Trinity Sunday: Explaining

How to explain the Trinity. There have been books (with lots and lots of ink spilled) going into minute detail. There have been analogies: the Trinity is like an egg - shell, yolk, white...or the Trinity like a candle - wax, wick, flame. There have been visuals. Some are pictorial - Jesus on the cross, a dove above his head, and an old white guy at the very top of the picture. Some visuals are more diagram - like the shield of the Trinity below. Around the outside of the triangle we are reminded that the Father is not the Son is not the Spirit is not the Father. Moving from the corners to the middle of the triangle we see that Father, Son, and Spirit are all God.

John 16:12-15 is one of the scripture passages where all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned in some kind of relationship. There are others in scripture. But none of those verses offer a definitive explanation of just how the Trinity relates to one another. So theologians have stepped in to try to explain.

Augustine (354-430) was one of those who attempted an explanation. His work De Trinitate (On the Trinity) is not his most well-known work, and, in fact, it was published before it was completed to Augustine's satisfaction. But in it he does try to explain the Trinity to the critics of the doctrine (remembering the issues around the controversy answered in orthodoxy by the Nicene Creed's  assertion of Jesus as "of one substance" or the same substance as the Father) and to remind Christians that they should remember themselves as made in the image of a triune God.


Not surprisingly, undertaking to explain the Trinity could be a daunting task. A legend (based on nothing written by Augustine) says that while Augustine was wrestling with De Trinitate he had a vision. Augustine was by the seashore when he saw a child with a seashell (or a spoon). The child had dug a hole in the sand and was running between the ocean and a pool of water that had gathered in a hole. When asked by Augustine what was happening, the child replied, "I am emptying the ocean into this pool."
     "Impossible!" Augustine pronounced.
     The child, apparently unawed by the learned theologian, replied, "I'll empty the ocean into this pool before you manage to understand and explain the mystery of the Trinity!"
     The legend concludes with Augustine turning around, only to find the child had disappeared. So Augustine was left alone with the mystery of the Trinity.

And in many ways, so are we.




(Left) Botticelli. Vision of St. Augustine (detail from the predella - pictures below the main image - of St. Barnaba Altarpiece). c. 1488. Florence: Uffizi Gallery. 
This week on Art&Faith Matters on Facebook...alternate depictions  of Augustine's legendary vision. 
For thoughts on Proverbs 8:1-4. 22-31, click here and (in a brief mention) here.  

Matthew 28.16-20: Go

Some doubted, according to Matthew's gospel (Matthew 28:16-20, Trinity A). In other post-Resurrection situations, Jesus has shown up to reassure, to explain, to breathe on, to answer. Not here. Some doubted, and, yes, Jesus showed up. But what he said was, "I have all authority. Go." There's a little more to it, but the essence seems to be the claiming of authority and almost immediately the instruction to go.

Go into the world. All of it. Make disciples. Teach. Baptize. Go
.
 And when Jesus tells you to go, shouldn't you go?

We lose sight of the disciples (now apostles) and their travels at this point, though legends abound about where the disciples went. Thomas is credited with going to India. Andrew reportedly preached in Russia. Bartholomew took Christianity to Armenia. James, the son of Zebedee, preached in Spain.

They did, indeed, go into all the world according to these traditions, and make disciples in all these places. They might have sailed on boats or ridden a horse or camel, but the majority of their travel would have involved walking.

Their sandals were more utilitarian than the shoes pictured here, but these shoes remind us of the world into which we are called to go. And like those first apostles who heard the word "Go", Jesus is with us always, even to the end of the age.

This week on Facebook...bookends! Click on the link below.

Proverbs 8.1-4, 22-31: Holy Wisdom

By Trinity Sunday, Christ has ascended and the Holy Spirit has descended. The disciples have preached and thousands have been baptized. And with Trinity C's reading from Hebrew scripture (Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31) we find ourselves back at the beginning. The very beginning. Creation. At the beginning, God drew a circle on the face of the deep, and Wisdom was there.

The structure pictured here is Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. It is now a museum. Before that it was a mosque. But at its construction it was a Christian church. Hagia Sophia. Which is not a reference to St. Sophia. The official name is Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, Naos tēs Hagias tou Theou Sophias, "Shrine of the Holy Wisdom of God."

The Wisdom tradition in Hebrew scripture explores the idea of wisdom: who is wise, what it means to be wise. When writing to the Corinthians, Paul refers to Jesus Christ as the wisdom of God (I Corinthians 1:24). The church of Holy Wisdom (sophia) honors Jesus as divine wisdom. In the Divine Liturgy, the Gospel Book is brought into the center of worship and lifted up by the priest as he exclaims, "Wisdom!" The people reply, "Come, let us worship and bow before Christ." Christ is the wisdom.

One of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia (left, bottom) shows Byzantine emperor Leo VI (called "the Wise") bowing before an enthroned Christ. The mosaic is located in the tympanum over the Imperial Door in Hagia Sophia - the door used only by the emperor. On the left of Christ is his mother Mary, the Theotokos. On the eve of feasts of the Theotokos, one of the traditional readings is Proverbs 9:11. (see more about this on Art&Faith Matters' Facebook page), which ties Mary to Wisdom. In the mosaic to the right of Jesus is an angelic figure. The figure is identified sometimes as the archangel Gabriel, sometimes as the Angel of Great Counsel. "Angel of Great Counsel" (alternatively "Messenger of Great Counsel") is how the Septuagint translates the phrase in Isaiah 9:6, which the NRSV translates as "Wonderful Counselor." Christians read that verse during Advent with its reference to a child who has been born for us and a son who has been given to us. Again, Christ is associated with wisdom - great counsel.

The current structure, which is neither the first on the site nor the first called Hagia Sophia, was built between 532 and 537. Justinian I, Byzantine emperor, charged Isidore and Anthemius with the design and construction of the building, which features a dome that rises 180 feet above the floor. The dome rests on four piers, which transfers the weight of the dome through a series of smaller outer domes. The cathedral was the first great work of Byzantine architecture. For more about the church, see: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-hagia-sophia

In verse 30 of Proverbs 8, the Hebrew word אָ֫מ֥וֹן is variously translated. One approach relates that word to the noun אומן, which means artisan or architect. In that translation, Wisdom is the architect at God's side as the earth is being created. Holy Wisdom is the architect. Holy Wisdom is also the architecture.

For thoughts on Trinity Sunday, click here.

In the Beginning

It's an old art history trivia question that speaks to the gospel reading for Christmas 2C (John 1:1-18). Here's the set up: in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, we know that God's right hand reaches out to the newly created Adam. (Detail below.) Here's the question: where is God's left hand and arm? Don't look at the full view until you've made a guess.

Michelangelo. Creation of Adam (detail). Sistine Chapel, 1508-1512. Vatican City, Italy. http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Volta_StCentr.html

OK, now look at the bottom of the page for the full view. Was it what you thought? And, actually what is it? Obviously it's God and a number of other figures floating in space on a cloak-like background. God's left arm is around a female figure, and God's left hand is touching an infant. Who are they?

There is no definitive answer, but there are theories. All the theories wind up with the infant as the Christ Child, so it is the identity of the woman that shapes the meaning of the composition. One theory identifies the female figure as Eve, waiting her turn to be created. Eve, whose name means life, will be the mother of all humanity. A second casting of the figures calls the female figure Mary, who will be the literal mother of Jesus. A third option is that the female figure is Wisdom (see Proverbs 8:22ff.). Yet another proposal is that the female figure is the Holy Spirit (ruach, a feminine noun, in the Hebrew). With this interpretation, the figures become the Trinity, all three persons present in the beginning.

Each of the above propositions concludes with the identification of the infant as the Christ Child. The interpretations by turn feature the Christ as the second Adam, the son of God and one person of the Trinity. However it is interpreted, Michelangelo has caused the hand of God to rest eternally on the child. The artist has placed the Word in the beginning, exactly where John's gospel said he was.

On Art&Faith Matters' Facebook page this week...Epiphany! Travel with the magi by clicking here.