"No: Jesus is not 'The Younger God!'"

God in Flesh made Manifest

Verse 31, Chapter 8, the last verse of today’s first lesson, in the words of the Holy Wisdom: “I really loved the created world, and I found delight in the human race.”

Today is both Trinity Sunday as well as Father Day.  Two important celebrations — and so little time! 

So, for the sake of us all, I will try to address both themes. 

“Where is the connection?”, you may ask.  Let me suggest that the common thread that unites both the mystery of the Holy Trinity and Fatherhood is “being human”.

I guess that most of us will accept the premise that humanity, or being human or, indeed in believing about the possibilities which becoming human brings is somehow connected with the Trinity.

I also guess that being a Father, at least within the boundaries of Creation, being human is essential.  There is no remote control for Fatherhood — well, you know, at least in the more usual way!

But between “knowing” and “understanding” and “accepting” there is a gap, which I propose to address today.

The Trinity:  God in flesh made manifest.

I do not propose to address the mystery of the Trinity today.  Over the centuries it has been addressed by people far smarter than I.  What I would like to highlight today are the challenges of the Trinity for just being the Trinity.

God as a kind of celestial and disembodied old man, dressed in a white tunic and wearing a long beard even if such image is wrong, at least it is easy to accept.

The Spirit is a spirit, be it as a gentle dove, as a brush breeze of divine air, or even as powerful and fiery force, again if such imagery is incomplete, we can deal with that.

Now, Jesus is a challenge both for theologians and plain folks like us.  He is fully God.  So, like God can be anywhere and everywhere.  Jesus has unparalleled insight into God’s mind.  Indeed, He claimed complete unity with God.  

Yet, the reality of Christmas and Good Friday, or witnessing Jesus experiencing hunger, sadness, crying, or anger to the extent of kicking out the vendors from the Temple is challenging.

Or how about Jesus as a baby?  Did he burp?  How Jesus deal with his teenage days, and all that being a teen involves?  We don’t know.  And for certain, Jesus was not the “Younger God!”

Nonetheless, our faith asserts that Jesus was entirely human, and therefore, we must reconcile the challenging fact that He was fully divine and fully human at the same time.  Jesus was fully God and yet fully human. 

But here is the thing.  As St Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians, Jesus did not consider being fully human as a burden, or a temporary and unavoidable condition that had to be tolerated for a while, “while He was busy on Planet Earth.”

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus fully and joyfully accepted his call to be human, long before embarking in his journey of faith which eventually led to His death for our sake.  Jesus fully embraced His humanity.  So much so, that even His risen body still bore the marks of the Cross.

Therefore, our humanity, with all its imperfections, should be wholly embraced.  This belief serves as the foundation to engage with the world and its challenges and opportunities.  

Our Lord’s embraced of His humanity – His “fleshiness” or even His “earthiness”.  So, such attitude should be our driving force to make this world closer to what God had intended and, for sure, not to tarnish and pollute it even more.

Fatherhood.

There is a lot that can be said about the challenges of fatherhood.  And the blessings of fatherhood as well.

But today, I’d like to address the human side of fatherhood, an aspect that sometimes gets sidelined.  And there are good reasons for that, no questions. 

For many, father’s day may not bring happy memories.  For there are fathers who deserted their spouses and their children.  Fathers who would be better gone off the lives of their children or their wives.  And fathers who refuse or disgrace their calling to be all they could be.

But on the other column, there are fathers who are an example worthy of following.  Not necessarily because the word “No” never was part of their vocabulary.  But fathers who, even with all their dings and bangs still should be remembered, respected, and honored.

For fatherhood, in its most profound sense, is not only about providing or protecting, but also about reflecting the Creator’s love in all its imperfections.  It is an act of faith to step into a role that demands vulnerability and strength, compassion and authority.  

To be a father is to be reminded, daily, of the weight and wonder of grace.  It is in the moments of falling short, of utter humanness, that fathers can teach the most important lessons — of perseverance, humility, and the pursuit of redemption.

The lesson then for fathers and their children is that our common humanness is precisely what makes as all partakers of the divine.  For in accepting one’s flaws – and our father’s flaws – in seeking forgiveness and offering unconditional love, we all come to mirror the grace of God. 

As the voice of Wisdom tells us, the human race – our messy way of being and living as one hundred percent humans was a source of delight for the Creator God.  So much so that Jesus did not come as an angel but as a human being as anyone of us is.  And if God finds delight in our and our Lord’s humanity, so we should too.

So, both our celebration of the Sacred Mystery of the Holy Trinity and our celebration of Father’s Day call us to give a second look to our human nature, to appreciate its potential, and to learn to look at our neighbors under the light of our common humanity. 

It is a humanity which God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit not only blessed but fully embraced in Jesus, God in flesh made manifest, but in which God found delight.  Amen.

Fr. Gustavo