THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY (YEAR A)

 

1st Reading            Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9

Psalm                       Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56 (R. 52b)

  R:// "Glory and praise for ever!"

2nd Reading           2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Gospel                      John 3:16-18

TRUE GOD

Friends, Pax et Bonum! Today is Holy Trinity Sunday. Today, we celebrate the Divine Community. However, when we open the Scriptures, the first reading, from Exodus 34: 4-6, 8-9, takes us back to Mount Sinai. There is a difficulty because the text of the first reading contains no formal language about the Three Persons in One God. It explicitly speaks about God's oneness. I want to suggest that there is a key to unlocking what is Trinitarian about today's first reading. 

The text of the first reading looks relatively short but dense. Let us attempt to unpack it.

To fully appreciate the text of the first reading, I suggest we look at it within the wider scope of the Exodus narrative. Moses receives a second invitation to climb Mount Sinai. The setting of this encounter is a broken relationship (Exod. 32). Israel has just worshipped the Golden Calf and the new tablets of the Law are destroyed consequently. The camp below is stained with infidelity. The setting is clearly infidelity to covenant. Why that choice of setting? Among many things that fractured covenants signify, I want to suggest strongly that broken relationships are the ultimate test of character. Remember the absolute finality of an ancient Near Eastern treaty when one party broke the terms. It usually meant swift and total destruction. For Israel standing at the base of Sinai this betrayal was a state of spiritual death.

The second preliminary detail is that Moses, while on the mountain, carries blank stone tablets. What adds a layer to this is that he stands alone in a cloud. To see blank tablets in a cloud of mystery is a sign of a people whose story has been wiped clean by failure. The layer of emptiness on the stones shows that there is no human possibility for rewriting the relationship, even if they tried.

Let us put this event within its specific context. We must situate this text within the moment of Old Testament self-revelation. God passes before Moses and proclaims His own Name. The text emphatically states that the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there (Exod. 34:5). The problem being solved here is an identity crisis. God is defining who He is when human performance hits zero.

Let us look at three very important details, having laid the background to the first reading.

The first detail is the proclamation of God as merciful. The Hebrew word used here is raḥûm (רַחוּם). The action of showing mercy is done by God from the very core of His being. The use of raḥûm to describe God's condition is not to say that God is only letting Israel off the hook. Within this context and the background laid, raḥûm is a metaphor for maternal generation because the root of the word is reḥem (רֶחֶם), meaning "womb." It means that the Hebrew word used for "merciful", which is "reḥem", is the same word used to describe a woman's womb. The choice of "womb-love" is fascinating. A womb is a place of total dependency, nurturing, and life-giving security. It is a place where life is generated from nothing. The situation of Israel was that they were spiritually dead and dried out from their sin, yet God declares He will meet them with womb-like, maternal compassion.

A womb is meant to bring forth new life. In Genesis 29:31, God opened (p-t-ḥ) the womb of Leah. The same internal, life-generating reality is at work here in Exodus 34. God enables life where there is barrenness and death. For the broken lines of our own lives, our situations may look permanently dead. God goes deep into His own nature to pull out maternal, life-giving mercy. In later Trinitarian thought, this primal, generative source of all life and mercy is the hallmark of the Father.

The second detail is the proclamation of "steadfast love." The Hebrew word translated here is ḥesed (חֶסֶד). I think we should see this detail vis-à-vis the total failure of Israel's loyalty. Ḥesed can be translated as covenant commitment or loving-kindness. It is interesting to know that ḥesed is what sustains a relationship when one side has completely defaulted. It is loyalty in action. Just as the breath of life animates Adam in Genesis 2:7, ḥesed re-animates the dead contract between God and Israel. God does not only overlook the golden calf. He also provides a structural bond that bridges the gap between a Holy God and a broken people. He gives Himself to them in an unbreakable bond.

This attribute aligns perfectly with the manifestation of the Son. In John 1:14, when the author of the Gospel according to John writes that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, "full of grace and truth," he is directly translating the Hebrew pairing of ḥesed wə-’emet (grace and truth) into Greek. Jesus is God’s covenant loyalty wrapped in human flesh, stepping into our historical mess to reclaim us.

The third detail is the proclamation of "faithfulness." The author uses the word ’emet (אֱמֶת), which translates as truth, stability, or bedrock reliability. The author avoids fickle language. This suggests that the author wants to communicate something beautiful about the unchanging nature of God.

Notice that the word ’emet comes from the root ’āman (אָמַן), which means to be firm, steady, or trustworthy. The word ’āman (אָמַן) is the root of our word "Amen". We should look at this in connection with the creation accounts. In creating the world, God established order out of chaos. If, while on the mountain, Israel is promised that God is abundant in ’emet, it means that God’s internal reality matches His external promises perfectly.

This is a return to man's source or original state of security. A return to truth means no illusion, no drifting, and no exile from reality. This attribute points beautifully toward the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus calls the "Spirit of Truth" (pneuma tēs alētheias) in John 14:17, the one who anchors, stabilizes, and constantly reminds the community of the reality of God's presence.

Pax et Bonum!