He Will Guide You
A sermon by
John 16:12-15
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SERMON: He Will Guide You
GLORY TO THE FATHER
AND TO THE SON
AND TO THE HOLY SPIRIT,
AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING,
IS NOW
AND WILL BE FOREVER. AMEN.
I would like to ask you to look at the front page of your worship folder. This is an icon written by Andrei Rublev in about 1410. Without color the image is diminished—the wings of the angels are gold leaf, the robes of the angels a beautiful blue. You can not distinguish what is in the chalice. It is a calf's head. The title of the icon is The Holy Trinity and it was painted to illustrate the doctrine we celebrate today. Many scholars consider Rublev's Trinity the most perfect of all Russian icons and perhaps the most perfect of the icons ever written. The work was created for the abbot of Trinity Monastery, Nikon of Radonezh, a disciple of the famous St. Sergius of Radonezh, a leader of the monastic revival in Russia in the late thirteenth century.
NOTE: To see Andrei Rublev's Trinity, go to:
http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/trinity.html or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(Andrei_Rublev)
Russia at the time was being despoiled by the Tartars, the Mongol invaders who laid waste to much of Europe as far as Krakow in Poland. The Russian people were also being led by petty and uncertain leaders. St. Sergius considered the feudal quarrels at the root of Russia 's problems because it made the country easy pray for its Muslim Asiatic enemies. One of the most powerful movies I have ever seen is Rublev made in Soviet times about this icon writer and the desperate conditions he and his country faced. The Soviets made the movie in black and white but at the end of the movie the icons of Andrei Rublev were shown in color. The aim of the movie, made in 1966, was to portray the icon painter in secular terms. At the time the only official mention of religion was to ridicule it. For a godless country under the communist regime, this movie by Tretyakov opened the doors to dramatic affirmation of faith and not just any faith but that of Christ, orthodox Christianity, known by its dogma of the Trinity. It is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time.
Russia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was newly Christian. Many of the people were still pagan or nearly so having only the most rudimentary knowledge of Christianity. Our faith is monotheistic but with the difficult concept of one God in three personae, three hypostases—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not only the uneducated but even theologians had difficulties with the concept causing long debates, violent persecutions and greater confusion. It made the Muslim seem simple and attractive. But it was the doctrine of the Trinity which mobilized Russians to renew their faith and drive the Tartars back. And this icon was important in that process because it explained better than text the heart of Christianity and the importance it makes for each believer. The image may help us as well.
Andrei Rublev went back to the Old Testament to paint the Trinity, to the story of Abraham and Sarah from Genesis 18:
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men/angels standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought and wash your feet. Rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
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This text is usually used to describe the hospitality of Abraham and Sarah. The book of Hebrews tells us that like Abraham and Sarah we too may entertain angels unawares. Yet Rublev eliminated the figures of Abraham and Sarah and made the head of the calf small and almost indecipherable. He wanted to concentrate on the three angels who are really the hypostases, the personae, of the One True God. Most find the figure of the left to be the Father figure, the Son with his head turned to look at the Father in the middle with the Holy Spirit, the figure on the right.
Both the middle angel and the one on the right have their hands extended to bless the chalice which holds the head of the calf –– the blood of the calf reminds us of the Eucharistic sacrifice where we receive the blood of the lamb who was slain, the blood of Christ, and the head of the sacrifice, the body of the Lord. Each of the figures is of equal size and importance—no member of the Trinity is greater than another but all are coequal. The manner is gentle and inviting, a special challenge to anti-Trinitarians that is not authoritarian or dogmatic but softly tries to bring them to an understanding of the comforting doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
What binds the three figures together is their love. God is love and love is of the nature of God. The three persons of the Trinity love each other. Look again at the icon. The angels are facing us as well as each other. The fourth side of the table is open to the viewer. We are invited to come and join them, to be one with God as God is one with us through Christ. We are welcome to come and dine, come and love, come and be one with God.
Henry Nouwen, the great spiritual writer from Notre Dame, notes:
“Andrei Rublev painted this icon not only to share the fruits of his own meditation on the mystery of the Holy Trinity but also to offer his fellow monks a way to keep their hearts centered on God while living in the midst of political unrest. The more we look at this holy image with the eyes of faith, the more we come to realize that is painted not as a lovely decoration for a convent church, nor as a helpful explanation of a difficult doctrine, but as a holy place to enter and stay within. As we place ourselves in front of the icon in prayer, we come to experience a gentle invitation to participate in an intimate table conversation that is taking place between the three divine angels and to join them at the table. The movement from the Father toward the Son and the movement of both Son and Spirit toward the Father become a movement in which the one who prays is lifted up and held secure. Through the contemplation of this icon we come to see with our own inner eyes that all the engagements in this world can bear fruit only when they take place within the divine circle. We can be involved in struggles for justice and actions for peace. We can be part of the ambiguities of family and community life. We can study, teach, write, and hold a regular job. We can do all of this without ever having to leave the house of love… Rublev's icon gives us a glimpse of the house of perfect love.”
On this Sunday of the Holy Trinity, the one God is inviting you into the house of love, to commune with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to love and be loved, to believe and be guided into all truth and beauty and peace. Amen.
Copyright 2007, James D. Kegel. Used by permission.
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