Meet the Family

Getting to know others by getting to know their family

05/27/2018

Romans 8:14-17 Brothers and sisters: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, "Abba, Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Families are funny in many respects, but let me point out one special way today on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the Family of God. I believe that you cannot really know any one person until you know the main members of their family. You cannot really know a husband until you know his wife (the better half!), or a wife until you meet the husband. You cannot really know parents until you know their kids nor the children until you meet the parents. Hence, the age-old adage, “the apple does not fall far from the tree.” The seeds of my identity are tucked away in the tree of my ancestors.

When a couple is dating and getting to know one another, what is the biggest step they take before the engagement? They bring their beloved home to meet the parents! Why is that so awkward (and terrifying) sometimes? It’s not only because we’re worried what our boyfriend or girlfriend will think of our parents, we’re also worried because our parents reveal something about us. In meeting my parents, you meet me! Isn’t this why older brothers are embarrassed by their younger brothers and why older sisters don’t want their little sisters tagging along? It’s not just that my little brother or little sister isn’t cool (like me and my friends are), but because in them there is something of me, they carry around something of the “uncoolness” I’m trying to hide from my friends. But that is the real me, and it’s hidden in my family. We feel the same discomfort when people see our aging parents, their struggles and silliness. We’re more worried what people will think of us than of our parents. When you meet my family, you’re really meeting the real me.

Today, on Holy Trinity Sunday we can finally say we know the Holy Trinity – the divine Family – because we’ve met all the members of that Family: the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Christians cannot really say they know God if they only know the Father, or if they only focus on Jesus, or if they’re only worried about the Holy Spirit. Each member of the divine Family holds the secret to the true identity of each other member. In the liturgical calendar, it is not by accident that the Feast of the Holy Trinity lands on the Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost. Why? Well, because at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is revealed and we finally know who God is: Three Persons in one God. It’s only when we meet all the members of the divine Family that we can say we know each member better.

By the way, this is what makes Christianity so radically different from others major world religions. All other religions – Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, etc. – is man’s attempt to get to know God through our smarts and savvy; we try to lift ourselves up to heaven by pulling on our own religious bootstraps. But in Judeo-Christianity alone does God reveal himself to us. Did you ever read that classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee? The three children, Jem, Scout and Dill are fascinated and afraid of a neighbor named “Boo Radley.” They don’t really know him because he stays hidden in his creepy house, but he gives them small gifts of his affection. They make wild guesses about the kind of person Boo is and their guesses are pretty wide of the mark. It isn’t until the end of the book when Boo saves the children that he reveals himself fully. All major world religions are like those three children guessing at the gifts that God sends us and who God is. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes wrong. But Christianity is like Jesus coming out of his heavenly house and saving us. And Jesus tells us who he is and introduces us to his Family of the Father and Spirit.

But Jesus does more than reveal who God is by telling us about his Father and sending us his Holy Spirit. He even goes so far as to adopt us into his divine Family. Here’s the really radical thing we celebrate today on Trinity Sunday: not only has God revealed himself to us as a divine Family, but he has made us members of that Family. St. Paul tells the Romans, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” And a verse later, he adds: “You received a Spirit of adoption through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’” In other words, when see one another, we also get to know our divine Family because we are members of that family. In a sense, when I get to know you, I get to know the Holy Trinity better. And when I get to know the Holy Trinity better, I get to know you, just like when a couple madly in love meets their parents, they get to know each other better. In a true and terrifying sense, the seeds of God’s identity is hidden in me and you. Hopefully, God is not embarrassed by us as part of his Family, like we are sometimes embarrassed by our younger siblings.

Before Mass starts I gather the altar servers together to pray. Right before we walk out into the sanctuary, I remind them: “Your job is to make me look good, and my job is to make Jesus look good.” Obviously, the servers have a much harder job than I do. But that’s what we should do as siblings in the Family of God, the Holy Trinity. We should not be embarrassed by each other, but rather make each other look good, just like the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit always make each other look good. It’s only when you know the family someone belongs to that you finally know them.

Praised be Jesus Christ!