Remember a few years ago there was a movement which asked “What would Jesus Do” – WWJD. There were WWJD bracelets, hats, t-shirts. Figuring out what Jesus would do in any particular situation was supposed to guide one’s actions. My guess is that movement faded because we know what Jesus did back in the day which suggests what he would do in our day – have some wine with his friends, invite sinners to share a meal with him, drive the money changers out of the temple, denounce the hypocrisy of religious leaders, challenge the men (and they were men) who are in power, provide food for the hungry, made sure that the sick are cared for. That’s what Jesus would do. My suspicion is that those are not the kinds of things that initially come to mind when we hear the instruction of Jesus at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel: “Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.” We have been taught that what Jesus commanded us was go to church on Sunday, say your prayers, keep the commandments. Imagine how the church would look different it we acted as Jesus acted, if we did what Jesus did.
We can look at the gospel text for this Sunday through the lens of WWJD. This is a famous passage usually called the Great Commission because it gives us our marching orders as a church: make disciples, baptize them, teach them. St. Matthew sets the scene at the close of his Gospel, the last will and testament of Jesus. He had appeared to his disciples after the Resurrection at Easter and was now preparing to ascend to the right hand of the Father. It is chosen for this Sunday, Trinity Sunday, because it contains the Trinitarian formula used to this very day when someone approaches the font: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” However, there is one part of this scene which we tend to gloss over – it seems so discordant to the triumphal tone of the rest of the passage. Did you notice it? They all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Wait a minute, St. Matthew, you can’t drop that line on us and walk away. They doubted! What did they doubt? Did they doubt the Resurrection? That can’t be it. After all we are told that they saw him. Did they doubt the power on heaven and on earth that Jesus was claiming for himself? Perhaps, but I suspect what they were really doubting was themselves. Would they be able to carry on without Jesus? They saw how they were not able to act as Jesus did during his passion. Instead of standing up to an oppressive police state as Jesus had, they betrayed, denied, bolted and ran. They doubted whether they could keep the focus on God and the things of God as Jesus had. They doubted they could love their enemies and do good to those who hated them as Jesus taught them. They doubted their ability to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked when they still had to worry about putting food on the table in their own homes. How were they, with all their limitations, going to be able to observe what Jesus had commanded them! How were they, how are we going to act? WWJD?
Jesus tells them how: “I am with you always.” They should not doubt themselves because they had Jesus on by their side. After all, as St. Paul puts it in the epistle, the disciples of Jesus are the children of God “and if children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Since we’re part of the family we are given the blessed assurance of abundant graces and blessings as part of our inheritance. When Michael Jordan is on your team you are going to win. When Bill Gates is funding your enterprise you’ll have enough money. When Jesus is with you you’ll be able to love your neighbor as you love yourself. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Which, in a roundabout way, brings us back to the Feast of the Trinity that we are celebrating today. The Trinity is not, or at least most importantly not, a theological, philosophical or, most particularly, a mathematical problem. The Trinity says that God in the very being of God is about relationship. What we call the persons of the Trinity is a way of describing how self-gift generates the dynamism of divine life. Jesus in being with us personifies the self-gift of God toward creation. As heirs to that self-gift of God we can, in turn, give of ourselves acting in ways that Jesus showed to make human life worth living. Jesus being with us always invites us into the embrace of the Triune God.
Maybe the real question on Trinity Sunday is not WWJD but WJDWD – why Jesus did what he did. The answer is, of course, he acted in union with the Triune God and gave of himself in love. Certainly you can see that in feeding the hungry and caring about the health of the sick. How was Jesus’ denouncing of hypocrisy a gift of love? Any parent can testify, acting in love toward someone who isn’t behaving as they should can be tough. Making little Johnny eat his vegetables instead of candy does not win one a popularity contest. As Dostoevsky once wrote: “Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.” But if you love you do whatever is necessary to help the other to grow. God as Trinity is the outpouring of love. Jesus as the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity acted always out of love. We as joint heirs with Christ and the children of the Triune God are empowered to love for that is what Jesus would do.