Jesus said of man and wife “they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Mk 10:8–9). At a wedding we joyfully celebrate the two made one, embracing a mystery that can be experienced without being fully understood.
So too, today, Trinity Sunday, we step back with awe and delight to gaze upon the beauty of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Those who most understand the “one flesh” union of man and wife are not the happily married but, rather, the couple who have experienced the pain of divorce. As one bible scholar put it “no one who has undergone the fire of “one flesh” torn apart can dispute the weight of Jesus plea”¹.
Trinitarian truth is also revealed to us in brokenness. Through the cross, the broken flesh of Christ and the cry of dereliction² we see the “Triune” God torn apart. We look away in horror. When we open our eyes on the 3rd day, unity is amazingly restored with one incomprehensible difference – we are included in the embrace of Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
God Bless, Sean
¹ Myers, Ched. Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. Orbis Books, 2008.
² “My God why have you forsaken me” (Mk. 15:34)