Scripture Reflections

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (John 10:27-30)
 
Theologians have wrestled a great deal with how best to explain Jesus’ statement, “I and the Father are one.” In the words of the Nicene Creed (the Church’s most important summary), we confess that these two are one being (or substance) together with the Holy Spirit. We confess what we scarcely understand—that there is one God, and yet this one God exists eternally in three persons. Perfect unity of being, yet eternally three persons.
 
Part of the struggle to understand this is the word “person” itself. Our reference point for a person is a human, and we cannot imagine three human persons who are one being. The closest we can imagine is a perfect marriage or family, where the unity is so tight that it is as if there is only one being. Close, but still a long way off!
 
One implication of the Trinity—the perfect unity of being in the Three-Personed God—is unity of activity. Because there is only one God, what each member does is done by all, in a sense. Thus we can say that the Father is the Creator, creation was through the Son, and the Spirit is the Giver of life. Creation is an act of the Trinity, in perfect unity.
 
In the passage from John 10 we heard on Sunday, Jesus points to one of the activities done by God in perfect unity. The action in question? Holding each sheep securely. Notice the shift: At first, Jesus says, “no one will snatch them out of my hand.” Then, just a breath later, he says, “no one is able to snatch the out of the Father’s hand.” In the matter of a couple seconds, he moves seamlessly from his hand to the Father’s hand. (Although he doesn’t mention the Holy Spirit here, other passages like Eph. 1:13 make it clear that our security is the work of all three members of the Trinity.)
 
The point for us?
 
Your security matters so much to God that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are participating together in it. Jesus makes it clear that he and the Father are gripping you together. We may not always perceive this—our path may be tumultuous, full of our own mistakes—but God (the Three-Personed God!) has a hold of you. Together, all three members of the Trinity, in perfect unity of being and action, are hanging on. Nothing can shake their grip.
 
Steven+