Not One, Not Two, But Three

Matthew 3:16-17

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

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One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

"One" by Harry Nilsson recorded by Three Dog Night from their self titled first album

This reading is usually read on Baptism of the Lord Sunday, but today it has a message for Trinity Sunday. This is the first time in scripture that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are found together in scripture.

In this moment, when Jesus joins in our plight through the waters of human earthly baptism, in this moment the Spirit descends like a dove and the voice from heaven proclaim "this is my son." In this moment, literally all is right in the world. In our world it won't stay that way for long, but in this moment all is right.

Even in the place where God lives, one is the loneliest number. Even in the place where God lives two can be as bad as one, it's the loneliest number since the number one. But when the three-in-one come together, something special happens. God is lonely when God is one, it takes the eternal Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, to make God complete. Yet, even in Godly perfection, God wants more. God's overflowing love longs for a recipient. That's where we come in.

God has a plan for us. That plan begins in the creation story. God is so filled with love that the only way to make love complete is to share it. This is where creation comes in, God created everything so that love could be shared. God created humanity to share that love, to dance eternally with the three-in-one God. God created us to share the love.

God cannot exist alone and neither can we. One is truly the loneliest number. We need one another in community as the Lord needs the three persons of God. All of us together, we all need one another. That's the glory of the Trinity, and the glory of our place in God's creation.