B: Trinity Sunday (27 May 2018) - TRINITARIAN UNITY - Mt 28:16-20

A week after we celebrated the Feast of the Pentecost when we had encountered the reading on the unity of people of different lands (cf. Acts 2:1-47), we now give a special attention to the unity of the three divine persons of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We cannot fully explain and comprehend this union since this is a mystery of our faith. What we can only say is that they are bound together in a special unity of love where the Father and the Son perfectly love each other, and their love brings forth the Spirit.

Our gospel today presents Jesus’ commissioning of the disciples saying: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). The Greek word used for “nations” here is “ethne” which is the same word used to refer to the pilgrims from every nation (“ethnous”) during the fateful Pentecost Sunday (cf. Acts 2:5). This means that Christ’s message of unity is a message to all “ethne”, not only to a selected few. But who is this “ethne”? What are the parameters of ethnicity?

The great Greek historian Herodotus enumerates four basic components of the “ethne”: common blood, common language, common cult, and common character (cf. The Persian Wars, 8.144.2). Yet this should be understood not as a restriction for non-members to stay out but more as a battle cry for the unity of all Greeks. Herodotus was actually referring to the event when Alexander the Great, a Macedonian by birth, rallied all neighboring tribes—Spartans, Athenians, Dorians, Ionians, Attics, etc.—to unite against the Persians by appealing to their common bond. Prior to this event, there was no existing concept of one-Greek-people, everyone was just associated to his/her own regional grouping. In fact, most of these groups were in constant feud with one another. Yet, the thought of being subjected to the Persian rule appeared to have frightened the scattered Greek units. As a response to this, the notion of the Greek race was constructed and popularized in order to solidify the Panhellenic cities, the military cavalries, and the society, all for the continual preservation of their values and independence.

What we can learn from the Greek ethnogenesis is that the unity of separate social groups is essential in achieving victory and lasting peace. It does not necessarily mean that we should be similar in all ways; diversity is respected, yet the willingness to engage in active communication and interactions with people of different origins, traits and customs is mandatory in forging unity. When Jesus asks his disciples to go to all “ethne”, he is not asking them literally to convert everyone to Christianity but is opening the values of the Trinity to all, i.e., unity amidst the diversity of peoples. In the same way as the three persons of the one God are united in love amidst their differences of earthly manifestations of functions, we are all asked to display love to all peoples, regardless of color, beliefs, and associations.

Let us then evaluate our own local societies… Are we judgmental against persons who are different from us? How tolerant are we in accepting them into our communities? Do we open our doors to strangers or are we overridden by our paranoia that they can inflict us harm? Let us be reminded that a true Christian will always display the Trinitarian attitude of giving them human dignity and respecting their rights to belong to a harmonious community.

- Rex Fortes, CM