Reflection

I have always had sympathy for Nicodemus, who was trying his hardest to understand what God was doing through Jesus, but couldn't quite get it. Even the explanation given by Jesus was too difficult for his brain to grasp at the time, although I think that after the crucifixion he understood all too well - and it wasn’t too late for him to make a difference.

When I was at school, I loved algebra, which was like cracking a code, and I got on well with geometry, which related to my world, but I could not get to grips with what we called 'arithmetic'. I simply had no interest in trains leaving London and Edinburgh and passing somewhere along the route, nor did I consider the filling of a bath of any interest.

Of course, since leaving school I have found that being able to solve mathematical problems is a great thing!

Thank goodness for 'times tables', addition, subtraction and division, for without some understanding of those functions it would be impossible to make sense of my financial obligations.

Numbers can be fun. Take the number 37, for example: if you multiply 37 by increments of three, amazing things happen:

37 x 3 = 111;
37 x 6 = 222;
37 x 9 = 333;
37 x 12 = 444;
37 x 15 = 555;
37 x 18 = 666;
37 x 21 = 777;
37 x 24 = 888;
37 x 27 = 999.

Numbers are important in the Bible. Twelve for the tribes of Israel and the disciples of Jesus; seven as the number of perfection; 153 fish that the disciples managed to catch when they put their nets on the other side of the boat in John 13; and 666 is the number of the beast in Revelation, to name but a few.

Numbers in the Bible invite imagination and enquiry when it comes to interpretation, so when it comes to the Trinity and the number three, we should puzzle over and ponder why God chose to reveal God's self in that way and with that numerical representation.

The number three is intriguing, especially when it comes to perceptions of relationship. Our world seems mainly to operate in even numbers, for they appear to secure a certain sense of order and predictability - on the whole, tables have four sides, chairs have four legs, tableware comes in sets of six, cars have four wheels, milk comes in two or four litres, and eggs in boxes of six or twelve. They give a sense of balance and order.

'Two is company and three is a crowd', an uncomfortable dynamic, well known to me as mother of three children! There is almost always an 'odd one out'. When three people gather together, each individual is forced to listen to more than one person at a time, and to judge feelings, responses and reactions that are doubled, which can be both a problem and a promise.

Isaiah had to contend with God, God's people and himself, which was a lot more difficult than just needing to deal with only God or only the people. Nicodemus had to grapple with the notion that God operated in three modes, Father, Son and Spirit, which his training and profession had not prepared him for - but it may be that God likes imbalance and thinks that is what relationships are about.

God as Trinity counts on the necessity of three: secure but surprising, known but intangible, simple but amazing, revealed but complex, in order to give meaning to the reality of our Christian lives.