The Holy Trinity (A)
May 31, 2026
Text: Matt. 28:16-20
“I bind unto myself today The strong name of the Trinity By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three” (LSB 604:1). Perhaps you recognize that as the magnificent hymnic versification of St. Patrick’s Breastplate, one of my all-time favorite pieces of writing. We aren’t singing the hymn today. Although the Beer & Bible crowd knows it. It’s a complex hymn. Learn it, if you can. But, at least, think about what it means. Picture this. The great St. Patrick, a real Church Father, stands before the pagan hordes of Ireland. He wants to preach to them, and they want to kill him for it. And he says this: “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit.” That’s what it means, “I bind unto myself today the strong Name of the Trinity.” And now… come and get me. Let what happens, happen. I am safe in God. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21; ESV). I will preach. Though, there stand the hordes. And if I live, I live. And if I die… I live.
You know, you face a similarly perilous situation every day of your life. Maybe not murderous pagans (although…). Paul says, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). That is to say, the evil angels are against us. So, Dr. Luther bids us, every morning as we arise, and every evening as we lay down to go to sleep, to say, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit,” and then repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, and commend ourselves to God’s keeping. To bind unto ourselves today the strong Name of the Trinity. It is a shield. A shelter of protection. And before it, the demons shudder. And run.
The Name. We are baptized in the Name… the One Name of our One God who is Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… a mystery, not for our comprehension, but for our wonder and praise. And faith. And confession. That is, we believe it… and confess it… even if we don’t understand it.
Why does God give us His Name? I would like to highlight at least three reasons: First, to mark us as those who belong to Him. Second, that we may call upon Him “in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” And third, in order that it give us access to His saving presence.
God writes His Name on us in Baptism. The Name as Jesus reveals it in all its fulness… its full Tri-Unity… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Why do you write your name on a thing? Because it belongs to you, and you don’t want to lose it. Especially if that thing is precious to you. In a manner of speaking, husbands even do this for their wives, and parents for their children. The family name (And, by the way, taking on a husband’s last name isn’t the evil patriarchy, for crying out loud. It’s love and union!). In Holy Baptism, we receive a share in the Christian Family Name. God has given us a share in His Name! Think how profound that is. We are often tempted to think we don’t belong. That we are not loved or valued as we should be. Quite the contrary. God (the Almighty God of the whole universe) has emblazoned His Name on you because you belong to Him, and are precious in His sight. He does not ever want to lose you. You are His blood-bought, beloved child. And so, there is always a place for you… just for you, where you belong… in His House, and in His Family (the Church), because you belong to Him.
And as His child, when you are hurting, or in peril, or in need, you may now cry out His Name. “Father, help me!” “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy” (note the Trinitarian form of the Kyrie). “Jesus, save me.” “Come, Holy Spirit.” “O, my gracious God, I am heartbroken, or weak, or sick. Or covered in the filth of my own sin. I need You. Here it is. All my schlop.” And just plop the thing down, whatever the burden may be, for your God, who loves you, to deal with as He knows best. He’s given you His Name for that. And for praise and thanksgiving. “Thank God!” “Praise the Lord!” “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.” And even to bless people. “God bless you,” we say. Or, “God be with you” (don’t tell the secularists, but that is actually what “goodbye” means… “God be with ye.” You can’t get away from God). Notice how pithy these prayers are. So that we may be in constant conversation with God. This is what Paul means when He tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). You hear some bad news, or a siren in the distance, or see something terrible, or know of someone who is hurting: “Lord, have mercy.” You run into a remarkable piece of good fortune, and you know it isn’t fortune at all, but God blessing you: “Thank You, Lord.”
And you can engage in that constant conversation… prayer, and the expectation of an answer… because God’s Name gives you access to His continual presence with you. And your continual presence with Him. He is not a God far-off. He is near. With you. See, in Baptism, you are immersed in His Name. The preposition is important there. “In.” “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” (Matt. 28:19; emphasis added). The Name. You’re in it. You live in it. You speak in it. You act in it, in your vocations and your station in life. You are sent out in it, to be the agents of His Kingdom, always insulated, shielded, bound up in His Name. Which is to say, His presence. When you call His Name, there He is.
As St. Patrick, in his breastplate, unpacks what it means to bind unto himself the Name, particularly as that Name is manifest in Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, he unleashes this sublime… hymn, frankly, to the Lord’s saving presence. Listen to this: “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.” See… totally and completely surrounded by Christ against the onslaughts of every enemy. Even the enemy within, the Old Adam, because Christ is in me. That is the reality in Baptism, and the binding to myself today the strong Name of the Trinity. And with Christ, then, every good gift that comes through Him. All His saving acts. As St. Patrick sings: “I arise today Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism, Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial, Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension, Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.” And on and on in that vein. That’s what you have when you bind unto yourself the Name. The Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity.
So, there you stand, each day, before the snarling hordes of hell, and the traitorous Judas of the flesh within, and what are you going to do? The Name. You’re going to speak it: “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit,” maybe even marking it with the sign of the holy cross over your blood-bought body. And then… come and get me. Let what happens, happen. I am safe in God. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” I will live, and speak, and act as a Name-bearer of God, though, there stand the hordes. And if I live, I live. And if I die, I live. Because Jesus lives, and He reigns, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit. One God. Three Persons. Now, and forever. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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