Costello: So I pick up the ball and throw it to who?
Abbott: Now that’s the first thing you’ve said right.
Long ago I did a survey of how often the number three occurs in the Bible. Noah sends out a bird three times to see if the Flood has subsided; the human race is descended from Noah’s three sons; there are three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Jonah lives three days in the belly of the whale; God wakes up the boy David three times one night; the king of Babylon throws three children into the fiery furnace . . .
And then there are the three Magi, the three temptations of Christ and Jesus seems to favor three disciples, Peter, James and John, and prays three times in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter denies Jesus three times and Jesus lasts three hours on the cross and rises on the third day and Paul remained blind three days after his conversion . . .
But the number three pops up in so many ways beyond the Bible. Three strikes and you’re out; the human eye is trichromatic (receptive to three kinds of color); as humans we live in three dimensions; the triangle is the most stable of physical shapes; then we have the Triple Crown and the three point shot and three point field goal. Then on a loftier level there are the philosopher Hegel’s three phases of human reasoning: thesis, antithesis and synthesis.
So is it any wonder that as a religion we think of God as One God, yes, but made up of three persons? It may be hard to explain but the three makes God all the more mysterious – which is as it should be. Intellectually, the concept of One God who is also three persons resides way beyond our mental reach; but as a God who is Love we know we are within his reach – which is what really matters.
Still, way back in 1938 as a ten year old I listened (on the Kate Smith radio show) to that now famous Abbott and Costello routine about “Who’s on first?” dealing with the three base layout of a baseball infield – into which Abbott introduces an element of mystery. You remember it:
Costello: Well then who’s on first? Abbott: Yes. Costello: I mean the fellow’s name. Abbott: Who. Costello: The guy on first. Abbott: Who. Costello: The first baseman. Abbott: Who . . . Costello: I’m asking YOU who’s on first. Abbott: That’s the man’s name. Costello: That’s who’s name? Abbott: Yes . . . Costello: All I’m trying to find out is what’s the guy’s name on first base. Abbott: No. What is on second base . . . Costello: I’m not asking you who’s on second. Abbott: Who’s on first. Costello: I don’t know. Abbott: He’s on third, we’re not talking about him . . .
Allowing for the seriousness of our belief in God as a Trinity of Persons, I must wonder if the discussions at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD didn’t sound a bit like that.