February 27, 2022
First Lesson: Luke 9:28-36
28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14 But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 15 Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
4 Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
I just got back from a vacation in St. Croix with some parishioners from my previous church. They have a condo there and invited me down for a visit. My days were filled with swimming laps in a pool where the sun would set over all the varied and vibrant shades of turquoise water in the bay. Or reading under a sea grape tree and swimming the length of the beach. Or outdoor yoga gazing at the Caribbean Sea. Or shopping at Christiansted after our tour of the fort overlooking Protestant Cay. We settled in at night and watched the Netflix series Inventing Anna. It is a fictionalized true story about a 25-year-old girl who frauded hotels and almost conned her way to a 40 million loan in New York City. I downloaded episodes for the plane and finished watching when I got home. Throughout the series, I wondered if she really came from wealth or if it was all a scam. If she was lying, how did she get so many people to believe her? She vacationed on a yacht in Ibiza, got invited to exclusive parities, and she tipped with Benjamin’s, all in an effort to start the Anna Delvey Foundation. Imagine having a self-named foundation at the age of 25. For this to work, she needed to be known by the right people, the power people in NY. Her association with key players opened doors to possibilities and power. When life was good, she wore a veil of success, she exuded money and culture. Until it all went bad in Morocco and she once again could not pay her 5 star resort bill.
Anna was an exaggerated version of us, the small lies we tell about ourselves wanting the world to see us a certain way. Her defense lawyer said as much. We all lie a little, we all hide behind a veil of what we want the world to see in us. The Christmas card or Facebook post about how great life is. The glorified stories we tell our acquaintances. We want the world to see the most successful version of ourselves. It is human nature.
Our second lesson today comes from 2 Corinthians with the chapter opening with the question, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? (3:1) asking about letters of recommendation as opposed to our competence in God through Christ (5). Are we highlighting our own strength, hiding behind the veil or our own success rather than leaning into our faith? Moses offering the Ten Commandments and his covering his face with a veil for having seen the glory of God is the context of these verses. Listen now for God’s word to you. Read 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
As we glean lessons from these passages, we will look at history, credibility, and transformation.
On the history, one commentator writes, “This vignette about Moses and the veil in Exodus occurs right after the story of the Golden Calf, which describes how the people built an idol to worship while Moses was away receiving the tablets with the commandments (Exodus 32-34). Thus, when Paul says that the people’s “minds were hardened” (3:14), he is alluding to the way their desire for a god they could fabricate, and bend to their wishes, had become a kind of hardened “veil” for them, which kept them from hearing what God was saying through Moses (or the Scripture). Only the Messiah could “set aside” this veil (3:14). Only in this way could a “new covenant” be written on their hearts, where everyone—from the least to the greatest—would know the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:33-34) (Working Preacher, Lois Malcolm).
Veil is used here as hiding them and us from God, hardening hearts in ways that are not truthful to God. It could be said that whenever we hide behind a veil, we are putting up a barrier between us and God. We are not allowing the light of Christ to shine through the veil and transform our hearts. But isn’t that how it feels when we are trying to be the successful or best versions of ourselves in other’s eyes? When how things look is more important than being faithful to our God? But Paul reminds us that “when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed (16). In Christ we can become new creations, we can see through the veil, take down the veil we hide behind.
As I was reading the transfiguration story again after writing about Anna, I realized that Moses and Elijah played a familiar role, the power of association. For Anna, knowing the right people made her scam possible, until it fell apart. However, Moses and Elijah offered credibility to Jesus early in his ministry. Moses was the liberator of God’s people and Elijah was the premier prophet of God. Both were forefathers of the faith and the disciples seeing Jesus with them and the glory of the Lord shining forth helped them to see Jesus in his rightful place. Jesus was not just some prophet, but divine. This paved the way for the definitive statement, the divine revelation of God declaring, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (35). Moses and Elijah elevated Jesus’ position, until God revealed Jesus to be God’s Son, the ultimate credibility. Once that happened Moses and Elijah were no longer needed, the focus, the attention was now on Jesus, as God’s Son. The disciples could now see him that way, even if they kept that memory to themselves until after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
We have talked about history and credibility and now finally, transformation. Paul speaks of renouncing “the shameful things one hides,” the things we place a veil over so that the world does not see. You know what I am talking about. The family member we never speak of because of their odd behavior. The shameful things we did in our youth that we pray no one will ever discover. The hurtful ways we behaved with our children that we plan to take to our graves. We all hide behind the veil, the history you do not want anyone else to know, because it might change how you are viewed. But here’s our invitation, to lift the veil and be in the freedom of Christ, to be our truthful selves and to trust in God to help transform us to be more and more like Jesus. We get to stand in God’s mercy and grace as we are transformed from one degree of glory to another. But we might want to cling to our veil. But Paul promises us hope and to have courage to act boldly. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (17). We are liberated from behind the veil to allow the light of Christ to shine through the veil and offer us hope. Theologian Frank Crouch translates verse 18 a little differently, “all of us who follow Christ and who have actually had the veil removed see the glory of the Lord and are being transformed — unlike those followers of Christ who still look from behind a veil” (Working Preacher).
Even the parts of ourselves we don’t want others to know can have the light of Christ shine through the veil. We get to know that we are Good Enough in God’s sight, we get to take down the veil and live in the light of Christ. Being Good Enough will be our theme for Lent. Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday and I hope you will join us at 7:00 pm on Zoom as we start our Lenten journey.
Sometimes we harden our hearts and don’t want the veil to be removed. Or we think we know Jesus so well, that the veil just feels right where it is. This month Pope Francis wrote this, “Don’t be foolish, you don’t know Jesus. Perhaps, after many years as believers, we think we know the Lord well, very often with our ideas and our judgments. The risk is that we become accustomed, we get used to Jesus. And in this way, how do we grow accustomed? By closing ourselves off, closing ourselves off to his newness, in the moment he knocks on your door and tells you something new, and wants to enter into you. We must stop being fixed in our positions. The Lord asks for an open mind and a simple heart. And when a person has an open mind, a simple heart, he or she has the capacity to be surprised, to be amazed. The Lord always surprises us: this is the beauty of the encounter with Jesus.” When we are in the Spirit of the Lord, we are free from veils, we are free to be ourselves, wholly and completely loved by God. May we lift our veils and live in the light of Christ and the love of God. Amen.
