Removing the Veil
Exodus 34:29-35 Psalm 99 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36
I can't prove it but it seems as if possibilities grow on mountain tops. Dreams are more vivid, hope is richer, expectations greater. Having grown up in an area where mountains were something you read about in books, my first experience with "going up a mountain" came at church camp when I was perhaps eight years old. In reality it was a small hill with a cross and a space to sit and reflect but it afforded a different perspective. Living here in the Ozarks, I think you can understand that.
I have a photo of my Dad that sits in my office. Taken over fifty years ago, it pictures him sitting in snow in shirtsleeves. It was in mid-summer atop Mount Hood near Portland, Oregon and was one of the high points (pun was inadvertent) of my youth. We were on a trip from Central Texas to the West Coast to visit family scattered from Hollywood to Portland.
Travel, vacations, trips to the mountain top, retreats; they provide us with a new way of seeing, a change of outlook; something we all need at times. The trip we took that summer came on the heels of a disastrous time for our family. The small farm that represented by father's dream, his place of belonging, was lost to a "perfect storm" of poor crops, devastation from a tornado, and the general demise of the small family farm after World War II. My dad looked happy in that photo – something I would not see again for many years. I think that it was the sense of possibility that lifted his spirits, though other forces would dash them soon enough.
The photo and the memories and emotions attached to it frame my own hearing of our readings today. Similarly, the OT lesson from Exodus sets the stage for the readings from Paul's Epistle and Luke's Gospel. Moses has been on the mountain with God. For the second time God has given Moses the Law, the Word, on tablets. Moses smashed the first in anger at the Israelites who rebelled while he was on the mountain with God. Now his face radiates the Glory of God and a veil is introduced to ___; well, that becomes a matter of perspective.
There are many stories about the source and significance of that radiance. One of my favorites is that after writing the tablets, Moses wiped his brow, unaware of the holy ink on his hands. There are equally as many stories that attempt to explain why Moses covered his face.
Scholars give several possible reasons: to ease the fear that the people felt; to hide the transitory nature of God’s glory departing; to protect the people from God's Glory; to separate them from the glory of God; and to indicate the end of his ‘official’ communication of Yahweh’s revelation. In any event, the veil showed a separation between God's Glory and humanity.
I do not pretend to be an OT expert; I leave that to the scholars; to the midrash, to Jewish commentary. But images of light and sound, cloud and the voice of God, glorious mountaintop meetings set against harsh troubles growing out of fear and sin – these images are mirrored in what transpires on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Transforming power shines forth in Moses. It shows that God has much more in store for us than we imagine or realize. Paul says we are filled with this Glory in the form of the Holy Spirit. We are guided, energized, and filled with God's light as we walk in the Spirit, as we follow Jesus.
Jesus goes to the mountain top, away from the crowds, to pray - as he often did. He invites Peter, James, and John to come with him. They go up the mountain and Jesus begins to pray. We are not told what he prayed about, but from the rest of the story, it must have been about his decision to go to Jerusalem and face death.
Just days earlier, Jesus told his disciples he would suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law. He would be killed but raised to life on the third day. Perhaps he was praying about these things when his face began to shine. A bright light begins to radiate around him and in the midst of that light, two men – Moses and Elijah, appear.
We are told that they spoke to Jesus about all that was to happen to him in Jerusalem, and that Peter and James and John, who, as usual, were nodding off, wake up enough to see this happening, to see Jesus in this glorious moment. Moses and Elijah depart the scene and as they go, the disciples try to hold on to the special moment they witnessed; proposing to build shelters for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses.
But it was not to be. As with all special moments – as with all gifts of exceptional grace that God bestows on us, the moment passes on and the next moment of life arrives. Moses and Elijah depart, the light of glory begins to fade, a cloud descends, darkening the place of transfiguration. They are brought back to the ordinary world that we all know so well – a world of doubt, pain, loss, and fear.
All that is left to the disciples of the moment of glory they have witnessed is a memory, and a voice that speaks to them from the cloud that they are in and tells them: "This is my son, my Chosen – listen to him." It's only a brief word but it fixes the image of what has unfolded. It may not seem much – but when treasured, it is a great deal. That is what a life is.
In the last few weeks, we have experiences death at St. James – Dick, John, and now Billie. This loss and especially the burial rite for John Garner last week stirred my own memories. My Dad faced a long, difficult, journey as we turned toward home those many years ago. I think he lost his way for a while. But in the years of his approaching death , things began to come right at last. It was my privilege to take that final journey along side of him. Aware that he was about to die, in the midst of his prayer and suffering, hopes and worries, he assured me that everything was as it should be. He found a peace that seemed to say that everything would indeed work out as it is supposed to work out, as Jesus has said it will work out.
Glimpses of glory are gifts from God designed to help us on our course, the course God has set before us, whether it be in living – or in dying. We are destined to become like the Christ – a process that continues even in death.
In his presence we can "[through] increasing knowledge and love of [him], go from strength to strength in the life of perfect service in [his] heavenly kingdom," but that begins here, today. He sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins that we might be found righteous in his sight, that we might receive his Glory. Paul’s message in 2 Corinthians is we are filled with the Holy Spirit; we have already received eternal life. And he makes a powerful statement: "All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror..." Look at your neighbor, your sister and brother, and behold God's glory – transitory though life is.
For Jesus, the transfiguration signified confirmation for his mission, encouragement to continue with confidence that God was with him. the prophets were beside him. The transfiguration of Jesus was a moment given by God to strengthen him for his own death. For the disciples, there was a message that they should listen to Jesus because he is the chosen son of God, the veil is removed.
Living here on life's plains, amid the troubles, sorrows, shortcomings, and sins of humanity – our nature – the glory fades, our resolve weakens, our hope dims. But we are invited to the table, invited to receive the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation, to eat, drink and be renewed – "strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory."
Amen
John Dryden Burton
February 14, 2010
St. James’
Eureka Springs, AR