Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-43
When you raise five kids, you develop a certain ability to discern things, an ability to listen carefully and get to the heart of the matter. In short, you get very good at determining which child is telling the truth and which child is setting up the next one to take the fall. Oh, you’re never perfect – each of our kids tried to pull the wool over our eyes as they were growing up, and sometimes they succeeded. But there were other times that we let them succeed – at least as far as they thought – and many, many times we called them on the contradictions we had found in their stories.
And so a pastor with five kids gets good at finding the truth in a situation. That’s important, because in many ways, Christianity is the story of how people find Truth hidden behind the veil of lies that the world puts between us and that Truth. While it is true that “the Truth shall set you free”, it is also true that sometimes the Truth is difficult to bear. And frankly, most people don’t want to hear or see the Truth. Most people would prefer to stick with the comfortable lies that they know rather than make the changes necessary to our lives when we see the Truth.
In our first Reading today, Moses has gone up on the mountaintop to meet with God. The first stone tablets have been broken, the first copy of the Law that God had given Moses because the people had made a golden calf to worship. And so Moses went back up to the mountaintop to meet with God, to prepare another set of tablets – and while Moses was there, the glory of God came and stood in front of Moses. Moses saw part of God that day.
When Moses came down from the mountain 40 days later, his face shone in radiance. Apparently, some of God’s glory had been picked up by Moses’ face. This was very unsettling to the men who met him – so unsettling, he began to wear a veil to cover his face. Knowing the Truth, having even part of the Truth, being close to God can be very unsettling for people who are farther away from God.
And our culture, the world around us, encourages us today to stay far from God. How often on television or in the movies is the religious person seen as wacko? How often is the preacher on television put forth as dangerous? How many times do you see the person who understands God a bit more than the average person portrayed as a fanatic, as the criminal, as someone we do not want to be seen as? It is so often that as soon as we find out the character is Christian, we know that they will be the criminal or the bad guy or the stupid, comedic character on the show, the one who isn’t to be trusted. And so our culture encourages us even today to stay far, far away from God, hiding behind a veil. Even in the church, people sit as far away from the altar as possible, because up here there is something mysterious and frightening, a Someone who cannot be controlled by us. And so we try to stay away from God as much as possible.
And we see this concept of the veil which protects people from God’s glory being repeated in several places throughout the Bible. For example, the tabernacle, the portable temple that the Israelites carried with them, shielded people from the glory of God with several layers of curtains. Only the high priest was allowed within the innermost layer of curtains.
And then, when the Temple of Solomon was built, much the same thing was done, except this time solid walls were used for most of the layers, with the veil reserved for the innermost area, the Holy of Holies. And later, when the Second Temple was built by King Herod, once again walls were used to divide the outsiders from the Jews, the women were kept outside the second wall, those who were not priests were kept outside the third wall, and only the selected priest was allowed inside the veil.
One day, when the disciples and Jesus were in the most northern part of Israel, Jesus took His inner circle – Peter, John, and James – three men for in Jewish law all truth is established by the testimony of two or three witnesses – He took the three up to the top of Mount Hermon, the tallest mountain in what we call today the Golan Heights. On the way up they climbed past other makeshift altars and temples, temples made from what you could carry up a mountain, not even decent shacks, for people had made these temple-shacks to other gods for centuries. Finally, they get to the top and Jesus begins to pray to God.
29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.
Jesus begins to glow with the glory of God, because He was God walking upon the earth. And Moses and Elijah appear. Notice that Moses, the man most associated in Jewish history with going up on top of a mountain, is there. Moses, the man with the face that glowed because he had talked with God – he is there. Remember - Moses’ body was never found. Legend had had it that he was taken directly to Heaven, and now he was standing before the disciples, talking with Jesus!
And there was Elijah, the great prophet, the man who had also seen God pass by him while he was on a mountain, the man God hid in the cleft in the rock to protect him from God’s glory, the man who returned to Heaven in a fiery chariot, Elijah was there, standing before the disciples, talking with Jesus, and Jesus was glowing with the glory of God!
And Jesus and the two prophets were speaking about his departure from earth, the upcoming visit to Jerusalem where He would enter the town as a hero, be betrayed, be arrested, tried, and executed for the crime of claiming to be God, where he would die as a sacrifice for all the crimes against God that all the people of the world had committed or would ever commit, the sins of you and of me – and then He would arise from the dead to prove that He was indeed God on this earth. Jesus who was glowing with the glory of God, talking to the two greatest legendary prophets of Jewish history, the men who had supposedly never died, the three of them were standing in front of the disciples and it was very clear which one was most important, for Jesus was glowing!
And so Peter, quick to speak and slow to think, blurts out that the disciples should honor Jesus and the others by building temple-shacks for each one of them, three temple-shacks – one for Moses the Law-Giver, one for Elijah the great prophet, and one for Jesus, their leader. Peter was thinking that he would honor each of them by building a little temple to each of them, treating them each as gods.
And history records Peter as the man who was told by God to “shut up!”
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
God reminded Peter that Jesus was God’s son – and the other two were just men. And Peter shut up. For Peter and John and James were profoundly affected by what they had seen, they would never see Jesus the same way again, even when they went back to the world below them, they now knew beyond any doubt that Jesus was special, that Jesus was frighteningly special, that Jesus was claimed by God as God’s Son.
And so they didn’t say a word to anyone. For they had seen the Truth and they respected Jesus, and they were truly in awe of Him now. No longer was He just a teacher to them, now He was divine, they were in the presence of God whenever they were near Him, and this was both wonderful and disturbing. They needed time to work out what it meant, they needed time to think about the meaning, they needed time to figure out what it meant for their view of everything. You will notice that while the Gospels record much of what Jesus said and did, and how the disciples behaved, they do not record the disciples getting “chummy” with Jesus. There was something a bit too frightening, a bit disturbing, a bit unworldly about Him. His godliness kept showing through in the way he didn’t behave the way rabbi’s are supposed to behave. And so the disciples followed – but they kept their distance from Jesus.
When they went back down to the foot of the mountain, it was back into the daily business of healing people. A man brought his demon-possessed son – the disciples who had remained behind had tried to drive out the demon, but those disciples could not heal the boy, so Jesus threw up His hands and asked how much longer He had to put up with people who did not believe, and then Jesus rebuked the demon and the boy was healed. “And they were all amazed at the greatness of God”.
You see – sometimes you need to know the Truth to set others free. And Jesus knew the Truth – and now Peter, James, and John knew the Truth. And as the Truth gradually spread out to the other disciples and the crowds, and then to the authorities, the truth that Jesus was claiming to be God on earth, people left Him, and eventually He was arrested and executed for the crime of claiming to be God. And he was placed behind a wall of stone so we could not see His glory. Once again the veil was in place.
Three days later, Truth triumphed. For Jesus came back alive from the dead. He walked out from behind the wall of stone, He left the veil behind. What better proof of the essential God-nature of Jesus could you find. The Truth had won out – and what better freedom could you find than to know that Jesus had proven He was God and had promised that His followers would have eternal life?
And furthermore, on that morning when Jesus came back from the dead, there was a great earthquake and the veil in the Temple was ripped from top to bottom, for no longer would God be hidden away from men and women, no longer would God hide behind a veil, but God would walk with people, God would ride in His follower’s hearts, God the Holy Spirit was in the world connecting together all believers and God and Jesus Christ was the sewing needle that had stitched us all together!
Many years later, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. In the 3rd chapter of his 2nd letter, he wrote of the veil that covers our hearts and keeps us from knowing Truth. Paul said it much better than I can say it, so let me read his words:
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read.
Paul is talking about scripture being read, particularly the Old Testament. Scripture is very hard to understand if you don’t know Christ. He continues about the veil.
It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Paul is saying that the veil keeps us from truth, but when you turn to the Lord, we can see clearly now with our hearts.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are one and the same substance, and they are both the same substance as God the Father. The Spirit, seen directly, heard directly, with no veil, puts us directly in touch with God.
At the Last Supper, Jesus told us that He would send us the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit would lead us to all Truth. And, as you have heard, the Truth will set you free.
As you grow in your Christian walk, learn to listen to that still small voice that speaks to you, the still small voice that Elijah heard when he was on the mountain after the fire and storm and wind passed by, the still small voice of God the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit will lead you into all Truth. And the Truth will set you free from your slavery to sin, from your ancient injuries from days gone past, from your fears.
When you are afraid, when you are hurting, when other people have injured you, when you are alone, when you are upset, when you are afraid, ask the Spirit to speak the Truth to you and listen.
Now, knowing Christ, you can see without a veil over your heart, and you can know the Truth. The are no barriers between you and the Truth. But you must have the courage to look at the Truth. Will you look at the Truth? Or will you put your own veil of self-deception back in place to block your view? Will you listen to what the Spirit tells you about what you have done, what others have done, and what Jesus Christ did to fix your problems once and for all? Or will you put fabric in your ears so you will not hear? Let your hearts be healed through the Truth of Jesus Christ.
Read the Word, pray to God through the Spirit, listen to the Spirit and see the Truth.
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