Exodus: 34:29-35
29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face, 34 but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out, and when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining, and Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with him.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with complete frankness, 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, the same veil is still there; it is not unveiled since in Christ it is 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.
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 as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke 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 set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying. 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.
I’m reading a book right now titled, “Abundantly More: The Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World” which argues, convincingly, that in this age we presume that the truth about anything and everything is identified by reducing it to it’s foundational level, breaking it down to it’s most basic parts. So, in science, the predominant narrative is that we explain life - including, not least, humans - in terms of the gene, or the atom, or subatomic particles. Or you have theories of human civilization which reduce everything to racial identity. This kind of reductionism, while often shedding light on a specific area, necessarily limits what counts as important or true. This kind of reductionistic thinking comes quite naturally to us; in fact, it is how many of us have been taught to read the Bible. There is a presumed imperative to reduce passages to their essential lesson, to take a parable, for instance, and determine what it “means”, to extract it essence and discard the container. But as long as we read Scripture like its a science rather than an art a veil (to borrow a metaphor) will cover our minds.
I’m going to offer a reading of these passages in relation to one another, one which I hope will reflect some of their radiance, but one which should not be taken to as a definitive or exhaustive account of their meaning. When we encounter something the glorious it overwhelms us, exceeds our ability to take it in, for the simple reason that God cannot be contained.
In Exodus 33, just prior to today’s passage, we read that, “the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” At the time Moses alone has this kind of privileged access, yet this causes him to long for a yet greater experience of God, so he asks to see God’s glory. God responds “you cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live”. (Speaking of God having a face is itself a metaphor, of course, for God doesn’t literally have a face - yet this way of speaking communicates much more than literal speech ever could). Yet God finds a kind of workaround: “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
In the next chapter, which we read, Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God and to receive a new copy of the Ten Commandments to replace the ones he smashed when he came down to see the people worshipping the golden calf. When Moses descended this time the people observed that, unbeknownst to him, his skin was radiant. This made them afraid that even God’s glory reflected in Moses’ face might be too close to looking upon the face of God. To accommodate their fear, Moses would wear a veil after speaking with God - and the implication seems to be that, over time, the radiance would fade - but when he came into God’s presence again, he would remove the veil and God’s glory would shine upon him. Moses thus served as the mediator between God and the people, reflecting God’s glory and sharing God’s commandments.
In the passage from Luke, Jesus also goes up a mountain to pray, to talk to God - though not alone - and as he was praying, “the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.” Then Moses and Elijah appear, and the disciples hear them speaking about Jesus’ “exodus” which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. It’s a conspicuous word choice, evoking the time Moses led the exodus of God’s people out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land, and thus suggesting that likewise Jesus will lead God’s people out of captivity to sin and death and into the kingdom of God. Whereas God’s deliverance first came by passing through the Red Sea, now God’s deliverance will come by the cross, where it will not be the Egyptians who perish but God’s own Son.
Peter, a bit out of his mind at the whole experience, declared the goodness of what is happening and suggests erecting three tents. You may recall that, in the time of Moses, as the Israelites wandered about, they carried with them a tent, the tabernacle, where God’s glory dwelt, a kind of portable, impermanent inner sanctum, before the temple was eventually built. Peter’s comment draws upon this era, a time when God’s glory was provisional, temporary, fading, an attempt to capture what could not be contained, to hold onto a moment. Jesus doesn’t bother responding to Peter’s suggestion; instead, all present were swallowed in a cloud, from which a voice announced, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” And then then the disciples were again alone with Jesus.
We call this “the transfiguration” because Jesus’ appearance is changed as the Glory of God came upon him, like Moses on Mount Sinai. Clearly we are to understand Jesus as a kind of new Moses, one who ascends a mountain to meet with God, who is a deliverer and a law-giver, who bears God’s glory in his flesh. We are to understand Jesus in light of Moses, even as the significance of the story is how Jesus is unlike Moses. Whereas Moses merely reflects God’s glory imperfectly, Jesus is shown to be God’s glory. And the disciples, overwhelmed as they are, do not, in fact, die. God’s glory, in Jesus, is now accessible, not dwelling in inside a tent or temple where only one person may enter, but dwelling among us. Jesus’ transfiguration reveals who he truly he is and prefigures his own glorification, when he is lifted up upon the cross, then lifted up into heaven.
Something new, something qualitatively superior, has arrived. The Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians to describe this new covenant with his characteristically innovative use of Scripture. Just as Moses wore a veil to conceal God’s glory, likewise Paul suggests that the old covenant, the law, is itself a veiled reflection of God, concealing God’s glory. Whenever the law is read, it is as if a veil comes over the mind, concealing from us the fullness of who God is. Paul would remind us, of course, that God gave the law, but it was provisional, like the tabernacle in the wilderness, for now something permanent has arrived. When we turn to Jesus, the veil over our minds is removed. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”, Paul declares. The freedom Paul has in mind here is freedom from the obligations of law, and from the confinement of God’s revelation to those people who keep that law. Now anyone can simply turn to Jesus.
Even so, in this life we still don’t see God face to face. As we read a few weeks ago in the famous chapter about love, Paul said, “For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” It as if we see God in two dimensions, as if on FaceTime rather than face to face, but this nevertheless is a truthful reflection of God’s glory, a reflection sufficient, like Moses on the mountain, to transform our countenance into the very image of God’s glory. In fact, because Jesus is the very image of God, and because we too are made in God’s image, when we look upon Jesus we are transformed, restored, to the very image bearers of God we were created to be. In his presence we become those who reflect God’s glory, who become those in whom others might see God unveiled. One day we shall see God face to face, and we will also perfectly see the image of God in the faces of one another. Until that day, we hope that, through the Spirit, the church will be a place where we can reflect God’s glory to one another, where we are transformed in each other’s presence, where God’s glory is revealed to the world.
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