Festival
of the Transfiguration
February
10, 2013
Moses'
Veil in the Face of Christ's Glory
Exodus
34:29-35
In
the name of Jesus. Amen.
Once
a long time ago someone actually had to say this to Moses: “Excuse
me, Moses. Your face is glowing.” Finally Moses understood why
everyone, including his own brother Aaron, had kept their distance
from him ever since he had come down the mountain of Sinai.
They
had been at Mt. Sinai for a few months already. During this time
Moses had been up on the mountain with God for 40 days and nights and
had brought down two tablets of stone with God's commandments written
upon them. But during his absence his own brother Aaron had passed
the collection plate for gold from the people (gold they had gotten
from the Egyptians as they exited Egypt), and had made a golden calf.
At
this point, the Lord said to Moses:
“I
have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a
stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn
against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a
great nation.” (Exodus 32:9-10)
But
Moses pleaded with God not to go through with His plan. Moses pleaded
with God not based on Moses' opinion, but on God's promises to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“Turn
from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your
people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you
swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous
as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this
land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’”
(Exodus 32:12-13)
Then
God relented and did not destroy Israel. But as soon as Moses went
back down the mountain, his anger burned and he threw the stone
tablets down and they were broken to pieces.
Now
you need to know all of that so that you understand what had gone on
before Moses' face started glowing. Since he destroyed the original
stone tablets, God graciously set Moses to the task of replacing them
with a duplicate set. And then for another 40 days and nights, the
Lord was with Moses up on the mountain. And this is when Moses' face
started to shine.
The
radiance of God's glory was reflected in Moses' face. (Think of those
glow-in-the-dark stars you can stick on your bedroom ceiling.) But
instead of a light that draws people closer, like children gathering
around a lighted candle, Moses' face scared everyone away at first.
Then
once he realized what he looked like (maybe someone told him or maybe
he looked down at the stone tablets at night and could read them), he
called them back to him and spoke to them. What did he say? He
preached. He proclaimed as a glowing messenger, like an angel, the
Word of God for His people.
[Moses]
spoke to them … and he gave them all the commands the Lord had
given him on Mount Sinai. (Exodus 34:31-32)
And
after he preached, he put on a veil over his face. Why? St. Paul
tells us exactly why: to keep the Israelites from gazing at it
while the radiance was fading away (2 Corinthians 3:13). While at
first the Jews had been terrified by the glory of the God's Law, they
soon found ways to tame God's Commandments. They lusted for the
fading glory of their own righteousness of their own law. Moses
didn't want them to stare and stare at God's commands—Do this! Live
like that! Love in this way!—and start to think that they could
perfectly do, live, and love as God desires.
No.
Moses wanted them to look ahead to the Savior who would do, live, and
love perfectly. The radiance of His promises, His Gospel, will never
fade away.
Look
at glorious little Ethan. Jesus' Gospel promises belong to him
because the Holy Spirit has washed away the shame and guilt of his
sinfulness. And this forgiveness will never fade away from Ethan. It
will always belong to him, a gift from his Savior, Jesus Christ.
Granted,
no one will ever walk up to him and awkwardly have to tell him, “Uh,
excuse me, Ethan. Your face is glowing.” But whenever Jesus calls
him, He'll notice and tell him, “Ethan, your face is glowing
because I forgave you. I can see My radiance in you because I'm God
and can see things that humans, like you, can't see. So come and eat
with Me in My heavenly banquet prepared just for you.”
For
now, our radiance in Christ is hidden as by a veil, but soon for each
of us and then all together with Moses and Elijah and all the saints,
we will shine in the everlasting light of our radiant Jesus.
In
the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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