Beholding the Glory – June 30, 2024
Exodus 34:29-35, II Corinthians 3:12-18
June 30, 2024
As we look at this reading for today, I’d like to give you a little bit of background. Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth, of course. And he wrote it after he had gone through a time of conflict with them.
Yes, churches had conflict, even in the earliest days! I remember a guy in my college fellowship saying, “It would be so good if only we could get back to what it was like in the early church, when there wasn’t all this conflict, and division, and disagreement – like we have today!”
Well, let me just say that there never was such an idyllic time! That’s because the church has always been made up of people, and people always seem to find a way to bring in that conflict, division, and disagreement. Paul spent his ministry, and wrote his letters, trying to deal with that. So it wasn’t idyllic. And it wasn’t easy, because …oh yes, they also had persecution, by those “silly Romans!”
I was doing some reading on this, and I found that, because Paul had had that “falling out” with this church, he had written to them, what he himself described as, a “severe letter.” Apparently, he had “taken them to the woodshed” with pen and ink! Now, we don’t have that actual letter. We just have the reference to it. But it would be an interesting read, wouldn’t it?
Paul describes that in chapter 2 of this letter, saying, “I wrote to you out of much affliction, and anguish of heart, and with many tears; not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love I have for you.” (II Corinthians 2:4)
Well as it goes, sometime later, Paul found out that the church had “warmed up” to him again – either through that letter, or through one of his colleagues “smoothing things over.” But either way, they had responded to “the abundant love” he had for them, and that conflict had dissipated.
So, Paul then wrote another letter to them in response to that good news. And that letter became our book of II Corinthians. And in this letter, he shares his joy with them again, saying,“ But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” (II Corinthians 2:14)
Don’t you love that? “Through us, Christ spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of God!” “Through us!’ Is that you? Are you the fragrance of the knowledge of God in the world? And isn’t that similar to what Jesus said about us being “the salt of the earth.” We are the fragrance – we are the flavor, of God in the world!
Ok, so that leads into the third chapter, where we find our reading for today. And in this reading, we hear Paul speaking in terms of some things that had been near and dear to his heart – for his entire life. Here we find him talking about Moses and the Law.
Remember, Paul used to be called Saul, right? – until that whole “getting knocked off of his donkey” thing. Before that, he was, as he said, “The Pharisee of Pharisees.” He was a leader of Israel, a keeper of the faith, a “child of Abraham” and a “son of Moses.” That stuff used to be of utmost importance to him.
But now he writes this whole chapter about Moses and the giving of the Law, comparing that to the new understanding about our relationship with God in Jesus. And as I think about that, I have to wonder if there were many Jewish people in that Church. And I wonder what they thought when they heard that?
If you remember, the city of Corinth was a major city in Greece. And Greece was a Roman province at the time. Corinth was located on that little spit of land between northern and southern Greece, without which southern Greece would be an island, completely separated from the mainland. (Look for it in the maps at the back of your bible! And yes, there will be a test on this next class!)
So Corinth was at a crossroad of that world. And like many crossroad cities, everything passed through there, by sea and by land. So there was a lot of trade and commerce… and money! There was also a great diversity of people. So I suspect there were Jews in the congregation to which Paul was writing. But I also suspect that even the non-Jews would have been familiar with the stories of Moses.
So, Paul refers to the story from Exodus, where Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets of the Law, (The second set of tablets, by the way!) and when he did, his face shone, because he had been with God! And in that story, when the people saw his face, they were frightened! So, until that glow faded, Moses put a veil over his face whenever he talked to them. That’s the story Paul was talking about that here in chapter 3. And he was saying that the Law, given on tablets of stone, was a powerful connection with God. And seeing that power of God in the face of Moses was frightening!
Then, he compares that to what he saw as an even greater connection with God, the connection we have through his Son, Jesus. And he wrote about it in the same terms as the story of Moses. “Since we have such a hope,” he said, “we are very bold, not like the time when Moses put a veil over his face.” “For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains, because only through Christ is it taken away.”
If there were any Jews hearing these words, they would have been shocked how he was comparing Jesus to Moses! Make no mistake, this was a huge thing Paul was saying here about Jesus. And Paul would do that often. As I said, this was something near and dear to his heart. So now he related it to his newfound faith in Jesus. Often describing him as “the new Moses!” Sometimes even “the new Abraham!” And I want you to understand how shocking that would have been to the people of his time!
Paul then leads us to this wonderful conclusion. And this does sound wonderful! It’s so beautifully written! But listen to what it says! “And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of God, are being changed into his likeness, from one degree of glory to the next.”
Does that sound like it could be true of you? Yes, we can think about how we are created in God’s image. Paul believed that. Their scripture said that, and the Jewish people believed it. And that’s not so hard to believe or understand. We are created in the image of God. But, can we be changed into his likeness? That is, are we able, not just to look like him – to resemble him, but even to be like him?
That’s one of those statements that’s easy to say, but hard to “wrap our minds around!” “With unveiled faces, we behold the glory of God.” That’s where I got my sermon title for today. Does that mean we behold the actual presence of God, so much so that our faces glow like Moses? No. (At least not necessarily! I’m not ruling that out!) But, let me ask you this. Can people tell when they look at us, that we have been with God? That’s one thing the people knew for sure when they saw Moses’ face.
Maybe that’s the question you can ask when you think of this. Can people tell that you have been with God when they look at you? In other words, does it make any difference in your demeanor, or your outlook on things, that you have been with God – or should I say that God has been with you. Or that God is with you. And does that make it any easier to think that you are “being changed into his likeness?”
That’s not easy, is it? And don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying this means we’re happy all the time, or even at peace all the time. I so resist the notion that having Jesus in our lives means we are those things all the time – happy, joyous, peaceful… It’s not realistic. And it sends the wrong message to people. It makes them think (and us too sometimes!) that if they’re not happy, joyous, and peaceful, then God is not with them. It makes them (and us) think, “What’s wrong with me?” “Why am I not feeling like God is with me?” Why am I going through these struggles?
Paul went through struggles. He went through struggles with the very congregation he was writing to! But he knew that that didn’t mean God wasn’t with him! On the contrary, he knew, as he told the Romans, that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 5:3-5)
We may not always be happy. We may not always get things right. But remember, Paul said, “we are being changed into his likeness.” He didn’t say, “We have been changed into his likeness.” This is a process. And as a process, sometimes it goes well, and sometimes not so well. But when things are not going well, we need to remember that it is a process, and it will start to go well again. As long as we have that hope. As long as we’re still “beholding the glory.” As long as we’re remembering and relying on the promise that God is with us.
So, we are created in God’s image. And we are being changed into his likeness! And with unveiled faces, we are beholding the glory.
Prayer
Eternal God, help us not to be discouraged when things go wrong. Help us to have hope instead. Help us to know beyond a doubt, every day, that you are with us, and that we are being changed into your likeness. And may that be evident to the world in all that we do and say. For we pray in Jesus’ name, and for the sake of his kingdom, Amen.