2 Corinthians 3:6-4:2 (The Message)
God’s plan wasn’t written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It’s written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!
The Government of Death, its constitution chiseled on stone tablets, had a dazzling inaugural. Moses’ face as he delivered the tablets was so bright that day (even though it would fade soon enough) that the people of Israel could no more look right at him than stare into the sun. How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit?
If the Government of Condemnation was impressive, how about this Government of Affirmation? Bright as that old government was, it would look downright dull alongside this new one. If that makeshift arrangement impressed us, how much more this brightly shining government installed for eternity?
With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back. Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. He wore a veil so the children of Israel wouldn’t notice that the glory was fading away—and they didn’t notice. They didn’t notice it then and they don’t notice it now, don’t notice that there’s nothing left behind that veil. Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can’t see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there’s nothing there.
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.
This is a fairly lengthy reading today. The original citation was pretty average but I kept going back in the writings, adding on, until I had, what seems to me to be sufficient backstory to make sense of what was originally listed as the reading. The gospel reading for today is the story of the Transfiguration, with Jesus, Moses and Elijah on a hilltop, but we went into that pretty extensively last year, so this year I decided to do the epistle reading instead. It continues the same theme as the gospel reading, which is visible glory.
This is from the 2nd of Paul’s long pastoral letters to the Christian community in Corinth. Corinth was always a problem-child church for Paul. It had been, originally, a Greek city, which had become rundown and worn out over time. When the Romans took control of the region they rebuilt Corinth as the seat of their regional government and so by Paul’s time it was, once again, a thriving metropolis. It was one of the churches founded on Paul initial missionary journey, but it was always a problem and Paul spent a lot of time there as well as a lot of time writing to them when he wasn’t there.
1st Corinthians dealt mostly with the church’s relationship with the world immediately around them, while 2nd Corinthians deals primarily with relationships within the church community and Paul spends a good amount of effort in chastising them for this, that and the other thing.
Paul begins this particular section of his letter by referring to the story of Moses when he came down from talking directly with God up on Sinai. When he came down carrying the tablets of the commandments and further trips he had to wear a veil over his face to avoid blinding the Hebrews when he walked among them – the light of God still reflecting from him was so dazzling.
Paul, as a good Jew, lived most of his life believing in the Law, and that the Law gave life. As a Christian, however, Paul now sees that the Law is far out-shone by the light of Christ which is the true life-giver. When the Law became something to be worshiped in and of itself it became the Government of Death rather than life. This is, unfortunately, all too common an occurrence. Much of Christianity has also become a Government of Death where Christians have become more concerned with maintaining their own ideas and judgments rather than with living the life Jesus laid out for us. Such churches wear veils to hide that fact that their glory has faded.
“Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, [Paul reminds us all] God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face!” Face-to-face with the visible glory of God and, in turn, our faces reflecting that glory and we shine before the world.
Paul goes on to explain: we no longer wear masks to hide ourselves; we refuse to manipulate the world around us to gain power for ourselves. And we do not – according to Paul – twist God’s Word to suit ourselves.
Remember - this is Paul’s 2nd Corinthian letter – the one where he is addressing issues within the church. When the church remembers its mission and has its act together we no longer wear masks to hide ourselves – from each other. I see this as possibly the most important line in this whole long pericope. We are God’s people and we come together as we are, because what we are is chosen and loved and forgiven. How many of us can see ourselves as visibly shining out God's love to the world? And yet, if we cannot accept this for ourselves, how can we ever see it in anyone else? When we no longer hide our real selves from each other, then the world can look at us and see the visible glory of God – shining back from our faces.
“God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us!” the scripture says. We are free to shine with the light of Christ, no longer laboring to produce some feeble glow all on our own, but instead we reflect back Christ’s light.
Paul continues assuring us that there is “nothing between us and God, and our faces shine with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
And seeing us, radiant in the love of Christ, the world may see and want to find out more of our joy. Can we allow ourselves to be part of this sharing?
This is from the 2nd of Paul’s long pastoral letters to the Christian community in Corinth. Corinth was always a problem-child church for Paul. It had been, originally, a Greek city, which had become rundown and worn out over time. When the Romans took control of the region they rebuilt Corinth as the seat of their regional government and so by Paul’s time it was, once again, a thriving metropolis. It was one of the churches founded on Paul initial missionary journey, but it was always a problem and Paul spent a lot of time there as well as a lot of time writing to them when he wasn’t there.
1st Corinthians dealt mostly with the church’s relationship with the world immediately around them, while 2nd Corinthians deals primarily with relationships within the church community and Paul spends a good amount of effort in chastising them for this, that and the other thing.
Paul begins this particular section of his letter by referring to the story of Moses when he came down from talking directly with God up on Sinai. When he came down carrying the tablets of the commandments and further trips he had to wear a veil over his face to avoid blinding the Hebrews when he walked among them – the light of God still reflecting from him was so dazzling.
Paul, as a good Jew, lived most of his life believing in the Law, and that the Law gave life. As a Christian, however, Paul now sees that the Law is far out-shone by the light of Christ which is the true life-giver. When the Law became something to be worshiped in and of itself it became the Government of Death rather than life. This is, unfortunately, all too common an occurrence. Much of Christianity has also become a Government of Death where Christians have become more concerned with maintaining their own ideas and judgments rather than with living the life Jesus laid out for us. Such churches wear veils to hide that fact that their glory has faded.
“Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, [Paul reminds us all] God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face!” Face-to-face with the visible glory of God and, in turn, our faces reflecting that glory and we shine before the world.
Paul goes on to explain: we no longer wear masks to hide ourselves; we refuse to manipulate the world around us to gain power for ourselves. And we do not – according to Paul – twist God’s Word to suit ourselves.
Remember - this is Paul’s 2nd Corinthian letter – the one where he is addressing issues within the church. When the church remembers its mission and has its act together we no longer wear masks to hide ourselves – from each other. I see this as possibly the most important line in this whole long pericope. We are God’s people and we come together as we are, because what we are is chosen and loved and forgiven. How many of us can see ourselves as visibly shining out God's love to the world? And yet, if we cannot accept this for ourselves, how can we ever see it in anyone else? When we no longer hide our real selves from each other, then the world can look at us and see the visible glory of God – shining back from our faces.
“God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us!” the scripture says. We are free to shine with the light of Christ, no longer laboring to produce some feeble glow all on our own, but instead we reflect back Christ’s light.
Paul continues assuring us that there is “nothing between us and God, and our faces shine with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
And seeing us, radiant in the love of Christ, the world may see and want to find out more of our joy. Can we allow ourselves to be part of this sharing?
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