Village Shepherd

When I conduct weddings, I'm always quite surprised when the bride wears a veil. I thought veils were a fashion which had disappeared years ago, but actually, there are still quite a number of brides who wear veils, and it's quite a moving moment when the groom gently lifts the veil from his bride's face. No matter that they've been living together for years prior to the wedding, and know every detail of each other's faces, somehow it's still a moving moment.

The fashion began years ago when marriages were arranged and the man perhaps didn't see his new wife's face until they were actually married. And that is still the case in some religions today, where the marriage is still arranged by the parents. Whatever the reason, in Christian marriage a veil adds a gentle and delightful touch of mystery to the wedding, although these days the veil is designed to add to the bride's beauty rather than obscuring her face.

But that wasn't the reason why Moses wore a veil. When Moses had been talking with God on the mountain, his face was so bright through his contact with God that he had to wear a veil, so that the Israelites wouldn't be damaged by his reflected radiance. At least, that was what the Jews had always thought and believed.

But St. Paul questions that belief. Without impugning Moses' sincerity, Paul attributes another effect to the veil. Since it lay between God's glory and the Israelites, it hid God's glory from them. They failed to understand fully about God, because they weren't allowed to see even a reflection of his glory.

Paul goes on to say that the Israelites of Moses' time typify the Jews of Paul's time, who still fail to recognize that Moses' glory was only temporary. When the Jews read the old Mosaic covenant, says Paul, there's a continuing dullness which prevents proper understanding, so that when Moses' writings are read in the synagogue, there's still a veil between the Jews and God. But whenever a person turns to the Lord through Jesus, that veil is removed.

So Paul is saying that those who stick to the old ways and the old beliefs, refusing to believe in Jesus, will always be behind a distorting veil. Only those who seek Christ will experience the true reality of God, and enjoy his radiance in all its glory. Going through life without Jesus is a bit like constantly wearing a veil, always seeing everything through a fog.

As a child I lived on the outskirts of London. I can remember walking home from school one day in a thick, yellow fog, which people referred to as a "pea-souper". I remember it as being quite exciting, for I could hardly see a yard in front me, but my hand was very firmly clutched in my mother's hand. Had I been alone, I suspect it would have been much less exciting, and much more frightening.

Pea-soupers have long gone, thank goodness, but fog still remains from time to time. One foggy day only a few weeks ago I stepped next door to my neighbour's, only to find when I was eventually ready to return home, that night had fallen and it was extremely dark. Although it was only next door, it felt quite hazardous trying to determine in the dark and the fog without a torch, where the hedge ended and our driveway began.

Things look different in fog. Fog somehow distorts images of familiar things like trees and hedges and gates. And spiritual fog similarly distorts, so that people who know nothing about Christ get the wrong end of the stick about God. It's very common to meet people who for one reason or another are terrified of God, because their image of him is distorted. They see him as an ogre ready to pounce and zap them at the least opportunity, and sadly, they're unable to comprehend a God of love.

Fortunately, there is something which disperses fog, and come to that, which blows away veils. Fog rarely lasts when there's any wind, for the wind blows the fog away. The breath of God, which may be a gentle breeze or may sometimes be a roaring wind, is his Holy Spirit.

When God sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the house was filled with a roaring wind. And those who were touched by the Holy Spirit suddenly discovered they had amazing gifts. But on the first Easter Day, six weeks before Pentecost, according to John's gospel the risen Jesus breathed on his disciples so that they received the Holy Spirit. And that seems to have been a much gentler affair, more a breeze than a wind.

Like the wind, the Holy Spirit blows where it will. It's not confined to within the Church, although it is found within the Church. And like the wind it touches everybody, although not everybody responds to that touch. Where people do respond, they begin to discover freedom. Freedom from the old restrictive ways of doing things, freedom from the entanglement of sin always pulling us down into the mire, freedom from any sort of slavery to old habits.

And as we begin to taste and experience that freedom, so we're gradually transformed. The Holy Spirit works within us, often whether we know it or not, and things gradually change. As the slavery goes, we begin to dare more. And other people begin to notice a new brightness, a new radiance. All of us Christians with unveiled faces are being transformed into the image of God, from glory to glory, because God's glory is reflected from us like a mirror.

As we become more open, so secrets and shame are banished for ever, because we don't operate by cunning, as the world does, but by open statements of the truth in God's sight.

So Paul's message today is, don't lose heart. We're all in Christian ministry because that's what being a Christian means, and we're in this ministry through God's love. His Holy Spirit working within us is gradually lifting the veil hiding God from us, and just as Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, so we're gradually being transformed into God's glory.

That transformation will be finally completed after death, for then we shall see God face to face and we too shall behold him in all his glory. But by then we won't need any veils to shield us from his radiance, for by then we too will be ready to reflect his glory.