Rev. Dr. Les Martin

Last Sunday of Epiphany 2025
Rev. Dr. Les Martin
Exodus 34:29-35, Luke 9:28-36

They were afraid to approach him. 

Exodus 34:30b

Veils blind.  They hinder our sight. Our reading from Exodus today concerns the matter of Moses and his veil. He wears it because of the reflected glory of God.  When he would speak with God, it seems Moses’ face would “pick up” some of the glory of God’s presence- and it would shine.  Now, the Israelites were discomfited by this, preferring, it seems, not to have the glory of God so near to them- even in a reflected fashion.  Hence, the veil.  This is not a new development among the Israelites: in Exodus 20, when God appeared at Sinai, the Israelites also sought to avoid the direct presence of their God.  In verse 19, they essentially say to Moses “You speak to God and tell us what he said, we don’t want to speak with him directly. We don’t want to see him because we’re afraid.” The physical veil of Moses we read of today is preceded by a veil of fear- a blindness the people willingly choose.  This is how Paul in Second Corinthians 3:13 interprets the veil on Moses’ face- as a metaphor for the closed mind of the Jewish people. But let’s not think that they are exceptional in this regard. Since the time of Adam and Eve, it is part of the human condition after the Fall to fearfully avoid God, to close our minds and willingly choose the blindness.

Veils blind.  They hinder our sight. Think of someone who has suffered by ignoring the truth, and then complete this phrase in your mind: “He was blinded by…” [pause]  When it comes to avoiding God, almost anything will fit the bill: addictions, anger, sensuality. Even good things: family, work, patriotism and- yes- religion. By Jesus time, many Jews had replaced the trusting relationship with God that is the heart of the Law and the Prophets for a mechanical- and fearful – observance of the Law.  We, too, can put a veil between ourselves and God by ignoring him, or perhaps by elevating a preacher, a doctrine, an experience, or a particular denomination to the point where we no longer see God clearly.

Today, Peter, John and James – and we with them – see Jesus, son of Mary, as he truly is, as he always has been, save for his few years among us on our behalf.  God’s glory resides in him. It may have been hidden for a season, but it is his glory- it’s not reflected from another source.  His glory is not found just in his radiance, but in the subservience of the Law and the Prophets- Moses and Elijah – to him, and in the voice of the Father affirming him as both Son and Chosen One.

The Transfiguration narrative comes today, on the Last Sunday After Epiphany (a word meaning manifestation). It crowns and completes a series of manifestations wherein we have learned the nature of the God who is unambiguously for us. One that we should not be blind to, and need not fear.

The Chosen One of God, the One who fulfills the Law and Prophets shows no partiality, welcoming foreign Magi at his manger-bed.  The Chosen One of God, the One who fulfills the Law and Prophets embraces our sinful state, as he kneels in the waters of the Jordan to fulfill all righteousness.  The Chosen One of God, the One who fulfills the Law and Prophets is named, circumcised, and presented in the Temple, fulfilling the Law to redeem those under the Law, that we might receive our adoption as daughters and sons.  The jars of purification give way to the new wine of grace.  He releases the captives. The veil is lifted and there is recovery of sight for the blind and freedom for the oppressed. The Chosen One of God, the One who fulfills the Law and Prophets inaugurates the Year of the Lord’s favor, and the Kingdom is revealed in our midst as he says “Peace be with you.”  That’s what Epiphanytide is about, what the Transfiguration reveals in full.  We ignore this God to our detriment, we fear him in our folly.

One more revelation awaits us, on the other side of the mountain- and of this liturgical season.   The Apostle John introduces it this way:  

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. (John 13:1b)

Supper, Footwashing, and Golgotha attest that the Chosen One of God, the One who fulfills the Law and Prophets is not incompatible with death on the Cross-  for us. Our King of Glory will ultimately reign from a tree.

Paul tells us today that love bears all things, endures all things.  Jesus, son of Mary, Son of God, is that love made manifest.  For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but the time is coming when we- like Peter, John, and James- will see such love face-to-face. For he goes to prepare to prepare a place for us, that where he is there we might also be. 

St. Gregory of Nazianzus writes of the transfigured Jesus as follows:

He was as bright as the lightning on the mountain and became more luminous than the sun, initiating us into the mystery of the future.

The mystery of the future.  What is that future? St Paul describes it this way: 

we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:17-18)

And Christ himself comforts us, saying:

Do not be afraid, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. (Luke 12:32)