With Unveiled Faces (Manuscript)

Sunday, February 18th, 2007
Epiphany 7
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
We are being transformed

12Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 15Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

4Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

Paul lived in the reality of an ongoing, vibrant, interactive, transformative relationship with the living Lord. Do we?

Paul compared his faith background; zealous, yes, dedicated, yes, given, yes, to what he had now, AFTER meeting the risen Lord, and in his mind it was like comparing apples and oranges. The two were so far apart for him experientially that he could hardly even put them in the same category.

We live in a society that among its strengths counts religious pluralism – freedom of religion – to be a cornerstone. As members of that society, or at least as a people who live surrounded by that society, that CULTURE, and particularly as Baptists who have historically defended that freedom, in order to practice and follow what we understand to be the command of Christ to persuade and convince, not force anyone to espouse a faith in order to arrive at a genuine faith, it is part and parcel of defending that freedom that leads us to respect each individual’s right to practice his or her understanding of faith – or lack of faith, in the hope that IN and FROM that freedom that person WILL be persuaded, whether by their own study or by the humble persuasion of our lives if not our words, into a relationship with Jesus Christ. One of the side effects OF that understanding is that we tend to sometimes blur the distinctions between faiths. It’s an easy thing to do. After all, there are, among the three main world religions, different as they are, a few core principles that are shared.

One of those is respect for life. The ‘rule’ to not commit murder that we find in the Hebrew passage of scriptures that WE call the ten commandments is also found in the theology of both the Christian Church and the Muslim faith, terrorist attacks notwithstanding. There are others. A high view of scripture, given that for each of our faiths those scriptures differ, a belief in a sovereign God who is to one degree or another involved or interested in what is going on in the world. And the need to ‘get the word out’ as it were, about just how God is doing that, or expects that to be done, depending on who you talk to.

Obviously, that last point is where we spend a lot of time crashing into each other. So our respective societies have chosen different ways of dealing with that particular issue. While it is not illegal to BE a Christian in a particular Muslim country, or in Israel, it IS illegal to CONVERT to, or CAUSE someone to convert to, faith in Christ if you are a citizen of that country, if you belong to the majority faith. What would seem to us a strange contradiction is in fact a reflection of the view of what it means to belong to the faith community as a member of a Muslim or Jewish Society. What we take for granted, what we have no memory of being without – freedom to believe as we want, to practice our faith as we feel led, and to speak of our faith to others SEEKING faith, is a foreign concept in many many countries around the world.

Paul’s presentation of the Gospel to the people of Corinth struck a chord in their hearts that they immediately grasped – especially with regards to the freedom that we find in Christ. We are free – and through the Holy Spirit empowered – to live a life DIFFERENT from those who came before us, those who live next to us, those who are above us who may or may not attempt to impose one or another precept on us. Our freedom is a spiritual freedom that transcends the boundaries established by human minds – and cultures, and religions.

That is what Paul is talking about when he speaks of living in the glory of God in Christ with unveiled faces.

The opening words of today’s passage are the continuation of the argument he presents from the beginning of chapter 3 – he is speaking of what it means to live in the faith and sure hope that we have in Christ – not based on our own worth or merit, but based on the worth and merit of Jesus Christ, who stands in our place before God. It is THAT hope that he is talking about when he says

‘Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,’

There is no place in Paul’s understanding for the uncertainty of wondering if you are or are not ‘right with God’ at any given moment. It’s actually pretty simple. You either are or you are not, based on whether or not you show evidence of the Holy Spirit acting in your life – through the way you treat others, through the way you act, through your words, through your lifestyle. The two go hand in hand – IF the Spirit is there, it’ll be obvious. If the Spirit is NOT there, THAT will be obvious.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

I guess the question is this: HOW are our faces veiled? What veil do we choose to wear, when we don’t necessarily want anyone to know that we are Christ followers? Or do we not do that?

As many of you know, some Mexican friends of ours were involved in a car accident on Wednesday morning. Thankfully, nobody was killed, but to look at the car is to look at twisted metal and shattered glass and see what a miracle looks like. Wednesday evening as one of the women was being tended to by her nurse, the television was on in the room, so I decided to check and see if there was a Spanish language station included in the selection available. I came across the travel channel. The program was of somebody who was touring around what appeared to be a medieval city somewhere in southern Europe, it seemed to be Italy. The scenery was nice, the buildings were old and obviously historic, so I left it there (there wasn’t a Spanish language option available). Just a few minutes after I left the television tuned to that station, that program ended, and the next one to come on was the World Poker Tour. Apparently this contest travels around the country and hosts playoffs, with several dozen tables playing at the same time, and as the winners of each table get sorted out, the remaining winners eventually get to play at the championship table, and that is the one that makes the program. You’ve heard the term ‘poker face, or game face?’ These people have it down to a science. They divulge NOTHING. The table is set up with cameras that allow us to see what each player has in their hand, but you couldn’t tell it from looking at their faces.

There have been a few occasions when Leslie or I have been asked to speak at different places, and it turns out to be a ‘dead room’ it can sometimes feel like a poker game is going on standing in front of a crowd like that. It is immeasurably encouraging to be able to look out at your faces and see responses – smiles, nods, frowns sometimes, cocked heads, or to hear your responses – sometimes a quiet or not-so-quiet ‘amen’, or a vigorous nod of the head, or a big smile, a laugh, listening is an active thing – yes, it can be a passive thing as well, we all know that, but to engage in active listening is to be communicating back and forth – acknowledging what is being said, or responding in such a way as to communicate your own perception of something – it is in a sense an unveiling of our faces to be engaged in this dialogue, because the ministry of proclamation really IS an ongoing dialogue. Sometimes the other side of the conversation is verbalized after the service, in a phone call, in a conversation that picks up later in the week or on a Wednesday night, but most consistently it is a dialogue that takes place even now, as we are here together in this room.

That boldness that we find through Christ allows us to take those veils that can so easily go up between us, keep us apart, keep us separate, keep us at a distance from each other, not allowing us to really be able to look into each other’s eyes and see what is in our lives – the hurt, the struggle, the pain, yes, but also the joys and laughter, the humor and gentleness that reminds us how alike we really are, and even when we find we ARE different, we are still sons and daughters of God, beloved of the begotten.

Let’s pray.