January 7, 2001
Baptism of the Lord Asking for Directions
Luke 3:15-17; 21-22
During a recent renovation project at a major university, the following sign was noticed hanging over the main door of the library: "Due to our renovation project the basement will be on the second floor, one half of the second floor will be on the first floor, but one half will remain on the second. If you have trouble finding what you need, we suggest you ask for help."
Have you ever noticed that life is often like that? Sometimes the pieces just don't seem to fit together. It's the wise person who knows the time has come to ask for direction. Fortunately for the people gathered at the river that day, the answer to their confusion was on the way. John the Baptizer was pointing to a new life to come. Thank God the One to deliver it was just about to appear!
I. The people at the river (v. 15)
By the time John the Baptizer was about to encounter Jesus at the Jordan River, countless people had begun to gather at the shoreline. Though we cannot know for sure how many were there, we can assume it was enough to warrant Luke describing them as a crowd. There were tax collectors, soldiers, people of the religious leadership in Jerusalem, rich and poor alike, all gathered there at the river. Suffice it to say, every one of them went to the river that day in search of a little help and a little direction for their lives.
Oh, but make no mistake about it, they were the sorts of people who usually have a hard time asking for help with their direction. Let's remember that those who gathered were the children of Israel, the sons and daughters of father Abraham. They had grown up with the assumption that, since they were descendants of Abraham, they were already in a right relationship with God.
Like the proverbial man behind the wheel who refuses to pull into a gas station to ask directions, the people of Israel were lost and too proud to realize it. The time had come to be reoriented, to stop by the Jordan to find a little direction for their lives.
II. John straightens them out (vv. 16-17)
So John answered them. The One they sought was not him but another. The One who will come would not baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit of the living God and with fire. The One who was to come was going to be One who carried in His hand a winnowing fork to clear the threshing floor and separate the chaff from the wheat -- the faithless from the faithful!
By preaching the need for baptism to the people who gathered there, John was telling them that their birthright as Jews would not assure them of a right relationship with God. As if he were speaking to a crowd of Gentiles, John insisted that they would need to be cleansed of their former way of living and begin again on the road to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.
III. A signpost amidst the confusion (vv. 21-22)
With the crowds coming to be baptized in the Jordan, few at first must have noticed that the answer to their prayers, the man from Nazareth, had come near. Like the name Emanuel implies, the Incarnate Son of God was with them that day. He was with them on the shoreline, He was with them in the water. But most of all, He had come to the world to show a sign of the wondrous unconditional love of God toward His people: "And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased'" (v. 22).
It's safe to say that plenty of people today are just as lost. While many foolishly search for meaning and direction in a thousand different places, God continues to call us to a genuine repentance and renewed commitment to live a life-style consistent with being a covenant people. The signs are still there. The Spirit of the Lord is everywhere to be seen, calling us to put aside our presumption of relationship with Him and to truly follow Christ.
Are you lost? Do you need a sign? Look to Jesus and listen for the voice of the Spirit to give you direction, and you'll never be lost again. (William Lee Kinney)
January 14, 2001
Second Sunday after the Epiphany
I Just Don't Get It, Do You?
John 2:1-11
One New Year's Day, during the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered, stuttered and quit moving. With countless millions of viewers watching on their television sets at home, the whole parade was stopped cold. While nervous commentators struggled to keep the viewers back home from figuring out what was happening, the float organizers scrambled to discover the root of the problem.
Finally, just as many viewers were rising to change the channel, the float began to move again, and the problem was resolved.
What was the problem that had stopped the seemingly unstoppable Tournament of Roses parade? Apparently the whole parade was held up because the float had run out of gas. What makes this story incredible is that the float had been designed and built to represent a major oil and gasoline company. In spite of its vast oil and gas resources, its truck was out of gas, and no one even realized it!
So it was when the Son of Man arrived on the scene. The people of God, living in the shadow of the law, had run out of gas, and no one even realized it!
I. Let the party begin! (vv. 1-2)
On the third day of a week-long wedding celebration in the village of Cana of Galilee, Jesus, His mother and His immediate disciples are present. By now the party has been in full swing for some time, but there looms a serious problem. The bridegroom has either invited too many guests or underestimated the amount the partygoers would consume, and they've run out of wine. Only a miracle will save the hosts from embarrassment. Enter the mother of Jesus.
Concerned that the wine had run out, Mary announces to Jesus that "They have no wine" (v. 3). The subtle implication? Jesus could and ought to do something about it. Surely the Son of the living God could work a little miracle here and make things right. Ironically, in spite of raising her special Son, like so many others then and today, she still didn't get the point of His mission here on earth.
II. God Makes a Miracle (vv. 6-8)
The miracle itself begins with a description of the water jars. For the first time in John's Gospel account, we see how the divine can be witnessed in the details. Six stone jars are selected; jars whose purpose it was to provide water for the Jewish purification rites of the time. The jars hold about twenty or thirty gallons each, providing a quantity of wine that would rival any crowd's ability to consume it all.
Clearly the extravagant gift Jesus brings suggests the unlimited gifts that God makes available through the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ. Yet again we discover that nobody seemed to get what was happening. Like the prologue to John's Gospel account declares, "He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him; yet the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, and His own people did not accept Him" (John 1:10-11).
III. The Time is ripe to open our eyes (v. 11)
In the miracle at Cana, Jesus works an unprecedented act of transformation -- the transformation of many gallons of the ordinary into a richly flavored abundance of the extraordinary. For those willing to open their eyes to it, the extravagance of God's grace provides the believer with the promise of many more blessings in this life and beyond.
The challenge to any who open themselves to the possibilities of the blessings Jesus brings are the realities of the road we must travel. For the road Jesus and His followers walk is a road that leads to the glory of God by way of the lost, the least and the lonely -- through sacrifice and suffering.
Perhaps the real miracle at the wedding in Cana wasn't the replenishing of the exhausted wine, but rather the sign that God was and still is doing a new thing in the world. Perhaps the greatest miracle of all is that the disciples finally began to get it. Thus, the only thing left to ask today is this: "Do you?" (William Lee Kinney)
January 21, 2001
Third Sunday after Epiphany
A Matter of Interpretation
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
In the year 1215 king John of England was compelled to sign an agreement with the barons, merchants and the Church of England. He undertook to obey certain rules for the country, some of which applied to himself.
The agreement, known as the Magna Carta, was simple and concrete. Many British liberties were later developed out of interpretations of the Magna Carta. The spirit of the document was translated into new time periods and social contexts. From new interpretations came new liberties for people living in new contexts.
I. Interpretation of Scripture involves a fusion of two horizons -- then and now, text and context.
The written laws of God were interpreted for a new social context at the time of the prophet Ezra. During the reform of post-exilic Israel, Ezra brought forth an ancient scroll containing the laws of Israel and began reading to the people. The Levites interpreted the text so the people, who had been in exile and knew little about the law given at Sinai, could understand its meaning. Isn't that what biblical interpretation is all about -- understanding what God has to say to us in our day and context through texts originally addressed to a people in a different time and culture?
Interpretation involves making the text meaningful in a new context. Then and now, text and context come together and create new meaning. This insight has been examined by the preeminent scholar of textual interpretation, Hans-Georg Gadamer, who describes interpretation as a "fusion of horizons" in which horizons of a text and its context become fused creating new meaning. From the dialogue between then and now, text and context, new meaning emerges.
II. Interpretation of scripture calls for an interpretive community.
The Torah, the scripture of the ancient Hebrews, was read and interpreted within the setting of corporate worship. The description of the reading of the text by Ezra is highly ritualistic -- the carrying of the scroll, the reader standing on a platform, the people standing as the text is read, the blessing of the people, the saying of the "amen" and the lifting up of the hands. These ritualistic acts indicate the text was interpreted within the context of the worship of the community. The believing community is the setting for biblical interpretation.
Interpreting scripture requires a particular interpretive community with the necessary language, practices and reading skills. The law, as read by Ezra, required the community of Israel to make sense of the text. To read and interpret the New Testament rightly requires a Christian reading community. The Church calls the Bible "scripture" because it has a normative and formative relationship to a particular community. The primary location for biblical interpretation is within the community of believers.
III. Interpretation of scripture calls for discipleship, a people ready and willing to follow the Word.
We may be able to understand a cookbook and yet never have so much as boiled water. But when it comes to the scriptures, we cannot adequately interpret its meaning without putting it into practice. We call it "discipleship."
Right interpretation calls for right practice. Right interpretation calls for a community ready and willing to engage its liberating truths in the real world. Where there is practice, there is understanding. When Ezra read the scroll, the tears of his people were a sign of their deep desire to follow the Word of God in their lives together. What sign will we see in our faces, our bodies and our lives to indicate that we want to follow the truths we have heard and understood?
Writer Franz Kafka once said: "If the book we are reading does not wake us as with a fist hammering on the skull, why then do we read it? A book must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us...." If only the words of scripture would be interpreted with such meaning for the Church and world as to wake us and break up the icecap within us! "And when the people heard the words from the book, the ice cap in their hearts cracked and spilled out of their eyes. But they were admonished to rejoice, because they understood the words spoken to them." (Leo Hartshorn)
January 28, 2001
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Some Things to Avoid Saying (if you know what's good for you)
Luke 4:21-30
Jesus doesn't provide here an example of a sermon that would be considered endearing or successful by the listeners. His sermon got Him a long walk off a short cliff! Still the sermon Jesus preached in His home town church is a model for faithfully communicating the gospel. His example offers insights for each of us to consider as we share the gospel.
People enjoy hearing a positive, affirming message
Jesus stood in the synagogue in Nazareth and read to His people from the scroll of Isaiah. The words sounded nice -- good news to the poor, proclaiming release to captives, sight to the blind, the oppressed liberated, the coming of jubilee. Jesus then rolled up the scroll, sat down, and said the scripture was fulfilled in their hearing. The people smiled and said "Amen, doesn't ol' Joe's boy speak wonderfully!"
Sometimes the words of biblical texts become so familiar, they slide smoothly into our ears, even when those words are radical and jagged in their truths. Words like liberation, release and healing can become so bland and generalized they receive our sleepy nod of approval. Sometimes sharing God's Word may initially get us a graceful "Amen."
When the rubber of the text hits the gospel road, there may come a "What?!"
Proclaiming the gospel is another story. The scripture text becomes gospel when it becomes transforming truth for the present. Jesus elaborated on His theme by giving the text teeth. He interpreted liberation, release and healing in such a way as to cause His own people to respond with a "What?!" Jesus pointed to many widows among God's own people, but God sent Elijah to a foreign widow. There were many lepers in Israel, but God cleansed only Naaman, a Syrian. The theme of the gospel message according to Jesus is: God liberates, delivers and heals outsiders!
The gospel is not an in-group message. It is a liberating and healing word, particularly for those we consider outsiders, unclean, not-one-of-us. And who, pray tell, are those persons among us? If we started to name persons we label as outside our holy community, there might be a silent roar in the pews shouting, "What?!" When the liberating good news of Christ is proclaimed where the rubber hits the road, it may not receive such a ready audience.
Beware! Sharing the gospel can be risky business
In His preaching, Jesus connected the biblical text with the vulnerable, the outsider, the marginalized. After Jesus preached the gospel, the people were as mad as hornets from a nest someone whacked with a stick!
Getting people upset is not the goal of sharing the gospel. The purpose of proclaiming the gospel is to communicate the good news of liberation, healing and hope to those who most need it. And most often, those are persons who do not frequent the doors of the church. Neither are they people church goers find attractive, respectable or "one-of-us."
Charles Campbell, a preaching professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, takes his preaching students to the mean streets of Atlanta to proclaim the gospel to the marginalized and forgotten. He recognizes that the location of the street is crucial for biblical interpretation. He says, "The context of the streets, our worship alongside people who live there, has generated a distinctive engagement with the Scriptures."1
Jesus' message produced a "distinctive engagement with the Scriptures" all right -- and a lynch mob too! The reason? He proclaimed and lived the gospel among those who were considered outside respectable company. That's risky business. That's the gospel. (Leo Hartshorn)
1Charles Campbell and Stanley P. Saunders, The Word on the Street (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 90.
February 4, 2001
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Carpenter, Fisherman or Lord?
Luke 5:1-11
Many brothers and sisters in Christ from days past have gazed into the word of God and found the infinitely majestic Master graciousley willing to meet them. And they have left there with a deep conviction and desire to follow Him in humble obedience.
In his early twenties, John Calvin, the great Reformer, came to this realization. These are his words regarding that incident: "God, by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame..... Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with [an] intense desire to make progress."1
Another familiar servant of the Lord who came to realize the glory of his Master is Peter. He too marveled at the power of the Lord, and he left everything behind to follow the living Word.
I. Peter's doubting obedience (vv. 1-5)
We enter the story with the crowds pressing in on Jesus to hear His teachings. He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret as Luke would call it. We know that this is another name for the sea of Galilee. When Jesus saw a couple of boats resting at shore, He stepped into Simon Peter's and asked him to pull away. Jesus then sat down, as was customary of teachers, and spoke to the crowds.
When Jesus was done teaching the people, He made a most unusual request of Peter. Jesus asked him to take the boat out into the deep waters and let down his fishing nets for a catch. Peter, a fisherman by trade, questioned Jesus' petition. He knew this wasn't the best time, and they had just come from a bad night of fishing. As Leon Morris states in his commentary, "...when experts, fishing at the right time, had caught nothing, it was useless to try at the request of a carpenter."2 But Peter obeyed.
My life is filled with instances where I doubted God's providential care in a given situation. And few of those have been followed with Peter's response -- obedience. It's comforting to know that our Lord doesn't require complete understanding, and there is forgiveness where there is lack of faith. Yet we are still to follow in obedience as Peter did this day.
II. Peter's fearful response (vv. 6-8)
And we can rest assure that our obedience to the Lord will bring results. We may not have a boat full of fish to show for it, but we will have pleased our heavenly Father and our hearts will be changed.
There will also be those times where God does the seemingly impossible. And in those situations, we will respond as Peter -- on our face before the sovereign Lord wondering why we ever doubted.
III. Peter changes occupations (vv. 9-11)
The text says that "amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken" (v. 9). Peter heard the word of the Lord, responded in obedience, even though it was mixed with doubt, and Jesus performed with power and majesty. Peter and his friends stood there awe-struck. What was Jesus' response to there amazement? "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men" (v.10).
Morris says: "That catch was not as important as what it showed them about Jesus, so they followed Him. They became disciples in the fullest sense." Have you seen the majesty of Jesus displayed in your life? Is your response one of wonder and awe? Are you a disciple of the Lord in the fullest sense? "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mark 8:34-35). (Jonathan Kever)
1John Dillenberger, John Calvin, Selections from His Writings. (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1975), 26.
2Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1990), 124.
February 11, 2001
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Cursed or Blessed?
Jeremiah 17:5-10
My wife recently set her mind to growing fresh herbs. She enjoys gardening very much, but had never experimented with growing herbs. So one afternoon we made our way to the local Super Walmart garden-center and looked through piles and piles of herb seed packets until she found just the ones she wanted. When we returned home, she took the seeds and planted them in a little pot and placed it in front of the window above our kitchen sink.
Every day she would take time and moisten the soil with a small spray bottle. Before long I heard a scream in the kitchen: "There's a sprout!" And soon there was another and another until the pot was filled with tiny sprouts.
One weekend soon after, we left our home to visit family, and upon our return, we discovered that the herbs had turned from green flourishing sprouts to brown decaying waste. Such change! And in just one weekend! The plant didn't have time to grow and deepen its roots before we left; so during a weekend "drought," the plant couldn't survive. It had the appearance of strength from above the ground, but below the ground it was weak and dependent.
In our passage today, we observe the importance of getting beyond mere external appearances of trust in order to develop a deep-rooted faith in the Lord.
I. The cursed place their trust in men {vv. 5-6)
Verse 5 opens with the prophet's words to Judah who had been periodically turning to Egypt for help with Babylon instead of to God: "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord" (v. 5). This is a serious charge from the Lord and one not meant to be taken lightly. God desires His glory to be displayed in the faithful hearts of His people. In addition, trusting in God is the best possible solution to any of life's troubles, for what is man's strength in comparison to God's?
In verse 6 the Lord, through Jeremiah, describes the curse of the unfaithful: "For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness..." (v. 6). In his commentary on these verses, Mathew Henry depicts it this way: "He who puts confidence in man, shall be like the heath in a desert, a naked tree, a sorry shrub, the product of barren ground, useless and worthless. Those who trust to their own righteousness and strength, and think they can do without Christ, make flesh their arm, and their souls cannot prosper in graces or comforts."1
II. The blessed place their trust in the Lord (vv. 7-8)
How easy it is to place our trust in the people and things around us when calamity strikes. But to do so is to disregard the blessed state of a person who rests in the assurance of a Sovereign Lord to supply all his needs. For the one who trusts in the Lord "will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green and it will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit" (v. 8).
Why does the tree stray strong and green during drought? Why do the faithful remain strong and true to the Lord during times of blessing and tribulation? Because they stay close to the source, and their roots are deeply anchored.
Are your eyes fixed on Jesus both during the day of blessing and in the midst of suffering? Can you cry with David who, while being hunted by Saul, prayed these words: "O God You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live..." (Ps. 63:1, 3-4)?
Do you simply appear to others to be deep-rooted in your commitment to Christ? Beware, for as verses 9-10 tell us, God sees your hearts. He knows that apart from your redemption your hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked.
Yet as sons and daughters of God, we have the great privilege to place our faith in Him. And if you don't know Him, you have a great responsibility to see the error of your wicked ways and place your trust in Jesus. Will you turn and trust Him today? (Jonathan Kever)
1Matthew Henry, "Jeremiah," in The Classic Bible Commentary, Ed. Owen Collins. (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1999), 659.
February 18, 2001
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
A Different Kind of Love
Luke 6:27-38
Several years ago, Harrison Ford starred in a film called Witness. Set in Philadelphia, it's about an eight year old boy who is the sole eye witness to a murder in a bus station. Ford plays the detective assigned to the case, and he soon realizes the killers might be police officers. Once he believes his conjecture to be true, he sets out to protect the witness and his mother.
Now the twist here is that this boy and his mother are Amish. So to protect them, Ford decides to take the boy home and is wounded by gunfire while trying to get out of town. When they finally arrive at the family's home, Ford has lost a lot of blood from the wound and ends up unable to return to Philadelphia. The Amish family -- the boy, his single mom and the mom's elderly father -- care for Ford and allow him to stay on for awhile. During this time, he helps with the chores, eats with them and dresses like them; he even takes part in an old-fashioned barn-raising.
One day, several families from the Amish community take a trip to town in their wagons and buggies. As they begin to leave, the lead wagon is stopped by some testosterone-filled young men who start taunting and mocking the wagon driver. Ford and the young boy's grandfather, riding in the buggy directly behind the wagon, witness the taunting and no one acts.
Ford can't just sit there and watch. He steps out of the buggy with fire in his eyes. The grandfather attempts to calm him saying, "No, it's not our way." To which Ford replies, "Yea, well it's my way!" He walks over to the trouble makers, who mistakenly begin to taunt him as well. He warns them to stop -- they don't. So he hauls off and punches the guy, breaking his nose. While the first guy falls back holding his broken and bleeding nose, Ford takes out the other two guys as well.
I have to admit, that's one of my favorite scenes in the film -- for several reasons (not all of which are particularly godly in nature!) You see, amid the violence and retribution of the scene, a stark contrast between our way and God's way emerges.
Now be honest, how many times have you approached the intersection of God's instruction and human passion with that very same philosophy? "Yea, well it's my way!" How many times have you been confronted with a situation or emotion and know what God's teaches, yet choose the opposite?
A low budget BBC production entitled, Son of Man sets Jesus words, "Love your enemies... pray for those who mistreat you," against the backdrop of chaos and violence in the first century Roman world. Soldiers have just invaded a Galilean village and, in an act of retribution, strung up Jewish men of fighting age, pushed their wives to the ground and speared their babies.
Soon after the raid, Jesus walks into the tumultuous scene, eyes ablaze with emotion, and says: "I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. It's easy to love your own brother, to love those who love you. Even 'sinners' do that! Listen to me! Love your enemies! If a Roman soldier hits you on the left cheek, offer him the right one. If a man sues you for your coat, give him the shirt off your back. Listen! What I'm saying to you hasn't been said since the world began!"
You can imagine the villagers response to such unwelcome, seemingly insane words. Jesus' teaching didn't puzzle them; it infuriated them.1 Such a backdrop removes Jesus' teaching about loving one's enemies from our nicely padded twentieth century pews, does it not? Indeed, when one thoughtfully considers the teaching of Jesus amid such a context, it seems a bit bizarre at best.
"Love your enemies... pray for those who mistreat you" is the call to loving restraint. To mirror God's love-in-action toward us. It is the selfless love (ayaraw) of a person who, when mistreated, refuses to satisfy himself or herself by taking revenge and refuses even to cast judgment upon or toward another. But instead considers the highest welfare of the other person. It's a different kind of love than we're accustomed to. As Augustine once said, "Many have learned how to offer the other cheek, but do not know how to love the one who strikes."
As is always the case with Jesus, He practices what He preaches. The Apostle Peter testifies to this fact: "Christ suffered for you and gave you an example, that you should follow in His steps. When they hurled insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly" (1 Pet. 2:21). "What would Jesus do?" He would suffer and love, not retaliate.
In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bohnhoeffer notes that Jesus calls His disciples to a "visible participation in His cross." A way of life that seeks to return good for evil; a willingness to give without limit -- in as much as love requires and only to the extent with which God demonstrates His love for us. (Craig Fraley)
1Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, (Zondervan Publishing House) 131.
February 25, 2001
Transfiguration Sunday
Reflecting Glory
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
I've had the opportunity to do many weddings during my years in ministry. The overwhelming majority of these have been positive experiences. In some ways, weddings have changed over the years. One of those changes, as I've observed it, has to do with the bride's veil. Rarely, if ever, do I see a veil that completely covers the bride's face or head. No longer when it comes time for the bride and groom to exchange a kiss, do we see the groom lift his bride's veil and, for the first time that day, see his bride in all her wedding day glory. I honestly miss that moment. It was, for me, one of the highlights of the entire wedding ceremony. The veil is lifted and radiant beauty released for all to see (though, perhaps no one sees it quite like the groom!).
Our text today speaks of another veil. Paul's reference here is to the account (recorded in Exodus 34:29-35) of Moses returning from Sinai with a face so resplendent in the glory of God's presence that it frightened the people. So he put a veil over his face to quiet their fears. It seems the Apostle Paul wants his readers to know that while Moses hid that glory, Jesus came to do the opposite. He came to reveal God's glory for all to see. By coming to earth, Jesus was able to do what the law was unable to do, something even Moses could not adequately convey. He came to reveal God's glory in such a way as to encourage and transform people and bring hope.
A little boy had just finished saying his bedtime prayers with his parents. As he climbed into bed and was being tucked in, he looked at them and said, "Jesus is the best picture God ever took, don't ya think?" Indeed, Jesus is very much that and more. It is Jesus who shows us the heart of God. In Jesus we find a glory that has the power to transform lives.
The reality of the glory unveiled in Christ is that God chose the direct route to our heart and mind. Unsatisfied with merely showing His glory so to speak, God, in Jesus, chose to show us Himself. And in doing so, offered us a freedom the likes of which humankind had never before, or since, experienced. A freedom from law-keeping as a source of hope, a means to the heart of God. A freedom that releases us from the guilt which our inability to keep the law produces ("guilt, the gift that keeps on giving").
While the law, scripture tells us, serves as our tutor, it is inadequate as a source of hope. Or, as William Barclay puts it, "As long as a person's obedience to God is conditioned by law-keeping, [he or she] is in the position of an unwilling servant."
Ultimately, as one of my seminary professors used to say, the law says to us one thing: "You're a sinner, you're a sinner, you're a sinner!" It's our inability to keep it which creates that tension, that sense of hopelessness. In Jesus, there is no guilt. Abundant hope replaces hopelessness, grace replaces guilt because liberty, not law, becomes the crux of our hope. We no longer keep the law strictly as a means to find favor with God; we keep the law because love for God compels us to do so.
This One who reveals God is also the One who redeems us; reconciles us to God. You see, Jesus didn't merely speak about God; He displayed God's love and grace all the way to Calvary. While Sinai is the story of Moses as redeemer of Israel and mediator between the people and God, Calvary is the story of Jesus -- Redeemer, Savior, Mediator, Revealer, Liberator. Jesus shines the light of God's glory into our hearts and our lives. It is not a glory which brings with it fear but freedom and hope. And it is a glory that will not fade.
The call of Jesus to those who would follow Him is to let that glory, that light shine through our unveiled lives. We who are called by His name are not to hide His glory behind veils -- in whatever form they may exist -- but to be "lights set on a hillside that cannot be hidden." In doing so we reveal to the world around us, our community, neighbors, friends and family, the glory of God in us working through us.
Even though full veils no longer seem to be the norm for brides, to the best of my ability, I will always remember the look on the groom's face when the veil is removed. And then, when the kiss is exchanged, the amazing reality that the glory of the unveiled bride literally spreads to her groom radiating from them both.
What is it that the old Sunday school song from our youth says? "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." Only in Jesus can we live with our entire lives what we used to sing while extending one finger. (Craig Fraley).