A sermon for Provoking Faith in a Time of Isolation,
the online gathering of Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
14th February 2021
Exodus 34:29-35
Listen to this sermon here: https://soundcloud.com/bloomsbury-1/2021-02-14-podcast
Controversies about
face-coverings
are not simply a COVID-19 phenomena;
and whist I must confess to finding the politicised reluctance
to wear a mask in the interests of public safety
as mystifying as the trend to wear masks on the chin or under the nose,
nonetheless, arguments about whether to cover one’s face
are nothing new.
The controversial French law
of 2011,
which made it illegal to wear a face covering veil
or any other mask in public spaces
that France's ban disproportionately harmed the right of women
to manifest their religious beliefs,
and could have the effects of "confining them to their homes,
impeding their access to public services and marginalizing them."
And the irony is not lost on me that in August
last year
Paris was one of the first places
to make wearing a face mask in public compulsory!
But of course, face and head coverings can also
be oppressive;
symbols of a patriarchy that excludes women
from functioning fully within society as equals.
So
from Covid facemasks, to religious head-coverings,
the issue of whether or not to conceal one’s face
remains a contentious issue,
and frequently becomes indicative of clash
between the demands of religious practice or ideological position,
and the requirements of civic society.
Which
is probably a good point to take a trip back in time,
to Moses coming down fromMount Sinai
with the two stone tablets
containing the ten commandments.
Whilst
up the mountain,
we are told that he had been talking with God:
face-to-face, as it were.
And then when he came down from the mountain
his face was shining with the glory of God.
But
after giving the commandments of God to the people,
Moses then put on a face-veil because, we are told,
the people were afraid.
The
significance of this is that,
at the very moment of the giving of the Law,
intended to show people
how to relate to one another and to God,
we find not unity but division.
Rather
than bringing people together,
the revelation of the law through Moses
instead brought social disruption
as Moses was veiled from his fellow Israelites;
and spiritual disruption
as the manifest presence of God
was veiled from the people of God.
It
can be hard to make sense of Moses’ experience,
but I think Victor Hugo gets close in the book Les Misérables,
where he describes the old bishop
Monseigneur Bienvenu with the words:
‘He did not study God; he was dazzled by him.’
And
I think this contrast between studying God
and being dazzled by God
is helpful to us as we contrast the different responses
of Moses and the people of Israel.
The
Israelites focussed on the tablets of the law,
which they made their object of study;
whilst Moses focussed on the brightness
of the revelation of the God who gave the law.
And
here we have the heart of the problem
– religious people through the ages
have persisted in finding themselves much less troubled
when they have a law to keep and apply,
whilst those whose faces
reflect their encounter with the divine
are feared and segregated, veiled off from society.
In
the sociology of religion,
it is often the case that things are originally declared taboo
because they are considered too holy,
but that those things declared taboo
eventually come to be reviled as unclean.
And
one might note here,
that those men who find that their study of religious law
requires them to enforce restrictive legislation on women
might believe they are acting out of a desire
for careful observance of the commands of God,
but the tragedy is
that the glory of the gift of fully equal humanity
becomes veiled as they do so,
and human society as God intends it
becomes segregated,
becoming in the process so much less than it could and should be.
The
law of Moses,
which should have provided the mechanism
for genuine and open relationship
between people and God,
became instead the excuse
for segregation, division and distrust.
The
two stone tablets with the ten commandments on
were placed in the Ark of the Covenant,
which was placed in the holy of holies
at the heart of the Jewish temple,
separated from the people by, of course, a veil
(Ex 26.31-35; 2 Chron 3.14).
And
only the high priest could go beyond the veil
into the holy of holies,
and only then once a year
on the day of atonement (Lev. 16; Heb 9.7).
That
which was holy and given as a gift of grace
became taboo because it was so holy;
and in time it became untouchable
and something to be avoided by almost everyone.
If
we fast forward through time a few centuries,
we come to another prophet
ascending a mountain
for a face to face encounter with the divine.
Jesus
goes up the mountain to pray
with three of his disciples,
and whilst there he has an experience
which is analogous to that of Moses.
Luke’s
gospel tells us that
‘while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed,
and his clothes became dazzling white’ (9.29).
It’s
no accident that this imagery echoes that of Moses:
Luke is clearly telling us that Jesus is a prophet like Moses.
In fact, he is telling us more than that:
The way Luke sees Jesus, he is the new Moses,
bringing into being a new covenant between God and humanity,
predicated not on the giving of stone tablets
inscribed with commandments of law,
but on the direct revelation of God himself,
revealed through the person of Christ.
To
hammer this point home,
we discover that Jesus is now mysteriously accompanied
on the mountain by none other than Moses himself,
together with the prophet Elijah.
Here
we have the great symbolic representative individuals
of the Law and the Prophets,
accompanying Jesus
at his own moment of face to face encounter with God.
And
then, just when you think it couldn’t get any more apocalyptic,
we have a cloud and a disembodied voice from the cloud.
Those
of us who know the Exodus story
will recognise the imagery:
the cloud is the cloudy fiery pillar
which led the people of Israel
from slavery to freedom through the wilderness of Sin,
and the voice is the same divine voice
that dictated the commands of the law to Moses.
But
this time, rather than speaking words of law,
the voice from heaven offers only one command:
‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ (9.35).
This
is the new law, given to the new Moses,
in fulfilment of the law and prophets of old.
This is the new law,
which will lead those who keep it
safely through the wilderness
from slavery to sin and death
and into the promised land of the dawning kingdom of God.
It
is this new law which completes and fulfils the old law,
and this new law is written not on stone tablets,
but is embodied in the living person of Jesus Christ.
Those
who want to know how to live
according the new law
need study no longer the words of the commandments,
instead they need to be dazzled
by an encounter with God in Christ.
And
so Jesus, the new Moses,
the personification of the new law,
comes down from the mountain,
just as Moses came down from the mountain of Sinai.
And
this is where it gets interesting.
Moses,
as we have seen, had to veil his face
because the people were afraid.
Jesus, on the other hand,
comes down the mountain to an encounter
with a terrifying spirit
which is causing a young child to shriek and convulse
and foam at the mouth.
The
symptoms of the young man’s illness
closely match those of epilepsy,
and indeed in the parallel account in Matthew’s gospel
he is described as an epileptic.
Whilst modern medicine
may have a better understanding of this condition
and how it can be controlled,
the result of a violent epileptic fit
is as terrifying today as it has ever been,
and clearly this young man’s life
was subject to forces of chaos
beyond his or anyone else’s ability to control.
It
turns out that the disciples have been attempting to play exorcist,
and have been trying unsuccessfully to heal the boy
by casting out the disruptive spirit.
What
Jesus says next is significant.
The unspoken ‘Oh for goodness sake!’ is almost tangible,
as he mutters despairingly
‘you faithless and perverse generation,
how much longer must I be with you and bear with you’ (9.41)
before commanding the father to bring the young boy to him.
The
healing is then straightforward,
as Jesus rebukes the spirit
and brings peace to the convulsing child,
before restoring him back to his father.
It
seems that the reason the disciples
had been unable to heal the child
was because they were part of this
‘faithless and perverse’ generation.
They belonged the latest of the many generations
which had encountered God with veiled minds.
They had not faced
the dazzling and transforming character of God
with unveiled faces,
but instead had been shaped
by a religion which focussed on the study of the law
and the application of its commandments.
The
healing of this young man,
like so many of the healing stories in the gospels,
is not primarily about the physical cure,
although there is certainly a physical element to what happens.
Rather,
it is a story about the restoration of the young man
to his rightful place in society.
We are told that after his healing
he is restored back to his father.
Epileptics
in that day were greatly feared as well as pitied,
as they were believed to be inhabited by demons
which caused their fits.
So they, and others with similar conditions,
were kept at the margins of society,
hidden away and out of sight,
veiled off from the rest of the population.
An epileptic was an all too real reminder
of the chaos that was believed to lurk
just below the surface of the world,
threatening to break through
and overwhelm people at any moment.
The
disciples had been unable to heal him
because their minds were still veiled,
and they were focussing simply
on a spiritual cause
for the physical manifestation of his sickness.
But
when the epileptic boy was brought to Jesus,
he encountered this new Moses with an unveiled face,
and rather than pity or fear, or a desire to problem-solve,
he met in Jesus
the God who brings equality between humans,
who brings healing to society
and restoration to those who are cast aside or curtained off.
The
healing of the young man was not just a spiritual act,
it was not just a physical act,
it was a social act,
restoring him to his family;
and it was a political act,
as it challenged the structures of the society
that had acted to segregate him away.
And
in this healing of the young man,
we see the implications of what it means
to encounter God in Christ with unveiled faces.
The
faithless and perverse generation
is one which is beset by demons of all kinds,
which divide us one from another,
sowing seeds of chaos and confusion,
disorder and disruption.
I’m sure we could, if we wanted,
name some of the demons of our own culture.
Today
is Racial Justice Sunday,
and the evils of racism have been laid bare for us
over the course of the last year,
with the Black Lives Matter movement
calling us to a better vision of humanity.
From
racism to sexism, to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia,
the evils of exclusion and division are all around us
as God’s good creation becomes distorted
and humanity is disrupted.
The
faithless and perverse generation has veiled minds,
looking for mechanistic solutions to presenting problems.
The faithless and perverse generation
can study the law ‘til kingdom come
and be none-the-wiser about the path to freedom.
But,
those who encounter God in Christ
with unveiled faces
are called to be those who bring holistic healing
to a world that remains frustratingly fragmented.
The
call is upon all of us to keep the
veils from our own faces
as we, with Christ, descend from the mountain of revelation.
The
call is upon each of us to resist those forms of our religion
which perpetuate an us-and-them mentality,
and which seek to veil person from person,
or to keep our own revelation of divine love veiled from others.
If,
in Christ, we have received the law of the Spirit of Christ,
who is given to bring healing, restoration and renewal,
then our task is to allow that revelation to shine into the whole world,
to illuminate the darkest places
and bring healing to the most troubled and chaotic souls.
We
are all too adept at finding effective ways
of dividing our own community one-from-another
along grounds of ethnicity, social standing, gender and sexuality
and when we do so, we not only divide the body of Christ,
we also place a veil over the whole church
in such a way as to conceal such light as we have
from those who most need its revelation.
Those
who meet the world with unveiled faces
are called to be those who see the structures and systems in society
which exclude the weak and the vulnerable,
which diminish and demean the oppressed,
which stigmatise the demented,
and segregate the unfamiliar.
Those
who encounter the world with unveiled faces
are called to bring the healing, restoring, transforming presence of Christ
to those whom others have written off
as irredeemable.
The
veil between God and humanity
was ripped in two at the moment of crucifixion,
the veil which lies over the hearts of humans
is swept aside in Christ.
As
none other than Paul himself put it:
‘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.’ (2 Cor 43.18).
Listen to this sermon here: https://soundcloud.com/bloomsbury-1/2021-02-14-podcast
are not simply a COVID-19 phenomena;
and whist I must confess to finding the politicised reluctance
to wear a mask in the interests of public safety
as mystifying as the trend to wear masks on the chin or under the nose,
nonetheless, arguments about whether to cover one’s face
are nothing new.
which made it illegal to wear a face covering veil
or any other mask in public spaces
that France's ban disproportionately harmed the right of women
to manifest their religious beliefs,
and could have the effects of "confining them to their homes,
impeding their access to public services and marginalizing them."
Paris was one of the first places
to make wearing a face mask in public compulsory!
symbols of a patriarchy that excludes women
from functioning fully within society as equals.
the issue of whether or not to conceal one’s face
remains a contentious issue,
and frequently becomes indicative of clash
between the demands of religious practice or ideological position,
and the requirements of civic society.
to Moses coming down from
we are told that he had been talking with God:
face-to-face, as it were.
And then when he came down from the mountain
his face was shining with the glory of God.
Moses then put on a face-veil because, we are told,
the people were afraid.
at the very moment of the giving of the Law,
intended to show people
how to relate to one another and to God,
we find not unity but division.
the revelation of the law through Moses
instead brought social disruption
as Moses was veiled from his fellow Israelites;
and spiritual disruption
as the manifest presence of God
was veiled from the people of God.
but I think Victor Hugo gets close in the book Les Misérables,
where he describes the old bishop
Monseigneur Bienvenu with the words:
‘He did not study God; he was dazzled by him.’
and being dazzled by God
is helpful to us as we contrast the different responses
of Moses and the people of Israel.
which they made their object of study;
whilst Moses focussed on the brightness
of the revelation of the God who gave the law.
– religious people through the ages
have persisted in finding themselves much less troubled
when they have a law to keep and apply,
whilst those whose faces
reflect their encounter with the divine
are feared and segregated, veiled off from society.
it is often the case that things are originally declared taboo
because they are considered too holy,
but that those things declared taboo
eventually come to be reviled as unclean.
that those men who find that their study of religious law
requires them to enforce restrictive legislation on women
might believe they are acting out of a desire
for careful observance of the commands of God,
but the tragedy is
that the glory of the gift of fully equal humanity
becomes veiled as they do so,
and human society as God intends it
becomes segregated,
becoming in the process so much less than it could and should be.
which should have provided the mechanism
for genuine and open relationship
between people and God,
became instead the excuse
for segregation, division and distrust.
were placed in the Ark of the Covenant,
which was placed in the holy of holies
at the heart of the Jewish temple,
separated from the people by, of course, a veil
(Ex 26.31-35; 2 Chron 3.14).
into the holy of holies,
and only then once a year
on the day of atonement (Lev. 16; Heb 9.7).
became taboo because it was so holy;
and in time it became untouchable
and something to be avoided by almost everyone.
we come to another prophet
ascending a mountain
for a face to face encounter with the divine.
with three of his disciples,
and whilst there he has an experience
which is analogous to that of Moses.
‘while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed,
and his clothes became dazzling white’ (9.29).
Luke is clearly telling us that Jesus is a prophet like Moses.
In fact, he is telling us more than that:
The way Luke sees Jesus, he is the new Moses,
bringing into being a new covenant between God and humanity,
predicated not on the giving of stone tablets
inscribed with commandments of law,
but on the direct revelation of God himself,
revealed through the person of Christ.
we discover that Jesus is now mysteriously accompanied
on the mountain by none other than Moses himself,
together with the prophet Elijah.
of the Law and the Prophets,
accompanying Jesus
at his own moment of face to face encounter with God.
we have a cloud and a disembodied voice from the cloud.
will recognise the imagery:
the cloud is the cloudy fiery pillar
which led the people of Israel
from slavery to freedom through the wilderness of Sin,
and the voice is the same divine voice
that dictated the commands of the law to Moses.
the voice from heaven offers only one command:
‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ (9.35).
in fulfilment of the law and prophets of old.
This is the new law,
which will lead those who keep it
safely through the wilderness
from slavery to sin and death
and into the promised land of the dawning kingdom of God.
and this new law is written not on stone tablets,
but is embodied in the living person of Jesus Christ.
according the new law
need study no longer the words of the commandments,
instead they need to be dazzled
by an encounter with God in Christ.
the personification of the new law,
comes down from the mountain,
just as Moses came down from the mountain of Sinai.
because the people were afraid.
Jesus, on the other hand,
comes down the mountain to an encounter
with a terrifying spirit
which is causing a young child to shriek and convulse
and foam at the mouth.
closely match those of epilepsy,
and indeed in the parallel account in Matthew’s gospel
he is described as an epileptic.
Whilst modern medicine
may have a better understanding of this condition
and how it can be controlled,
the result of a violent epileptic fit
is as terrifying today as it has ever been,
and clearly this young man’s life
was subject to forces of chaos
beyond his or anyone else’s ability to control.
and have been trying unsuccessfully to heal the boy
by casting out the disruptive spirit.
The unspoken ‘Oh for goodness sake!’ is almost tangible,
as he mutters despairingly
‘you faithless and perverse generation,
how much longer must I be with you and bear with you’ (9.41)
before commanding the father to bring the young boy to him.
as Jesus rebukes the spirit
and brings peace to the convulsing child,
before restoring him back to his father.
had been unable to heal the child
was because they were part of this
‘faithless and perverse’ generation.
They belonged the latest of the many generations
which had encountered God with veiled minds.
They had not faced
the dazzling and transforming character of God
with unveiled faces,
but instead had been shaped
by a religion which focussed on the study of the law
and the application of its commandments.
like so many of the healing stories in the gospels,
is not primarily about the physical cure,
although there is certainly a physical element to what happens.
to his rightful place in society.
We are told that after his healing
he is restored back to his father.
as they were believed to be inhabited by demons
which caused their fits.
So they, and others with similar conditions,
were kept at the margins of society,
hidden away and out of sight,
veiled off from the rest of the population.
An epileptic was an all too real reminder
of the chaos that was believed to lurk
just below the surface of the world,
threatening to break through
and overwhelm people at any moment.
because their minds were still veiled,
and they were focussing simply
on a spiritual cause
for the physical manifestation of his sickness.
he encountered this new Moses with an unveiled face,
and rather than pity or fear, or a desire to problem-solve,
he met in Jesus
the God who brings equality between humans,
who brings healing to society
and restoration to those who are cast aside or curtained off.
it was not just a physical act,
it was a social act,
restoring him to his family;
and it was a political act,
as it challenged the structures of the society
that had acted to segregate him away.
we see the implications of what it means
to encounter God in Christ with unveiled faces.
is one which is beset by demons of all kinds,
which divide us one from another,
sowing seeds of chaos and confusion,
disorder and disruption.
I’m sure we could, if we wanted,
name some of the demons of our own culture.
and the evils of racism have been laid bare for us
over the course of the last year,
with the Black Lives Matter movement
calling us to a better vision of humanity.
the evils of exclusion and division are all around us
as God’s good creation becomes distorted
and humanity is disrupted.
looking for mechanistic solutions to presenting problems.
The faithless and perverse generation
can study the law ‘til kingdom come
and be none-the-wiser about the path to freedom.
with unveiled faces
are called to be those who bring holistic healing
to a world that remains frustratingly fragmented.
as we, with Christ, descend from the mountain of revelation.
which perpetuate an us-and-them mentality,
and which seek to veil person from person,
or to keep our own revelation of divine love veiled from others.
who is given to bring healing, restoration and renewal,
then our task is to allow that revelation to shine into the whole world,
to illuminate the darkest places
and bring healing to the most troubled and chaotic souls.
of dividing our own community one-from-another
along grounds of ethnicity, social standing, gender and sexuality
and when we do so, we not only divide the body of Christ,
we also place a veil over the whole church
in such a way as to conceal such light as we have
from those who most need its revelation.
are called to be those who see the structures and systems in society
which exclude the weak and the vulnerable,
which diminish and demean the oppressed,
which stigmatise the demented,
and segregate the unfamiliar.
are called to bring the healing, restoring, transforming presence of Christ
to those whom others have written off
as irredeemable.
was ripped in two at the moment of crucifixion,
the veil which lies over the hearts of humans
is swept aside in Christ.
‘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.’ (2 Cor 43.18).
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