Removing the Veil
February 14, 2010
Luke 9: 28-36


Valentine’s Day

The scripture and gospel readings we heard today told of the veil that was placed between God and the people of Israel after they left Egypt. Paul writes that the veil existed because the people’s minds were hardened. What does it mean to have a hardened mind? In the case of the Israelites it was evidenced by their unwillingness to fully trust in the grace and providence of God. They would not fully rely on God to care for them and provide all that they needed to make the journey to the land God had promised to them. They trusted only in their own skills and abilities; and they believed only in what they could control.

How often are we the same? How often do we see only the path we think is the right one, and are unable trust God to provide for our needs and guide us along the right and righteous path?

Our hubris often causes a veil to come between God and us. It causes us to question God’s will for our lives, and leads us away from the path that God would have us follow. God wants to love us. God wants what is best for us. That is why God sent Jesus into the world to lead, teach, set the example, and finally to give himself on the cross for our sins.

Paul writes that Jesus came into the world to remove the veil that existed between God and God’s people. It was for this purpose that Jesus took the disciples: Peter, James, and John to the mountaintop that morning. He wanted them to see the reality of God, and the totality of God’s love for them and all people. This could only happen if they opened themselves to really seeing God, and to really receiving and following God’s guidance in their lives.

And even at this point of revelation, we hear how they were bound by the human condition. Instead of opening himself to God’s will at that moment, Peter could think only about building earthly shelters for Moses, Elijah, and the Christ. But at the sound of God’s voice, reminding him and the others that Jesus was the beloved Son of God; Peter, James, and John allowed the veil to be removed, and truly opened themselves to God’s will for their lives.

Christ comes to us today to teach, guide, and lead us in doing God’s will. Why do we insist in putting the veil back over our faces? Why do we insist that we know better than God what should be done for the church and its people? Why do we think we have the answers? Why don’t we pray and seek God will before we speak and act? Why?

Over the next week, I want you to take some time to examine your decision making process and the way you respond to your fellow Christians when they question it. And, when the time comes to make your next decision, I want you to take a minute and pray before you speak and act.

This is a day that is marked on our yearly calendars as a day to show our love. This is often done by giving and receiving Valentines. Today, let us be Valentines of Christian love for one another, let us be separated from the veil that would blind us to God’s will for our lives; and let us seek to do what God would have us do in love for God and for those in need around us, trusting not in our own skill and ability, but in the providence of the Lord, our God.