Our lessons this morning bring us three examples of God's Glory, while at the same time showing us how the Glory of the New Covenant builds on, and exceeds that of the Old Covenant.
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Good Morning. We have a Harder Theme today. One of the very different ways people wrote and communicated at the time the Bible was put together was their emphasis on imagery. The stress of imagery was to help you to remember in a time when actual writings were scarce. Now, a lot more people could read back then than we usually give credit for, and Paul, Jesus, and most of the disciples were likely fluent in at least three languages, Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew.
But writings themselves were scarce. Just one copy of the book of the Gospel of Matthew, in terms of materials, and having a scribe copy it, would cost the today the equivalent of thousands of dollars, and that’s just one book of the Bible. So, when writers wrote, they tried to use lots of vivid imagery to help people remember, because you aren’t always going to have the text to reference.
I called today “Little Epiphany,” because all three lessons are written with an Epiphany theme. I realize the name Epiphany usually makes people think of the Magi coming and Christmas, but what it really means is a shining forth, or manifesting of something amazing. You’ll see that term pop up a lot as we look at the lessons and see how they are written to show us God’s Glory.
First, we see a shining forth in the lesson from Exodus, where, in bringing down the 10 Commandments from Mt. Sinai, the Glory of God shines in the face of Moses so greatly, he had to wear a veil over his face. The veil was because the people were afraid of seeing the Glory of God which was reflected in the face of Moses. Not Moses Glory, of course, but you can think of it like a Glow in the Dark toy that’s held to the light. This epiphany put the Fear of God in Israel.
So you need that complete picture in your head to understand what Paul is saying in the Epistle lesson. Many were confused about the role of the Old Covenant and law keeping in relation to the New Covenant and Grace.
Many in Corinth, in Galicia, and other places, were being taught they had to keep the law of Moses in order to follow Jesus. And Paul is very careful here. Without ever disparaging Moses, what he tries to show, using the imagery from our Old Testament lesson, is how Jesus is superior to Moses, and the fulfillment of all that Moses taught.
On the one hand, Moses had the law written on tablets, engraved on Stone, but for us, it is written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. For Moses, people feared the shining forth of God’s Glory when it was shone in Moses’ face. For us, the veil disappears because God now indwells His people. We should all be shining forth the glory of God in a world that doesn’t want to see us.
Another contrast Paul makes between the old and the new covenants is this, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." It probably sounds harsh to our ears to hear that the 10 commandments are there to Kill. So, if Paul’s words didn’t grab your attention the first time, look closely at what he’s saying.
What Paul is teaching is what Jesus taught last week, the Ten Commandments and all the law is to show us our failure to follow God perfectly. Like the Pharisee last week who thought he could keep it. The Law reveals to us that we are sinners. The letter of the Law kills us, because it shows us that the wages for our sin is death. Paul isn’t trying to disparage the Old Covenant, but rather Manifest the greatness of the New Covenant in comparison. That’s the little epiphany theme again.
Our Gospel lesson though pushes it over the top with Jesus manifesting His glory to the Gentiles (Epiphany) by performing miracles. Jesus actually wanted to hide himself in the Gentile Lands, but his glory could not stay hidden.
First, just before our lesson, Jesus heals the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter. He had left Israel to have a quiet time of retreat and prayer with the Father, and was hiding as a guest in a house when a woman breaks and enters the home, and humbles herself with the familiar line, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. He then travels to a different Gentile town, Decapolis, to retreat and pray, not to preach and minister, but it doesn’t matter- as a deaf man with a speech impediment is brought to him.
Jesus heals the man, after taking him aside privately from the crowd, so no one can see, and then urging people not to tell anyone about the miracle. But the more he charged them to hide his glory, the more zealously they manifest it.
The readings proclaim to us the glory of Christ, even at times he has sought to hide his glory. Since the Glory of Moses and the law was great, how much greater is the Glory of Jesus and the new covenant. With this in mind, let’s reread what Paul says in verse 7-9:
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
Now, it is probably good to ask, What is Glory? In opening his sermon on 2 Corinthians 3, one preacher begins by asking how much does glory weigh?
It seems like an odd question without the background understanding that the Old Testament word for “glory” is kavod, implies something “heavy” though usually we would see it as something weighty or important. When positively, the heaviness means wealth and honor. The ten commandments use this word to describe the command to give weight, or honor to our father and mother.
The apostle Paul expresses this in the next chapter, saying in 2 Cor 4:17:
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. And here is our application.
Picture the scales of justice hanging empty. Then imagine the weight of our sin and burdens piled on the left, with God’s glory on the right. Paul wants to show us it’s a speck of dust against a bar of gold, passing things cannot compare with the weight of God’s eternal glory. Or as one preacher said,
“All the loneliness, angers, hatreds, and envies [this world] contains, if rolled into one experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all.”
Though we feel the heaviness of sin now, spectacular glory awaits those who are joined to Jesus. Paul also says in Romans that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us”. Not just the glory we will see, but in us by the Holy Spirit. This is the glory of the New Covenant. Not only will we see God in his glory, but we will share in his glory as he transforms “our lowly body to be like his glorious body.”
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