Mark 9: 2-9
Most of you are probably familiar with the expression: “a sinking feeling?” This expression speaks of a sensation caused by uneasiness or apprehension for example “I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
That idiom is both literal and figurative for 97,000 Pacific islanders because the ocean is rising and their islands are sinking. The Republic of Kiribati, also known as the Gilbert Islands, is an island nation near New Zealand. The nation is comprised of 32 coral atolls, many of which are inhabited by the nation’s citizens. So, why that sinking feeling… because Kiribati is slowly being swallowed by the ocean.
The highest point of elevation in Kiribati is less than 2 meters above sea level. Over the last 10 years, oceanographers have measured an almost 50-cm rise in ocean level and two uninhabited islands have already gone under the ocean. That means that 25 percent of K the nation’s elevation is under the sea, and the outlook is grim for the land mass that remains.
The island nation’s President recently pleaded for help from the international community during a United Nations’ press conference. “We may already be at the point of no return,” he claimed. He believes that his nation’s population will need to find someplace else to live by 2100.1
I bring this up because in our lesson from 2 Corinthians a small part of an extended discourse, the apostle Paul is responding to the sinking feeling of the Christians in Corinth. It is not an island that’s disappearing from view, rather it is the gospel. Paul responds to the fears the gospel is being hidden, veiled, from those who would otherwise believe. Christ’s glory is unseen. Looking at the situation in Corinth Paul says one may feel like the gospel is sinking out of sight.
What about in our lives, do we sometimes feel that the gospel is sinking? Is it disappearing from view? Or do we wonder why the Christ is veiled for others. Why can’t they see?
Let us talk about veils and their symbolism. Many of us have an image of an Islamic woman in a strict Muslim nation hidden behind a blowing tent like black canopy with eyes peering out. That is one contemporary understanding. Or our other image is one we may occasionally still see in a wedding. The groom stands next to his veiled bride throughout the ceremony. At some point, after the exchanging of vows, the new couple will kiss. Now, for the first time, her veil is lifted, and their kiss seals the life that lies ahead of them ? the lifting of the veil is a physical ratification of the covenant just created.
I do not know about Japan or other places in the world, but in the US for all but the most formal of weddings, the bridal veil has fallen out of style. It’s considered old-school fashion and an expense that is not necessary. Thus because of the contemporary mental picture of a veiled Muslim women and the disappearance of veiled brides, most of us do not realize the symbolic meaning and role of the veil in Scripture.
In Scripture a veil separates those on either side of it. On one side is that which is understood to be pure, glorious and divinely appointed. On the other side is that which has not yet beheld it. For example, in Genesis 24, Rebekah is fresh off of her camel as Isaac’s fianc?. Before she meets him, she slips on a veil to cover her face. In that movement, she’s telling Isaac that she’s a virgin. As a follower of the God of Abraham, she has remained pure.
Veils are not just for women. In Exodus 34, Moses has met with God and now his face beams with “Shekinah” or translated into English, “radiance.” Aaron and the Israelites are literally afraid to approach him, so when Moses is in their presence, he covers his face with a veil to hide its radiance.
We also see veils used symbolically, even dramatically, as in Matthew 27. At the moment of Jesus’ death, the 1/3 of a meter thick curtain, veiling the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem is torn apart. The tearing of this curtain symbolizes that because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, all may come to know God’s presence; it is no longer veiled. Matthew continues by saying that the tombs break open and dead saints spill out among the living. A new spiritual reality has just been unveiled.
With all that in mind, let us return to our lesson. If Jesus represents God’s unleashing of another dimension to human existence, why don’t more people see and respond to it? Why does the Light of Jesus Christ sometimes seem so low in wattage, in those around us or even in our own lives? Why is the Christian faith viewed as only one entr?e among other dishes at a food line? These questions are ones the followers of Jesus Christ in Corinth, Greece were asking. Paul responds using the biblical image of a veil.
Paul answers that “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”2 Evil does not want us to see or know clearly because it is to evil’s benefit that we do not. It is better for evil if we are confused and in the dark.
We also sense from Paul, although it is not clearly stated here that the gospel might be veiled in the ruts and routine of daily life which make it hard for faith to stay alive. For example, for many Christians in the time of Paul a real question was whether to eat food that had been blessed at local temples. Paul writes that our faith will not be veiled by what we eat and the manner that is was handled.
What about us? How is the Gospel sometimes veiled? Perhaps the gospel might be sinking in our lives because it is simply not cool to be a believer. Or it may be sinking because we are afraid of the misunderstanding and cultural ostracism we might face if we really embraced the claims of the gospel. Or because we have intellectual difficulties with some Christian claims.
Paul does not answer all those points but we get a glimpse of his response today; “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.”3 In other words, the tension that we may feel regarding the gospel, seeing and living it out … is the tension of “already-not yet.” When a person knows God through Jesus, the light of the gospel is obvious; it’s already been seen. Those of us with unveiled faces see the glory of God as plainly as our reflection in a mirror.4
But, for those whose eyes are still veiled, the gospel is an issue of “not yet.” For those who are not Christian it is not that may never believe in Jesus Christ, Paul is saying rather “it is not yet….”5 Furthermore, that tension of “already-not yet” we may see played out in our lives as we go back and forth, rocking between the those points, as new issues, concerns and questions arise in our lives.
Paul is reminding those believers in Corinth to rise and shine, trust in what is known from the inside and not to sink into the darkness. The truth of God has been unveiled in Jesus Christ.
In many churches, today is called Transfiguration Sunday, because Jesus Christ is fully unveiled before the disciples. Before they climbed the mountain, Peter, James and John had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but now during this event they saw his divinity fully. Their eyes were unveiled to a new reality. Peter however was afraid to let go of that moment, when Jesus Christ was revealed, and instead tried to figure out a way to keep it.
The gospel of Jesus is, in essence, for Paul, an unveiling as well. A barrier between God and humanity is removed because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We too may feel like Peter, a fear that what was unveiled to us may somehow sink out of view, afraid that the little we have may go away. But God says and Paul reminds us that we do not have to be afraid. Though we may have a sinking feeling, as new questions and concerns flood over us, we can trust and hope in what has been unveiled, and share that light with others. Amen.
1 nature.com/news/2008/080606/fullnews.2008.880.html. Also “On Kiribati: Too late to save Pacific island nation from submersion.” Nature. June 6, 2008. Also see: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiribati.
2 Vs. 4
3 Vs. 5
4 2 Corinthians 3:18
5 2 Corinthians 3:16