Epiphany 2
Exo
33:12-23
1/19/14
On March 11, 2011 a 9.0 magnitude
earthquake took place 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan. It caused a tsunami to hit Japan with a
thirty foot wave that caused incredible damage.
Almost sixteen thousand Japanese were killed in this terrible natural
disaster.
As Japan searched for survivors and
sought to provide relief to those who had lost the place where they had lived,
it soon became clear that the tsunami had produced a new crisis. The disaster damaged nuclear reactors at the
Fukushima power plant and officials began desperate measures to prevent a
meltdown as they pumped in sea water.
The worst case scenario was averted, but to this day the situation at
Fukushima continues to be an issue as the Japanese seek to provide a permanent
solution.
The Fukushima disaster was almost three
years ago, however concerns about its impact have been in the news recently. Some seventy former U.S. Navy sailors who
were on the board the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Ronald Reagan are suing the
government because they say the radiation from Fukushima has made them ill. When tsunami occurred, the Reagan was
diverted to assist with relief efforts.
It was near the Fukushima plant when the plant released a huge steam
plume as they were trying to cool the reactor with sea water. The plume rose and when it hit the cold
Pacific air, it turned in o snow that fell on the Reagan. Navy crews worked clearing the snow. The snow was radioactive and they believe that
it is the cause of the many cancers, thyroid issues and other physical problems
that have now appeared.
The Fukushima plant did release
radiation. There has been concern about
the impact this may have on the United States as it crosses the Pacific Ocean,
carried by currents. Many experts have
claimed that it poses no threat.
However, not all are convinced and it certainly didn’t cause speculation
to cease when the Department of Health and Human Services recently posted a
solicitation to businesses for fourteen million potassium iodide pills – the
drug used to help prevent radiation sickness.
Radiation is frightening. It’s frightening because we don’t really
understand it. It’s frightening because
you can come into contact with it and not even know it – you can be exposed by
the water you drink or the food you eat.
And it’s frightening because it will kill you. Get enough exposure and you will die a
horrible death from radiation sickness.
Get some exposure and it can kill you later through cancer. That is why
we are fearful about coming into its presence, and why such stringent measures are
taken to limit exposure and keep us safe.
In our Old Testament lesson today we
learn that things are very much the same when it comes to the holy God. Moses wants a full exposure to God – he wants
to see God’s face. However, God says that
no person can experience this and live.
Instead, he reveals himself in a measured and restrained way – he allows
Moses to seek his back. Yet by this revelation, Moses receives the assurance
that God’s presence will go with Israel and with him during their journey.
In our Old Testament lesson this
morning we hear an exchange between Yahweh and Moses. God had called Moses to lead his people
Israel out of Egyptian slavery in the Exodus.
God had rescued the nation and brought them to Mt. Sinai, where he had
entered into a covenant with Israel.
Now, they were about to set out from Mt. Sinai for the promised land.
God tells Moses that his presence -
literally “his face” – will go with Israel and the he will give the people
rest. For Moses this fact is
critical. He says to God, “If your
presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be
known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in
your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every
other people on the face of the earth?”
Moses knew that it was only the
presence of Yahweh that made Israel unique and distinct from every other people
on the earth. In and of themselves, they
were nothing. They had no land. They had
no home. They had no real military
might. They had no great city filled
with magnificent buildings. The only thing that made them special, was the fact
that Yahweh had made them his choice possession and was with them.
Yahweh responded by saying, “This
very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my
sight, and I know you by name.” And then Moses made an additional request. He said, “Please show me your glory.” Moses asked for a direct revelation of
God.
Yahweh responded that he would make
his goodness pass before Moses. However he added, “But you cannot see my face,
for man shall not see me and live.” God
told Moses that a direct encounter with him was impossible because it would be
fatal. Instead, God would hid Moses in a
cleft in the rock and shield him as God passed by. Then he would allow Moses to see him
indirectly – he would allow Moses to see his back.
Our text this morning teaches us a
profound truth about how God deals with us.
God reveals himself to us. He is
present with us in ways that set us apart as his people. Yet because of who he is as God, and what we
are as fallen creatures our God does so in indirect ways. He does it in ways that reveal and hide
himself at the same time.
We think about this especially
during this season of Epiphany. At
Christmas we celebrated the fact in the fullness of time God sent forth his Son
into the world. John tells us in the
first chapter of his Gospel, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and
we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son from the Father, full
of grace and truth.” God grants that his
glory is seen in the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. And as Jesus begins his ministry, this glory
is revealed. In our Gospel lesson this
morning we hear of how Jesus turns water in to wine. At the end of the account John writes, “This,
the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.
And his disciples believed in him.”
In our Old Testament lesson, God
reveals himself to Moses. Yet he does
this in a way that is restrained and hidden.
He allows Moses to see his back.
And we find that the same thing is true in Jesus Christ. God doesn’t reveal his glory directly because
sinful man can’t bear this. Instead, in
a miraculous action, God reveals his glory through Jesus Christ. Just as Moses asked for God to be present with
Israel, so Jesus is Immanuel – God with us.
Yet just like Moses’ experience, this is not some kind of head on and
direct encounter with the glory of God.
Instead, it is a hidden glory – a glory revealed to faith.
This fact becomes undeniable at the
moment when Jesus Christ’s ministry reaches its goal on Good Friday. God’s saving glory is revealed as Jesus dies
on the cross for us. It is revealed in a way that appears to be the opposite
of glory. It is revealed in blood, and
humiliation, and suffering, and death.
It is glory revealed in hiddenness.
That’s what he continues to do. He reveals his saving glory. Yet he does so in ways that are not forceful
and overpowering. He does it in ways
where the glory is hidden. He does it
through the Gospel, as it is proclaimed and shared with others. He does it through water in a font, as he
gives forgiveness and new spiritual life in Holy Baptism. And he does it in a way that is the summit of
the Divine Service each week. He does it
through bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Now frankly there are many times
when, like Moses, we want to ask for more.
We know how we want God to do things. We don’t want a Gospel that others can reject. We don’t want the gifts of the sacraments
that are received in faith – gifts that even many Christians around us reject.
We want force and power. We want God to
deal with us directly. We want his glory – straight up and in our face.
Peter, James and John had that
experience once. We will hear about it
in three weeks. At the transfiguration
of Jesus, our Lord’s face shone like the sun and his clothes were white as light. A bright cloud overshadowed them and God the
Father’s voice was heard. And you know
how they reacted? They fell on their
faces on the ground and were terrified.
No, God doesn’t reveal himself
directly in unfettered glory because we can’t handle it. Like silly little
children we have no idea what we really need and what is really good for
us. And so God hides himself in order
to reveal himself. We saw this on
Christmas Eve as we beheld the creator of the cosmos as a baby in a
manger. We will see this on Good Friday,
as the Son of God hangs on a cross and dies for our sins.
But then, on Easter, we will see
Jesus Christ rise from the dead. We will
see him defeat death and begin the resurrection of the Last Day. In the resurrection of Jesus we find the
assurance that though it is indirect; though it is now hidden, the word and
sacraments of Jesus Christ are indeed the powerful revelation of God’s saving
glory.
Why is it that every Sunday the
Divine Service reaches its summit in the celebration of the Sacrament of the
Altar? It is because that bread and wine
is not just bread and wine. Instead, as Christ takes it and adds his word, it
becomes the means by which he gives us his true body and blood to eat and to
drink. It is the presence of the risen
One – the One who continues to come bodily into our midst to give us
forgiveness and to strengthen us in the faith.
Now it is hidden. One can choose
to reject his words about it. But that
does not change what it is – the very thing his Church has always confessed it
to be.
In our text today God promises Moses
and Israel, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Our Lord continues to go with us as he comes
into our midst through his Means of Grace.
And in a particularly unique way he is present with us in the Sacrament
of the Altar as he gives us rest in the forgiveness of his body and blood.
He comes as the risen Lord in a
hidden way – like the baby in the manger; like the man on the cross. But because it is the risen and ascended Lord
who comes to us in the Sacrament, each celebration points to the day when there
will be nothing hidden about his presence.
It points to the Last Day when he will return in glory and we will see
him as he is. It points to the day when
we will no longer see God in a hidden and indirect way – when we will no longer
see God’s back, but instead we will see him face to face.
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