In literary terms, references to veils could be seen as meaning one of any number of things: repression and sublimation, the human body or flesh, or the heavens. Similarly, the tearing of a veil could refer to a few different ideas: death, liberty, revelation, clarity or enlightenment, or the uncovering of the truth. In the Hebrew language, there are at least six different words that can be translated as the word "veil,' five of which refer to garments of various kinds, and one which refers exclusively to the curtain that divided the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in the Temple.
In our text from Exodus, we hear about why Moses covered his face with a veil. The reason we're given is that he has seen God face to face, and Moses reflects the glory of God - to put it simply, his face is shining. As you can imagine, this is rather disturbing to the Israelites, who promptly run off, and Moses has to call to them, so that he can share with them what God has told him to tell them. In fact, he has to call twice - the first time, only Aaron and the elders come. After he's talked to them, he calls everyone else, and tells them all what God wants them to hear. However, it's only after he's talked to them all that he covers his face. But he wears that veil for a long time, only taking it off when he goes to talk to God, to get the rules and laws that God wants the people to follow. He only replaces it, though, after he's talked to them - this way, they know that what he's saying is coming directly from God.
Could you imagine going around with a veil covering your face? In a desert, like the Israelites were, it would have some benefits - less sand in the eyes and mouth for one thing. However, I'd imagine that the cloth that Moses wore over his face wasn't as thin as the stuff that we think of when we hear the word "veil." This stuff was thick enough to cover his face, and I'd imagine also thick enough to at least dim the glow that stuck around after he'd talked to God.
Veils are, at the most basic definition, something that covers the face, including the eyes. According to one source, lace wasn't used in wedding veils until around the late 18th century, and we can probably assume that the material that was used in all veils before then was probably hard to see through. Things seen through the veil would most likely be distorted, blurred, and hard to make out - that's if they could be seen at all. The world as seen through a veil would probably be rather fuzzy, and hard to decipher. And Moses lived like this for quite some time.
From Literal to Metaphorical
From our Old Testament reading, which talks of a literal veil, we go to a metaphorical veil, as found in our reading from Second Corinthians. Here, Paul talks of how peoples' hearts and minds are covered up by veils, veils that are obscuring their view of what the Scriptures really say. He contends that it is only Jesus who can take away those veils, and allow for full sight, or full understanding. And it's once faith in Jesus is professed, and the veils that cover sight are taken away, that a transformation begins. "The glory of the Lord" is seen, "as though reflected in a mirror," and those seeing the reflections start to change, "being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
The veil as a metaphor for how one sees things is very appropriate. We all see things from a particular viewpoint, coming at the world from our own standpoint, our own experiences, and with our own baggage. All those things will affect how we see the world, or, to slip into metaphorical language, will add their own threads into the veil through which we see things.
Once we allow Jesus into our hearts, once we've made our choice to believe in him, Paul tells us that Jesus tears the veil that covers our hearts and our eyes. Then we see the world as we should, through Godly eyes, not our own. It's when we've had the experiences of the world that detract us from God taken away that we're able to see things as we really should, as God wants us to see them.
The Veil Returns
But that's hard to do. It's probably fair to say that most people have had the veil torn off their eyes at least once, and probably more than once. That's when our faces have changed in appearance, as Jesus' did on that mountain top, and we've been able to see God everywhere we look, and to see God's fingerprints on everything that has happened. When the veil comes off, when we see the world as we really should, it can be painful or joyous, or even both at the same time. But it can be hard to take, and probably hard to sustain for a long time. And so the veil slips back over our eyes.
It's important to strive for the removal of the veil from our eyes, to remember to give ourselves up to Jesus over and over so that he can tear the veil away, but I also think that it's important to acknowledge the fact that the veil comes back. In fact, for some people, to even admit that the world is seen through a veil can be hard. As one author put it, the way in which people see things, in today's metaphor "the veil," is "like their own retina - they see by it, so they can't see it" (A New Kind of Christian, by Brian D. McLaren, page 49). How true. It takes another person to point it out, or a look in the mirror, to see the retina, or to see the veils that shade the world for us.
However, I think that once we've acknowledged the veil, we can do something about it. There are some aspects of it that will probably always remain, but I think that it's possible for us to both deconstruct and construct the veils through which we see the world. Take this piece of material, for example. It's fairly transparent, but I'd probably bump into a few things walking around - I might even land up hurting some people without meaning to, and hurting myself. However, if I can figure out what it is that's making this veil so hard to see through, I can start to pluck away at it, pulling threads out. Threads like greed, self-importance, pride, and judgement. And maybe I'd want to add some threads into it - threads of compassion, humility, grace, and mercy. But notice that the material that makes up those threads is so much lighter, and easier to see through. When we see things as God wants us to see them, seeing itself becomes easier.
Of course, the point of the example is to try to remove the veil completely, to remove enough of the worldly stuff so that we can see the Godly stuff clearer. We hear from Second Corinthians that "all of us, with unveiled faces," will see "the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Even Paul says, though, that we don't get to see God face to face, like Moses did - not yet. Now, we see the glory of the Lord as though through a mirror. While seeing the glory of God through a mirror is pretty good, it probably wouldn't be 100% clear.
I want you to think of the mirrors you've seen from older days - the glass has started to run, and distortions show. I remember a mirror at my parents' place that has been around for a couple of generations - depending on where I stand when I look at myself, I could have a larger nose and a smaller chin, or one huge eye and one small one. While the distortions aren't that obvious at first, there's a few wrinkles in the mirror that change the way things look. I know that the ability to make glass and mirrors has been around for ages, and I'm sure that there were some decent-quality mirrors around in Paul's time, but I'd guess that what was seen through mirrors of the time was still distorted to some degree. In his first letter to the Corinthians he refers to seeing through a mirror dimly - possibly there was a lot of smoke still in the glass, and it wasn't a very clear reflection. I'd guess, though, that it's still way better than seeing through a dense veil!!
People to walk with us when we're veiled
I'm not sure how long the practice of brides wearing veils has been around, but some say that it's a practice that pre-dates Christ. Brides have, through the ages, worn veils to cover their faces, supposedly for different reasons - modesty, submission, health, the surprise of what the other looks like, and I'm sure others. However, the veils that brides of yester-year would wear were not the lace veils of today, or even of the last few centuries. The veils were of thicker stuff that made it hard for the women to see through - they were often coloured, too. Yellow veils made it particularly hard for the women to walk down the aisle, and assistance was needed, to ensure that the bride made it down the aisle. It'd be nice to think that the tradition of the woman being walked down the aisle by someone had some sort of romantic reasoning to it, but some suggest that it was purely practical - it was the only way she'd make it down the aisle!!
However, lace veils started being used in weddings around the 18th century, or so some sources suggest. Although things are still blurry through a lace veil, it could probably be said that it's more of a haze than an impediment to a person's ability to walk. But I'm sure it's still a great assistance to have someone walking along side, even if it's just for moral support.
Just like veils of denser stuff have been replaced by veils of lace, and of lighter stuff, we, too, are called to view the world with lighter vision, to learn how to see things more clearly. To create for ourselves veils and worldviews that allow us to see God, and that allow others to see God in us.
Paul spoke of the boldness that he and his contemporaries had, in comparison to Moses. If his face were to be shining with the Glory of God, why, he'd never cover it up!! He'd let people see it, and let the world know of the glory of God. We are called to do the same. Just like we won't light a candle and stick it under a bushel, when we give ourselves to Christ and let the veil of this world be torn from our eyes, we shouldn't hide that. And for the interim times, when we slide back and the veil covers our eyes once again, we should be striving for that veil to be thin enough that we can not only see God through it, but so that others can see God through us.
We're called to reflect God, and in fact we're told by Paul that, over time, step by step, we'll be transformed from one glory to the next. Step by step, we're getting closer to what God wants us to look like. Each time we give ourselves back to Christ, each time we make a declaration of faith, whether through words or through actions, Christ tears the veil that covers our eyes, and each time it comes back, it hopefully does so with less substance. Each time we remember God with our lives and our thoughts, we're becoming more and more what God wants us to be. Each time the veil is torn away, we're transformed. We see the world clearer, and hopefully we see God clearer, too.
For the times that we're walking behind the veil, and for the times that we've let Christ tear the veil away, we've got each other for support and encouragement. Just like we can't see our own retina without help, we can't always see the ways in which we see the world, and so we need help with that.
As believers, and as people who see things through veils, we've got people to walk with us. In fact, we need the help of others, just like brides of yore did. The people here this morning, and our brothers and sisters in faith around the world, are here to help guide us. And to remind us of the veil through which we all see things, and hopefully to help us direct ourselves in such a way as to allow Christ to tear the veil from our eyes.
May God give us the strength to live as a people unveiled, and as a people seeing the world through Godly own eyes.
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.