Exodus 34:29-35, first reading for Mass Wednesday, July 28
29 As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he spoke with the Lord. 30 When Aaron, then, and the other Israelites saw Moses and noticed how radiant the skin of his face had become, they were afraid to come near him. 31 Only after Moses called to them did Aaron and all the leaders of the community come back to him. Moses then spoke to them. 32 Later, all the Israelites came up to him, and he enjoined on them all that the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 Whenever Moses entered the presence of the Lord to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the Israelites all that he had been commanded. 35 Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
To put it another way, Moses did not wear the veil over his face when he spoke with God, nor when he communicated to the Israelites what God had told him. For everyday matters and conversations, he did wear it.
Why? Moses is being changed through his personal encounters with the Lord God, and it is reflected in his face. He does not even realize he is being changed until Aaron and the others point it out to him. He is aglow, “radiant” with the Spirit of God. Moses wants the encounters with God, –while Aaron and the rest of the people, well, they respect that, know he is on to something, but are quite apprehensive about personally handling what they regard as dynamite.
Moses wears the veil most of the time so as not to keep them unduly alarmed, but when he needs to communicate something God has told him directly for them, he drops the veil. It forces them to face the reflection of the “face” of God, His real presence, in the words Moses speaks. Remember, Moses began his first attempt to free the Israelites by murdering an Egyptian taskmaster–he learned just how difficult it is for someone to accept the Lord’s direction. It took him 40 years from the murder to reach the point of approaching God in the burning bush. (And it will take 40 years wandering in the wilderness for the Israelites to be prepared to take the land God had promised them.)
Moses takes off the veil when he goes to speak with God, for he has grown into a level of trust and friendship with God that demands it.
In a parallel situation, Jesus decides to allow only 3 key disciples to be present when his “veil” is briefly dropped on the Mount of the Transfiguration. They were stunned.
How do we see others? Do we keep reminding ourselves not to be fooled by the outer garments of humankind, the flesh and blood of our neighbors that may veil the life of our Lord within them? Do we try to anticipate them transfigured in all the splendor that will be revealed at the Resurrection?
How would we treat them if we could see them that way?