A unique treasure (1)

Sunday 26 February 2023

"Moses said, Show me your glory [...] The Eternal said : Behold a place near me ; you will stand on the rock. When my glory passes away, I will put you in a hollow in the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed [...] but my face cannot be seen." Exodus 33. 18-23

"For God, who said : Light shines out of darkness ! has caused light to shine in our hearts to shine forth the knowledge of the glory of God upon the face of Christ." 2 Corinthians 4.6

A unique treasure (1)

It is like a grace that Moses asks for when he prays to God to show him his grace. The golden calf has plunged him into a burning anger and the prospect of leading this ungrateful, rebellious and idolatrous people to Canaan overwhelms him. He needs to be strengthened and he asks to see the glory of God. God refuses, but offers him what he needs : "I will make all my goodness pass before you" (Exodus 33:19). Seeing the glory of God was impossible under the Law; it is now a reality under grace with the coming of Jesus.

How to perceive this glory, in other words the divine characters in their absolute perfection ? With a word, God had brought light to the universe plunged in darkness. With the Word made flesh, he causes the knowledge of glory to shine in our hearts, "in the face of Christ."

“He who sees me sees him who sent me”, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” : this is Jesus' message to the crowd and to Philip (John 12.45; 15.9). Seeing him, these were the eyewitnesses of the divine majesty : love and light, its essential characteristics, grace and truth, justice, holiness, power, authority, wisdom, intelligence, gentleness, mercy and goodness. This is what God, by his Word and by his Spirit, delights to make shine henceforth in the heart of the Christian. This is how our heart, that is to say our inner being, at the same time the seat of our feelings, our thoughts and our decision to act, is illuminated by his glory revealed in "the face of Christ ".

Christ in his ministry, Christ on the cross, Christ risen, Christ himself is and always will be the one who makes the glory of God accessible to every Christian.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)