Remove the Veil
Luke 9:43-45
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. But while everyone was
astonished at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, 44 “As for you, let these
words sink into your ears: for the Son of Man is going to be handed over to men.”
45 But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so
that they would not comprehend it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this
statement.
The narrative we are taking a look at here is very short, in fact it’s only two verses. This
is from Luke chapter 9 verses 43 to 45. Jesus had just performed miracles and people
were astonished to see what happened. The people of Jesus day in the Galilee and Judea
needed to see signs and miracles to believe. Therefore, Jesus gave them signs and
miracles. Then we have this small transition from a discussion of healing to a discussion
of discipleship. The bridge here is to understand that becoming a disciple of Jesus,
especially in the early years of Christianity, may bring you greatness, but it also may
bring you the sorrow of a painful death.
I would rather not concentrate on that, rather I rather talk about that which is hidden
from us today. The verses also say that the disciples did not understand, therefore the
hidden meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection was hidden from them. When I look
at the church today, have we placed a veil over the true meaning of Jesus' message?
Let’s first look at the activity of the church in general.
Jesus and his disciples were poor and very common people of the day. Well, of course
Jesus was the Messiah so he wasn’t the common one, but the disciples were common
people. They lacked both money and fame. They were common people of the land.
Furthermore, they created the first what we would come to call churches or should I
say communities of believers. Yes, Paul tells us there were some rich people in those
communities, but most of them were poor common people who were just trying to
survive.
In the world, there are definitely church communities that are destitute and are
struggling. What I found interesting when I took a trip to northern Mexico to study the
church is that the poor churches seem to have more spirituality and trust in God.
Perhaps it’s because they had so little, they had a dependency on God to provide
everything they needed. I was sitting in a house when there was a knock at the door and
a young girl was there asking the lady of the house if she had a tomato that she could
lend to her neighbor. The lady of the house opened her refrigerator, and she had one
tomato. If God was sending me a message, it was pretty clear. That woman gave that
last piece of food from her refrigerator to the young girl that she could take it home for
her mom to cook dinner.
My question to the lady of the house was, “so what are you going to have for dinner?”
Her answer was, “God will provide.” I found out in Mexico, now this was in 2001, that
even though it was a payday you may not have gotten paid. It was not uncommon for
that to happen. What happened if her husband came home without a paycheck? They
can’t buy food without money. With the possibility of going hungry that day, the family
was not concerned because they believed God would provide.
At that moment, I wondered if it was because they had so little that they had a bigger
dependence on God. There were 25 seminary students in that group with me, and none
of us had a worry about what we were going to have for dinner that night. We all had
money and credit cards. Therefore, we knew we were going to have something. How
would it be to live without that net? Would a reduction in material possessions lead to
increased reliance on God?
What was the veil that was over the disciples’ eyes that they could not understand that
Jesus as the Messiah, a prophet of God, was going to be captured and killed when he
got to Jerusalem? Jesus said to them that they didn’t understand what was going on. It
wouldn’t be until the resurrection, they fully grasp the situation.
Is there something that’s preventing you from truly seeing what Jesus wants us to do in
life? Do you have a veil over your head and covering your eyes that you cannot see what
it’s all about?
When I think about church people who say that they love Jesus and they treat each
other extremely poorly, which happens in church all the time let’s admit it, I begin to
wonder do they understand the meaning of Christ’s message? In other words, they have
placed a veil over themselves so that they do not fully understand what the message of
love and grace in Christ is all about. If they did, then they would not act the way they
do to their fellow Disciples of Christ.
I think the general church has the same veil over it. When I sat in the Mexican church
on a Sunday that had a large hole in the roof yet I saw them collect money to send to
the Vatican instead of fixing their roof I came to the conclusion that the Vatican had a
veil hovering over it that prevented them from seeing the true meaning of Jesus. Instead
of collecting money from this small poor church, they should’ve sent money to the
church so they could fix the roof. If it rained on Sunday, they couldn’t hold worship
because their church would get flooded.
I was appointed to a church where the people through a major fit when some charity
money went to help a fellow denominational church fix its leaking roof. I was
astonished that people in the church were angry about helping other people in another
church of the same denomination. However, they would very freely give money to the
food bank and to people they did not know. So, the veil that the church had was caring
about other Christians. They thought it was more important to give money out to an
organization to help someone who they did not know rather than helping their fellow
Christians.
The lesson here for us as individuals is: do we have a veil over our eyes that is preventing
us from truly seeing and acting the way Jesus did in his life. If you think you have a veil,
there is an easy way to get rid of the veil. Read the Gospels and imitate the life of Christ.
Every one of us probably has a veil over some aspect of our lives that is in contradiction
to the Bible. Most likely, we don’t even know it because if we did, I’m sure we would
want to fix it.
Therefore, I urge you to think about the way you act and the way you talk to people
and determine is this the way Jesus would talk in the way Jesus would act. If the answer
is no, Jesus would not do this, then you need to change your behavior and your attitude
and the way you do things so that you can come into compliance with Jesus' way. When
we do that, we are truly disciples of Jesus Christ, not just in words but in actions.
