“Show me your glory I pray”(Ex 33v19)
… says Moses during one of his regular and frank discussions with his maker.
What was he asking? Is he still questioning the one who had guided him on this historic journey since the epiphany at the burning bush? Was God’s explanation of “I AM” inadequate for Moses’ feeble humanity to comprehend? Or did he have an unquenchable desire to know more and more about the mysterious being who was doing a work in Jacob’s clan? All we can know is that nobody can stare at the face of God and live. So God hides Moses in the cleft of a rock, covers him with His hand and passes by so Moses gets merely a glimpse of God’s back.
So God is BIG then. Not to mention awesome, powerful and all together terrifying. And yet, privileged by the era of their birth, thousands of people saw the very face of God…and lived! Some saw it transfigured, shining like the sun. And some saw it bloodstained and ruddy, looking like death it’s self. And some looked right into the face of God as Jesus lifted their faces to look at Him, then freed them from the entrapment of their shame with the affirming words of love and compassion.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have beheld his Glory, the Glory as of a Fathers only Son…” 1 John 14
Awesome God, show us your Glory we pray; Show us Jesus!
Rev. Michael Duke
Kingston Uniting Church