Exodus 34: 29-35                                                                                                      Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III

2 Corinthians 3: 12-18                                                                                                                        March 2, 2025

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Prayer: May we shine like the sun, O Lord, because we are free in your spirit. Amen.

Do you recall a few months ago I told you about life-like images of Jesus produced by AI, and these were being tried out in some Catholic church’s confession booths?

Well, as if that wasn’t enough, guess what I read about this past week? Apparently models who look like Jesus are in high demand. Not AI produced images. Real human beings. People hire these Jesus look-alikes to pose in family portraits, family photos or engagement pics, and wedding announcements. They are long-haired, bearded, and not surprisingly white men who make between $100—$200 an hour! Are you kidding me? They walk through the park with a newly engaged couple, or play with children on the play ground, or cram in with the family for their Christmas card photo. OMG!

But wait! There’s more. Some clients pressure the models to embody Jesus in more than just appearance. One person told a model to be the “most Christ-like” he could be, or… get this… “or people will be able to tell through the photos that it’s not real” (Seen and Heard, The Christian Century, March 2025, pg. 12, from the Wall Street Journal, December 18).

And I was like, What? No, duh! Of course it’s not real! Hate to break it to ya, but people are going to know that these Jesus-posers are not really Jesus! Just sayin’! Hello!

        Christianity has lost its integrity and value if it boils down to some kind of make-believe ruse, which tries to make it look like Jesus is in your life and family.

Depending on how thick the proverbial veil is over your eyes, you either recognize that the real Jesus spiritually is in your life and family, or you don’t.

Because our faith is about the real Jesus’ spirit being alive and among us spiritually. Our faith is about God deciding to come into the world through human beings, mostly notably and demonstrably through Jesus whom we know to be the Christ, God’s Son, God’s Anointed One. It’s about God going to ridiculous lengths to love us, be with us. And grace us. And forgive us. And reconcile with us. No matter who we are. And help free us spiritually from whatever stops us from knowing God in Christ.

That’s what I think Paul means when he uses the veil as a metaphor. It represents anything that stops us from spiritually knowing God through Christ.

In Paul’s day, the thick veil that stopped people from knowing God was believing that following all the Jewish laws to a tee was the only way to know God. It was the only way to earn God’s love which might allow you to get to heaven. It was the old covenant. And to be honest, this is the thing, the veil, that stops many of us in our day, too.

Because basically a lot of people think that God is in reward and punishment business. You do good in life, you get to heaven. You do poorly in life, you get to somewhere else. Paul said that this thinking is bogus and is like a veil over the eyes which prevents you from seeing the glory of God’s saving grace and love.

        Over the years in ministry, I’ve had conversations with many elderly folks, most of whom trusted in the grace of  God at the end of their earthly days as a life-giving, resurrective power.

But, some were terrified to die. Because they thought that God might be angry with them and that they would be denied access to the eternal realm. They bought into the reward / punishment system of a false religion. So faith at the end of their lives was like a thick veil and a source of torment and fear.

But for others who trusted in the grace of God? Faith in the end was like a thin veil and was a source of comfort and freedom. Paul says when one turns to the Lord, even the thin veil gets dissolved and there is spiritual freedom. No guilt. No fear. Only grace, light and love.

All of this, of course, is connected to the transfiguration of Jesus. Where Jesus, like Moses before him, was in God’s presence and was all lit up. And the disciples, Peter, James and John, had the “veil” over their perceptions lifted from their eyes. They saw the heavenly realm permeate into the earthly realm. They saw Moses and Elijah from the heavenly realm talking with Jesus. A blending of the spiritual with the temporal.

And I have to wonder, is this story a metaphor of the way the world truly is? That the heavenly realm is right here in our earthly realm, only our veils are too thick that we don’t see the world as it truly is?

Because God’s presence is everywhere. God’s Spirit is interactive with us. It’s part of every existing thing. Can we see it? If we don’t, maybe our veils are too thick.

If we do see it, then maybe our veils are thinner and we become free to see our world spiritually. Do you see God  in nature? Beautiful mountains. Exquisite plant and animal life. Watch The Americas with Tom Hanks tonight. Ask God to let you be free to see the world as God sees it.

Can we see the divine in ourselves? Look in the mirror. Do you see God’s light radiating from you?   Paul believes you do. He writes all of us with unveiled faces see the glory of the Lord as if looking in the mirror. Ask God to free you so that you can see spiritually. Maybe you can get your glow going.

Do you see the divine in others? A pregnant woman, or an athlete who’s just won sometimes is said to be glowing. Of course, that’s a figurative way to express the joy on one’s face, but could it be literally true? Yes. According to one source, “the human body literally glows, emitting a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall with the day. Past research has shown that the body emits visible light 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive.” Use the search words, “Can people glow?” You will find many articles about this subject (Listening to Jesus | Homiletics Online, retrieved March 1, 2025 from Reputable Resources).

Are you moved by acts of love and kindness? Moments of worship? Like when a baby is baptized?  Or when Holy Communion makes us feel the presence of the Lord? Or when you realize a deeper insight that makes you go “Aha!”

        Or when music moves you to tears. A couple of weeks ago, Barb and I went to a concert of love songs for Valentine’s Day, and those songs simply were beautiful and moved us to tears.  Or, every time I hear Celine Dion and Andre Bocelli sing The Prayer, I mean….wow! I can’t  help it. It just moves me.

When those kinds of moments happen, I think it’s a thin veil. In Celtic mysticism, it’s called a “thin place.”  Thin places are where the space between heaven and earth, the distance between the spiritual and the temporal grow thin, and even the veil between divinity and humanity sometimes can dissolve and the two can permeate one another. I have to wonder if this is the way the world truly is.

So, if there’s one thing I encourage you to take away today, it’s this: that God is spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Because when the spirit of the Lord is in our hearts, there is freedom from faith-debilitating ideas like God is in the reward / punishment business. That’s not the God I know. And it’s not the God revealed through Jesus Christ.

There is freedom from seeing our world and everything within it only from a temporal vantage point. There is freedom from prejudice and biases and the love of money that makes for cuts in programs that benefit the disadvantage. We support the thickness of our veils that cover our spiritual eyes when we resign ourselves to our own limitations and vision.



Maybe we also end up stifling God? Because maybe God is at it all the time trying to help see holistically. Always trying to help us our minds be free to see the world and everything in it the way God sees it. Always helping us to not just look like God’s spirit is in us, but to really have it in us. And our faces will shine! Let us pray for the freedom to see spiritually. Thanks be to God. Amen.