Holy Darkness
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| The Children of Israel Standing Outside of the Tabernacle as God Descends to Talk with Moses in Exodus 33, from an Anonymous 1886 Woodcut |
This morning’s lessons highlight an important principle of spiritual life, how God moves heaven and earth to care for us, help us, and create a spirit within us like His own - one that expresses His grace and glory. God delights is mercy, and His “loyal love," His faithfulness, is one of His core attributes. He tells us that He would have mercy and not sacrifice, because His mercy ultimately is the greatest sacrifice. (Exodus 33:19) This mercy is connected by God Himself to His glory, and His glory is connected to His holy darkness, His self-veiling and concealing of power, His emptying of self, so that we can have salvation through a shared life and a “lowering” of Himself to us. This voluntary lowering of self, so perfectly illustrated by God, is humility, meekness, and mercy. This mentality cares more for the other than for the self, and in this way, incorporates others into a real, living, eternal relationship.
Old Testament Reading: Exodus 33:7-20
“And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
"And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
"And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
“And [God] said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
“And [Moses] said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
“And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.”
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter v. 5-11
“ALL of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
The Gospel: St. Luke xv. 1-10
“THEN drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
Sermon
Many people have pointed out that there is a contradiction here in the text of our Old Testament Reading, which first says that “the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend”, but then goes on to insist that “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” However, in this contradiction there is a clue to God’s nature and to the lesson that He wants us to learn, one that is profoundly important as it is mysterious. God’s face is both shining upon us, giving us life, and is also veiled from us, showing us His mercy.
When Moses met God in the Tabernacle and asked Him to see His face, God introduces Himself as the “One Who has Mercy,” before He tells him that no man can see His face and live. This mercy is connected to God’s light, and it is so great that no man can see His Face and live. He then hides Moses in the cleft of a rock in Exodus 33:22, and shows him a small part of His glory. From this exposure to a minute portion of His glorious light, Moses’ face shines like the sun and the people have to cover his face with a cloth in Exodus 34:29-35. Similarly, St. Peter calls us all to be “clothed in humility” in this morning’s Epistle reading (I Peter 5:5), because it is through the voluntary concealing of God’s glory in our lives, so as not to blind others or make others afraid, that we function like God, Who veils the ark in the tabernacle, Who surrounds the mountain with smoke, and Who endeavors to protect the faithful from being burned by His brilliant light through establishing an altar of incense and surrounding His Presence with a pillar of a cloud. God always veils His power and hides His greatness, rather than putting on a show or attempting to impress. This is why the mark of authenticity and truth is to understate and downplay, rather than to exult and trumpet ourselves. God shows us His mercy by veiling His glory.
God’s merciful darkness is shown throughout Scripture, known as “thick darkness” (עֲלָטָה) or “Alatah”, which is depicted as being both “cloudy” and also “pitch black.” This “place of divine habitation” is seen in Scripture many times, but because of its obscurity and mystery, it rarely becomes a topic of Christian conversation. However, within the Scriptural references to this dark place of God’s presence, a truth arises about the nature of God and His mercy that we should consider.
Exodus 20:21 - "And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was."
Deuteronomy 4:11- "And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness."
Deuteronomy 5:22 - "These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me."
2 Chronicles 6:1 - “The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.”
2 Samuel 22:12 - "And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies."
Psalms 18:11 - "He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies."
God is seen both in brightness and glory, and also in darkness and cloudiness. He is infinite light and Uncreated Fire, and yet He is also found in smoke and obscurity. Even though Moses was not able to “see God’s face and live”, Numbers 6:24-26 ties this bright and shining face of God to the blessing that we find in God - “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” We see that God veils His face from us, and yet, His face is the origin of our life. God’s glory gives us life in increments, and we must trust Him to give us a small portion of His light when we need it, but trust that His hiding from us is also for our good. We must realize that the dark times in the valley of death are just as much revelations of God’s love as the light times on the mountaintops.
This mystery relates to the teachings of St. Isaac the Assyrian in his “Catechetical Homilies,” who taught that Heaven and Hell, eternal bliss and eternal damnation, were all just different experiences of God’s unchanging glory and mercy. For those who repent of sin and live in God’s love, the experience of God’s eternal glory is perceived as internal life, light, love and communion with others. For those who reject God and do not repent of their sin, their experience in the eternal embrace of their Creator is one of external discomfort, rejection, pain, and darkness. In both cases, God does not change and shows equal mercy on both, upholding their created souls for all eternity, but their experience of God is different because of how they interact with God, because God never forces anyone’s free will to submit to Him.
This duality of light and darkness found in God also relates to the two ways in which we can know Him. The Western Christianity tends to focus on God's character and attributes, a way of theology called "Kataphatic Knowledge", or the "Via Positiva", making analogies to what God is like and how we can understand Him. This is called "Holy Knowing" and is seen in the Scriptures through the revelation of God's own person through the inspiration of the Prophets and the Commandments of God's Law. Our positive knowledge comes from the Holy Bible and the Holy Tradition of the Church. Eastern Christianity tends to focus more on the fact that God is unlike anything within the Creation, and that all the analogies we can make to God are still insufficient to circumscribe or define Him. This is called "Apophatic Knowledge", or the "Via Negativa", and insists that God is always more than the analogies we make of Him and that our human minds are incapable of truly comprehending or approaching God's true essence. This is called "Holy Unknowing" and is present in the Person of Jesus Christ and the Sacraments of the Church. This profound mystery is best understood in how the Church's approaches the personhood of Christ, which we know to be both Truly God and Truly Man, but in a way that we cannot fully comprehend or adequately communicate, other than through the profound assertions of the Creed. It must remain a mystery, protected by the conciliar declarations of the Church, protected from scrutiny rather than laid open for criticism or speculation.
The Veil of the Incarnation
When God came in the form and likeness of a man, hiding His glory and emptying Himself of His heavenly power, He continued to reveal His mercy by self-limiting and self-emptying. In Charles Wesley’s famous hymn, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, he writes - “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,” and we see how the incarnation “hid” God’s divinity, an emptying, a sacrifice, so that we might approach divinity and to know and be known.
As it says in Philippians 2:1-11 -
“If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The way that the spiritual life works is that God gives us a chance to do what He does, granting forgiveness, love and mercy to those around us, denying ourselves and preferring others, while receiving the Law of God joyfully, willingly, and without reservations, so that we may be internally transformed by God’s Uncreated Light. This pathway looks like foolishness to the secular and materialistic world, because it looks like we are “losing” and being spent up. We are voluntarily being “put down” so that Christ can be lifted up in our midst. In this, we find the power to submit one to another in love, mutual accountability and confession of our sins, enacting true Communion and synodality within the Church. This is what Jesus means in Matthew 5:23-24 - “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” There is no sacrifice without reconciliation.
Humility enables God to work in us, move our internal world around, and have us confess and forsake that which is not His best. Through humility, we are purified through the normal pain and suffering of life, and when we are purified, removing the “beam” that is in our own eyes (Matthew 7:3-5), we can see clearly to help our brothers and sisters, and we can “see God” as only those with pure heart and intentions truly can. (Matthew 5:8) As it says in I Peter 5:5 - “All of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” The reason that God resists pride is that He is not proud. He is humble, always putting Himself down so that we can approach Him.
Therefore, God is invisible to the proud, the rich, the exulted, who, like Satan, mistake God’s glory for their own glory and live in self-idolatry. God is only clearly visible to the poor, the meek, and the humble, who can rightly see their own needs, and who can see God as the origin of all good.
Summary
Christ divested Himself of all glory, hid His Divine nature in His Human nature, and became “holy darkness”, the “veil of the temple” in His own being. One of the reasons that God ripped the temple veil at Christ’s death on the cross (Matthew 27:51) was that Christ’s flesh was prophetically foretold in that veil, and as His flesh was ripped so that we could gain access to the Father, so the veil was ripped, to expose the Holy of Holies. This is clearly taught in Hebrews 10:19-22 “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Let us cry out for God’s glory as Moses did, submitting in humility to God as St. Peter instructs, so that we can be like the candle, lit for the sweeping of God’s house and the discovery of the lost silver, all of humankind, for whom Christ died and made possible salvation through His Blood. When we are willing to be veiled, willing to be hidden in God, we will be able to express God’s mercy to those around us, and be like the Shepherd in Jesus’ parable, fearlessly going out into the wilderness to find one lost sheep. We can do this because, internally, we are ablaze with the light of God, and we have seen God, face to face, in the person of Jesus Christ!
The Collect
O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to hear us; and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may, by thy mighty aid, be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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