He Didn't Know He Was Shining

"Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God." - Exodus 34:29

"If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?" - James 2:15-16

"I will also speak of your decrees before kings and shall not be put to shame." - Psalm 119:46

Reflection

Notice the finest detail in Exodus 34: Moses didn't know. He came down the mountain carrying tablets, his face lit up from talking with God, and the first person to notice was not Moses. Holiness that's aware of itself isn't holiness - it's performance. The real thing happens to you while you're looking at God, and other people see it before you do.

But then Moses veils his face. Between encounters, he covers the shine - partly to spare the frightened people, partly, later readers suspect, to keep the glory from becoming a brand. There's wisdom there for anyone whose work puts them in the light: the shine is not for showing off. It's residue from time spent behind the veil, in the tent, in prayer. You can't manufacture radiance. You can only keep the appointments that produce it.

James refuses to let that stay private. If someone is hungry and you bless them - "go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill" - while their stomach stays empty, your faith is a veiled face with no mountain behind it: shine without encounter, words without works. James is not undoing grace; he's describing its aftermath. Faith was "active along with works, and by works faith was brought to completion." Works don't save us. Works are what salvation looks like when it comes down off the mountain and picks up a ladle.

That's why Psalm 119 can be so bold: "I will speak of your decrees before kings and shall not be put to shame." A faith that has fed somebody has nothing to hide. The person whose religion lives in soup pots and shared rent and rides to court can talk about God anywhere - not because the argument is clever, but because the evidence is warm and seated at the table.

Spend time behind the veil today. Then take the veil off, and feed someone.

Prayer

God of the mountain and the table, you met Moses in the cloud and met us in a carpenter. May time with you leave its mark on our faces before it leaves a word on our lips.

Take our blessing words and weld them to our hands: that no one we bless goes cold or hungry, and our faith be found alive on its feet.

Blessing

May your face catch light from the hours you spend with God - and may you never need to know it's shining. Someone else will tell you.