So much of life seems to be about “seeing.” What constitutes the contents of our vision? The images that come before our eyes we many times take for “truth” without any consideration that what it is that we are “seeing” is already set within an environment set by personal, cultural and historical elements that “identify” and name these images along prescribed lines of familiarity. In other words, everything we “see” is shaped by our world. The realization of this, if we allow ourselves the realization, can be unsettling and perhaps even a bit scary. When we consider the possibility that “what” we see is in a way determined by a certain “how” we see from the start (e.g., society, religion, politics, etc.), it may seem that there is now an uncertainty or even seeming relativity about things that we normally take for granted as indeed given and true.

So, what would it take to begin to “see” in a way that recognizes the forces of society, culture, religion, etc. that shape “how” we see and that at the same time provides an openness or freedom that will permit something unknown or new and different to come before our eyes?   There would be a certain vulnerability and directness in this way of seeing. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (2 COR 3: 15–4:1, 3-6), he refers to this already-set-framework through which we see life – and in particular here, God – as a “veil”:

“Brothers and sisters:…a veil lies over the hearts of the children of Israel, but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

The veil of our cultural, religious, political, and personal “framework” determines how we “see” everything. Paul seems to be pointing out that these “veils” also determine how we “see” God. Unconsciously perhaps, more times than not, we “see” God with the “eyes” of our own interests, concerns, prejudices, and biases and not necessarily as God is in loving mystery. Once we have so to speak “created” God in our own image and then consciously or unconsciously strive to keep God in that image, we leave very little room for surprises, challenges, growth and indeed the possibility for a real authentic encounter with God. Ultimately, this means that we also deprive ourselves of authentic interactions with each other.

There is a large degree of un-freedom here – imprisonment – when we stay behind this “veiled” way of seeing. The tendency is to not look directly in the “eyes” of life as it comes to us. We will not allow ourselves to look at each other directly. By holding onto our “veiled” sight we clutch those things that we think can free us. We end up “diverting our eyes” by moralizing our actions many times at the expense of the dignity of human relationship. Jesus describes to his disciples (MT 5:20-26) the liability involved with this kind of desperate grasping:

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment…

if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”

When we see the things that we do or do not do in terms of what makes us “righteous,” we end up many times cutting everyone else out. Jesus seems to be saying here over and over again that “righteousness” has much more to do with relationship than anything else. Relationship is recognized and embraced in “how” we see each other as we are, without “veils.” If we regard each other as “opponents on the way to court” rather than fellow companions on the life journey surely we will be “thrown into prison” without release, because Love as compassion and reconciliation is the only face of Freedom that can release us.

When we refuse to look “with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord,” we are, as Paul reminds the Corinthians and us, depriving each other of what can transform us “into the same image from glory to glory.” If we can learn to look directly into the “eyes” of God in our lives through the people we meet and encounter, we can be transformed in a way that the “veil” of biases is drawn back or removed (as Paul says) and we have the opportunity to really encounter each other in an engaging and connecting way that IS the Spirit of Freedom. Paul describes what this Freedom “does”:

For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ.

Freedom then lifts itself out of the confines of a “do it my way for my own interests” setting and into a flowing and effulgent spaciousness that does “let light shine out of darkness.” God resurrects us by holding our gaze and moving us in mystery and love towards the “kingdom.” This is the new and strangeness of Life that challenges the blindness or diverted sight caused by the veil and simultaneously transforms our sight. When we can look into each other’s eyes, the transforming light in that interaction shines out in the darkness of the “veil” and then we behold the face of Christ.

It takes practice to “see” without “veils,” and in fact it is a life-long task. There are many ways to “clarify” our sight, to clean the lenses of our perception –prayer, meditation, service, justice, community action – the list goes on and on regarding any practice that we do to authentically challenge us to recognize and then move beyond the “veils” that keep us from communion in Christ. The exciting and consoling prospect of this life-long project is precisely the enduring nature of Freedom in the shining Light of Christ’s precious face as we walk through our days together building human relationships that are in Christ eternal.

Peace

Thomas