It's a strange scene going on at the top of the mountain. Moses wants assurance God will go with Him as the nation of Israel takes a new step in their lives. So he makes a request. "Show me your glory. I'll know that all is well, if you show me your glory." God says, "Sure, I'll show you my goodness, but you can't see me in all my glory or it will destroy you. So, I'll tell you what I will do. I'll make all my goodness pass by you...but...you're not going to see it. First, I want you to go in this little cut in the rocks. Next, I'm going to hide your eyes. And after I have passed by, I'll let you see the lingering effects. I'll let you see my backside."

So there it is. Moses is tucked into a crack in the rocks, a glorious scene is happening, probably a blindingly bright light and Moses is prevented from seeing it. Then God pulls away His hand, and Moses sees the afterglow. Moses is prevented from seeing the full strength glory. We are told why: to witness the Lord in all of His glory is certain death. A sinner couldn't handle it. At the very least, his heart would probably give out. Maybe his mind would snap. In His mercy, though, God keeps Moses from seeing it. We'll see a glimpse of that glory--not quite full strength--next week when we celebrate the Transfiguration. We'll also see the impact it has on sinful men.

But for now, doesn't this remind you of Christmas? It doesn't? It should. God hides His glory. Isaiah said, "Surely, you are a God who hides Himself." Does it look like God in the manger? No, not at all. This isn't the glory you expect from the Almighty God. The Almighty God in all of His glory in a little baby. It doesn't look like glory at all. Glory hidden in the flesh of an infant. Glory hidden in the flesh of a rejected man. Glory hidden in the flesh of a dying man. It's always there. It never shows.

Still happening. The glory remains hidden. His flesh is brought to us. He gives us His flesh in His Word and in the Sacraments. But it is still hidden.

One of the hymns we will sing during the distribution is "Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face." Interesting, considering the Lord said to Moses, "No one can see my face and live." But this communion at the rail is as close as it gets. We are not seeing His actual face, but we can't get any closer without Him putting us in danger. So, we get the backside. We say it's face to face, but it's only because we can't get any closer.

Yes, this is what you have here. You come to worship and the Almighty God is here to bless you. But it just don't feel like it. Surely if this was happening, we would feel this thrill. It couldn't be avoided. But it's not there. Water in a shallow dish, which came out of the sink only 20 minutes earlier, becomes water of life, eternal life. Bread and wine give us Christ's actual flesh and blood. A sinful man speaks words of absolution that only God has a right to say. He stands in the pulpit and speaks for God. If this is not backside, what is?

And then we see what the Lord had said through Paul in our Epistle lesson just last week. "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.

All this is weak and foolish, low and despised. If there was a thrill, the electricity, it would not be despised. But He chooses these things to shame those who think they know God, and it really works out shaming them, because they miss what is happening here.

Meanwhile He keeps showing the glory, we can see, by showing mercy and being gracious. This was His response to Moses' request to see His glory. He says, "I'll make my goodness pass before you; I will proclaim my name. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."

We might be tempted to say, "Uh, God, focus. Moses just wanted to see your glory. Why are you going on about your name and being gracious and showing mercy?" The answer would be, because this is His glory. His glory is in proclaiming His name, giving us His name in our baptism, in being gracious and showing mercy, especially in the Divine Service.

And to whom does He do that? Us. His Church. His beloved, beautiful bride, whom He has made beautiful by His own righteousness. His glory is to have mercy on His bride, to make her beautiful, spotless without any stain or wrinkle or blemish, to serve her, to see to it she has all she needs. His commitment to do that for His bride comes through in His choice for where He does His very first public miracle--at a wedding.

At a wedding. What a powerful way of telling the world who Jesus is. In the Old Testament, especially in her later days the nation of the Israelites is compared to a woman the Lord woos. It's like He is courting her. I think I'm showing my age, but to say He is dating her or taking her out is too crass. No, He expresses His love to her, because she is to be His bride. She's a tramp, though. Running off after other gods. The slang words come to mind, but you know what I mean. Still, He keeps taking her back. He will not give up.

Poor Hosea was an interesting case which demonstrates exactly this. He was a prophet who was told to marry a woman he knew was going to cheat on him. In fact, she already had a bad reputation. He marries her. Surprise; surprise. She runs off. He buys her back. She wants to be back and then she runs off again. Not all that different from us, huh? We want the Lord to want us back, but we run off all the time. For Jesus' sake He welcomes us back.

Now, this marriage idea continues into the New Testament. In fact, the Lord of the Old Testament has now taken on flesh. And so, so Israel knows who He is, His very first miracle is at a wedding. Cool? Huh? It's His way of saying, "The courtship is still on. We're still an item."

It's more than this, though, because He instituted marriage. He created it. He wouldn't promise to bless marriage if it wasn't an important deal. Marriage and family are the building blocks of our society. It's the setting for raising children; passing on the parent's values, and extremely critical but often overlooked, teaching the faith. Here is where the children learn how to repent, how to examine themselves, that they would see their need for repentance, and where they learn, through their freedom in the Gospel, their callings so they will see how they are to serve their neighbor.

Marriage, as an institution, though, has been taking some huge hits. The sexual revolution of the 60's has changed so much. That's now about 50 years ago, but the ball it started seems to be getting faster and faster. Sex merely as recreation is widely accepted and premarital sex expected. Moving in together is seen as the natural progression of courtship. It's quite often seen as the last step before engagement, the sign the relationship is going well. And this is even among people in the church. God has not changed a single word about the boundaries He has placed around sex, saying that it is to be only between those who are married to each other, but we act like He has.

Furthermore, homosexual marriage as a legitimate arrangement has been shoved down our throats, and once we get used to it, nothing will be sacred--polygamy or polyamory (which is multiple partners at the same time, but not with marriage), incest, bestiality and whatever else our sick, twisted minds can imagine. If you think I'm getting hysterical, try being historical and look at Leviticus to see how depraved the people of Canaan had become.

But we got here, where we are now, due our changed view of marriage. Even though it is supposed to be permanent--till death do us part--and the Creator was very clear about it, we haven't treated it that way. Too often, we have ignored the Lord's words about it, and so our ability to say, "God disapproves of homosexual marriage" has been compromised. How can we say God is against this, when we have been ignoring what He says about heterosexual marriage?

I'm sure you could see why I would say God's chosen means of giving grace are the backside of His glory, but with me preaching it is even more obvious. How can you ignore the fact that I am one of those who is going through a divorce? I disapprove of divorce and then it happens to me. How much more hypocritical can I be? Where it takes faith to believe the Lord's words that He is actually working through these weak looking things, that He is actually giving us His grace through these means, it would seem to take even more to believe God is speaking through me, condemning divorce and broken marriages, when I am guilty of it. Wouldn't it?

But then, I am not your pastor because I am sinless. I am your pastor because God has called me to be your pastor. If I couldn't preach against sin until I was free from it then I would never be able to preach.

But for me to avoid talking about divorce for fear it would look hypocritical, would be to cheat you. It would be unfair that I would avoid such an important topic simply because it made me feel uncomfortable. As God's called man, I want to speak for Him so that He may defend marriage and present the case so that no one would consider divorce a good option.

It's not like it's the unforgivable sin--it never was--but we dare not make excuses for it. If we have done it ourselves, or have a child who has gone through divorce, it is foolish to try to defend it. When we do, we deny our need for forgiveness. That's the worst thing we could do. For whatever is our part, we want to take responsibility so we can hear forgiveness spoken to us.

This goes for any sin. To defend our sin is to prevent Christ from serving His bride and showing His glory. How can He be gracious or show mercy when we act like we don't need it? We prevent Him from showing His glory, when we act like we have no sin to be forgiven, or when we hold back certain sins, protecting them as though they needed no forgiveness.

Sometimes we never come around to acknowledging some of our sins as sin. We think that if time passes, then we would no longer have to deal with them. We've papered over them, and think they are gone, acting like they are forgiven when we have never really acknowledged them. And yet, the Holy Spirit convicts us with the guilt, and may have even now. This is His glory, to forgive. To say to us, "You are forgiven for Jesus' sake. He has paid the price, and that sin is no longer held against you. It was held against Him and He has paid the penalty.

This is how He serves you. This is His glory. It may seem to be an unfortunate thing that He shows His glory through these means of grace, His Word and the sacraments, and not in some big and bold way that is absolutely unmistakable, but this is not only for your service but for your protection. It may seem even more unfortunate, that the weak things seem even weaker, particularly the weakness of God's called servant to you, but God has chosen to work through the foolish and the weak, the low and despised. And you are definitely seeing that.

AMEN