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The use of the veil has been recorded throughout history. In Genesis 24:65 we read that Rebecca, when about to meet Isaac, covers her face with a veil. In Exodus 34, after Moses came down from receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, we are told that he routinely covered his face with a veil after speaking to God. His face shone so brightly that the people were afraid to draw near. In an Ancient Near East document from the thirteenth century the use of the veil was designated for use by noble women only. In some religious traditions the veil has been used to cover sacred objects as well. This use may stem from the veil used in the ancient tabernacle that separated the Holy of Holies from the more public areas of the temple (the veil that was ripped in two when Jesus was crucified). Veils have been used by brides, widows, nuns, and even by men in some West Africa cultures. But the purpose of the veil seems to be consistent: to hide something, to cover something up, to keep something hidden, or to protect something of value. When Jesus is born in Bethlehem, Charles Wesley says that he is “veiled in flesh.” The Christ, the promised Messiah, is hidden in plain sight as a helpless newborn baby. He was in disguise! In a collection of Advent readings entitled God with Us, Richard John Neuhaus writes: “Disguise is central to God’s way of dealing with us human beings.” God doesn’t use disguise as a trick or a game, Neuhaus claims, “but because the God who is beyond our knowing makes himself known in the disguise of what we can know” (p. 37). The image Wesley gives us is of God in disguise—but for a good reason. As Charles Hardwick notes: “If God were not veiled in flesh, the divine love for us might go right over our heads.” Could it also be true that Jesus came, veiled in flesh, so that we who are flesh might learn to live that same mission of love—of God, neighbor, and self?
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