As a child, I was both terrified and tantalized by The Wizard of Oz. The Wicked Witch of the West scared me, but I loved Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. I adored Munchkins and loathed flying monkeys. Yet the greatest juxtaposition for me came at the end of the movie when our fearful but undaunted band meets the great and powerful Oz. They are mesmerized as the great Oz blasts fire and bellows thunder—at least until the smallest of the group, Dorothy’s little dog Toto, pulls back the veil on the elderly man working the machinery generating the illusion. “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” roars Oz. But it is too late; the ruse is up. That which was hidden is now seen for what it truly is—a magnificently manufactured lie.
From 2 Corinthians 3:12 forward, the author uses the word veil in several ways: A veil hides the glory of God shining in Moses’ face. The Israelites’ minds are veiled from seeing the power of God behind the covenant. Those who know Christ have unveiled faces.
In today’s verses, the minds of some Corinthians are blinded by “the god of this world.” They are persons for whom the gospel is veiled as they stand transfixed by the powerful and much lesser gods of this world. In our context, those gods include alluring and false promises, fake news, two minutes of Twitter titillation or Facebook fame. We indulge our fantasies and have trouble finding our faith. We yearn for a gospel that is authentic, life-changing, and right. We stand in need of someone to pull back the veil so that we can see what is real and, in so doing, find our best and true selves.