What does wearing a mask say? The CDC tells us to wear masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Others say to ditch the masks, and it’s unfair to pretend everyone has the same reasons why. But those who wear masks in public can do so out of more than blind obedience. I’ll speak for myself on what my mask means when I wear it.
My mask is a symbol of lament in a broken world. Paul tells the church in Rome in Romans 8 that the whole created world has been “subjected to futility, bound to corruption, groaning together in the pains of childbirth.” It’s because of this world’s brokenness that doctors wore masks in surgery to prevent infections, or cancer patients kept a strict social distance from their grandchildren, long before March of this year. When I wear my mask, I lament that diseases exist, spread, and develop into new infectious strains––and I long for Jesus to come and make all things new. I am far from the only one who puts on a mask and says “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1).
My mask is a symbol of my weakness and inability to control the world around me. That’s a bitter pill for any American! Yet acknowledging my weakness turns my gaze to God’s power to control every situation. Remember how God commanded the Hebrew slaves in Egypt to put blood on the doorposts of their homes (Exodus 12)? That didn’t do a lick of good, medically speaking, but God insisted upon that sign for His angel to pass over a house and not kill the firstborn in it. My mask is something like blood on my doorposts. I know I can’t control the world around me, nor can my mask stop all the viruses that I can’t see. But I wear the mask as a sign of trust in God’s power to protect and to save.
My mask is a symbol of being subject to authority. Peter, not Caesar, commands Christians to be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution (1 Peter 2:13). Paul, not Pontius Pilate, tells Christians to be subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1). When the centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant in Luke’s gospel, he did so as a man under authority (Luke 7:8). His trust in our Lord’s absolute power made even Him marvel! I work in a church, a rare environment where the laws of our land prevent governors, legislatures, and even presidents from demanding obedience. Instead, I obey freely: not as a slave to sin, but as a slave to righteousness (Romans 6:18); not under compulsion, but willingly (1 Peter 5:2); even as those who join our church willingly submit themselves to the church’s appointed leaders (Hebrews 13:17).
My mask is a symbol of hospitality to others. Wearing a mask presents a safe space for those who enter into a risk-ridden world, including the church! A popular Facebook picture says, “My backyard is a safe space for you to take off your mask and be real.” Praise God! You are welcome to come to my backyard mask-free as well. Most of my day, in fact, is spent without a mask on. Now put this on the other foot: in the few remaining mask-voluntary spaces we have, what if someone wants to wear a mask … and they’re the only one? Are they marginalized or rejected from the backyard if they choose to wear a mask? Is there pressure to take off the mask or leave? By wearing a mask, even when the governor doesn’t make me, the few people who actually prefer to wear masks can breathe a little easier with me.
My mask is a symbol of humility and a call to humility. Granted, proud people exist both with masks and without them. Perhaps that first sentence strikes you as proud to hear from me! But I dare say most people who put on masks day after day, for work, for chores, or for anything public, would rather not. Mask-wearing is an exercise in saying, “not my will, but Thine be done.” It lets someone else call the tune and lead the dance. While I’m looking forward to when my Packers-fabric mask becomes an artifact from the past instead of a daily necessity, right now it calls me to do what I’d rather not do, to bear up under those who look down on me for it, and to thank God simply for the blessing of living another day.
My mask is not a symbol of fear. Of lament, yes. Of my weakness and God’s power, yes and amen! Wearing the mask grows out of respect for authorities for whom I never cast my vote. It welcomes those who wish to wear the mask; it calls me to be humble and choose something I would not choose for myself.
My reasons for wearing a mask may have surprising parallels to someone else’s reasons to not wear one! But may God give us grace to reflect on why we do wear the mask or not, that we might let the will of God reign in us more perfectly.
kitbogan 