The One Where We Talk About Masks

I can already see you squirming. Calm down. I’m going to step on everyone’s toes here. Just settle in.

So, 2020, that was a crazy year, right? We had rumblings of wars, we had profound racial tension, a bunch of crazy ups and downs in the stock market. Kim Jong Un was dead, and then… wasn’t? And oh yeah, covid.

2020 will forever be the year of the mask. (The annoying things we wear on our faces, not the 1994 Jim Carey blockbuster.)

Now maybe you were fortunate enough to have overslept on the night of 12/31/19, and your alarm finally woke you in the wee hours of 1/1/21. You missed the really crazy bits, friend! The bits that still, somehow, have us completely gripped.

Would you believe me if I told you that people actually had opinions about the masks? Okay, maybe thats not that unbelievable. Would you believe me if I told you that people actually had really strong opinions about masks? Like, strong enough to assault each other for wearing them or not. It wasn’t (and isn’t) an uncommon thing. Go on, Google it. I’ll wait.

So, let’s talk about that.

Maybe you all didn’t realize it, but you successfully let the Enemy lure you into what would be a comedically divisive position, were it not so tragic.

Seriously. Somehow (see Romans 3:10, that’s how) we let a conversation as profoundly simple as “masks: do they work?” turn into “If you’re a Republican, no mask for you. If you’re a Democrat you sleep in your mask.”

At this point, it wouldn’t even surprise me to see assertions that Jesus himself would or would not wear a mask.

What’s that? That’s already been done? Of course it has.

The crazy thing is, no one really has all the answers. I’m not going to discuss mask efficacy, so you can stop writing that email now. All I’m saying is, this has been an unprecedented time, requiring unprecedented responses, at unprecedented speeds. In those conditions, information is updated and facts change quickly as we learn new things. Weirdly though, from the start, everyone chose their side and dug in, like the lamest game of Red Rover, ever.

But as believers, it shouldn’t surprise us at all that this conversation has sparked such outrage in a lost and broken world… wait, what? Whats that? You’re telling me that the debate has also raged inside the church? You mean we’ve been spending precious time arguing about a piece of cloth? Time we could have spent clawing and grasping and fighting for the many souls that were lost in that same time? You mean, as we hurled our statistics-grenades and meme-mortars over enemy lines, people were dying, slipping away from us, possibly missing their chance at an eternity of peace and joy in Christ? You mean, because in many places the church drew a hard line in the sand regarding the wearing of masks, countless souls were turned away at the door?

This sounds to me, an awful lot like what Paul warns about in Romans 14.

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

Romans 14:13 (ESV)

Or even a little further ahead in 1 Corinthians.

But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak

1 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV)

The subject here is a little different. (Although, now I’m definitely going to fall asleep tonight dreaming of how a letter from Paul to the church in America in 2020 might look. Spoiler: you wouldn’t like it.)

Paul is basically warning the churches that this thing (in this case, eating a certain way) could prove to be a “stumbling block” to their brothers — something which would prevent relational equity. And in those situations they should practice a bit more care and discernment. If they wanted to reach these people — to connect with them, to minister to them, they would need to be careful of how they presented themselves.

“BUT TUCKER CARLSON TOLD ME MASKS DON’T WORK!”
”BUT DR. FAUCI SAID THAT IF I DON’T WEAR A MASK, HE’LL COME TO MY HOME AND KICK MY NEW PUPPY!”

I know, I know. We all have our reasons (And idols. Yeah, I said it). And the people Paul was addressing had their reasons, too. Biblically, those people Paul was addressing were perfectly justified to carry on their lives, eating exactly as they pleased. But Paul wisely guides them to the understanding that they’re not going to win many souls by screaming about their rights.

And I think we’re faced with pretty much the same scenario today (Although 2020 probably would have been a lot more interesting if we were arguing over food. Here, I’ll start — pineapple does belong on pizza.)

We can’t expect, as the church, to win souls — to bring people from utter darkness into glorious light — if we’re unwilling to briefly lay aside our preferences that are turning lost people away from us.

Jesus called us to be fishers of men. I’ve been into fishing most of my life. I’ve caught a lot of fish. But I can tell you with 100% certainty, that I never caught a single one by wading out into the river and screaming towards the water about my preference for braided 20lb line.

I believe we can do better, Church. I believe we have to do better. For the sake of lost souls. For the sake of the gospel. We owe it to our savior, who bled and died for us. More than that, who bled and died for those souls we’re turning away every day.

We can do better.