Who Was That Unmasked Man?

Most of us have grown accustomed to utilizing masks to prevent the spread of this crazy and careless Covid19 virus. We have seen the science and understand that vaccines and masking really do the job in bringing down those morbid statistics. And if more of us would live by these gracious truths, we could save more of us from death.

But the proverbial fly has landed in this ointment of cure. The devil in disguise this time is the politics of misinformation. I try to be considerate of others and wear my mask in most public buildings like the post office or grocery store, and I appreciate those who make an effort to do the same for the greater good of the whole community. This week, however, there was a fellow in the frozen food aisle without a mask, and he was wearing a loaded revolver holstered under his arm. Could have been worse; he could have been smoking and drinking posing even more lethal threats to our safety because of his own dear God-given freedoms.

Masks are also associated with the art of masquerading. The New Webster’s Dictionary & Thesaurus of the English Language define “masquerading” as “to wear a disguise, to put on a false outward show.” Thus, the familiar “masquerade ball” is an event where the participants all wear masks, such as became a popular scene in the infamous musical, “Phantom of the Opera.” For practical meaning, it alludes to “a false show for pretense or concealment of the truth”. While masquerading might be fun recreationally, it becomes a serious problem when it enters the political or spiritual realms. The Bible describes those who spiritually masquerade.

The Apostle Paul had his problems with those want-to-be-Christian Greeks in Corinth. Lots of wolves around there wearing all sorts of masks and pulling lots of sheep wool over your eyes. So in chapter eleven of Two Corinthians, Paul warns them: for such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 

Flip Wilson was one of the great television comedians from the 1970’s, and the character of Geraldine Jones still lingers with one of her favorite phrases: “the Devil made me do it.” I found that a very useful excuse on several occasions. The Apostle Paul promptly brings down the curtain on such an act by letting us know that even Satan masquerades as an angel. As Martin Luther puts it in that great hymn of his: And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed God’s truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.

Inherent in all of this is the idea of a drama between good and evil, truth and lies. As the Bard reminds us: All the world’s a stage,/ And all the men and women merely players;/ They have their exits and their entrances… He also exclaims through Polonius in Hamlet: This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day,/ Thou canst not then be false to any man. If only such wisdom would undergird our reality in these days, and if the truth be known, we would once again discover a balm in Gilead that would make the wounded whole and cure the soul of our sick nation.