To wear or not to wear a facemask, that is the question. This morning I’m having some tests at the hospital, routine follow-ups to a surgery some years ago, and I’ll trust the doctor’s interpretation of the results. In the same way, Diane and I wear masks because that’s what the medical community recommends. Obviously, the Bible doesn’t speak directly to facemasks, but it should shape our conduct.
Hyper-individualism is a hallmark of America. Taken to extremes, individualism is raw, working against the common well-being. “Individualism tends to weaken mediating power centers that stand between the individual and the nation as a whole—from families to local communities (including local governments), (and) religious institutions….” (Yuval Levin, The Fractured Republic, 99-100). A consequence of hyper-individualism is that we think we own the truth. “Barna sees people turning inward for truth: a majority of Americans (57%) and even 41% of practicing Christians say the only truth is ‘what is right for your life or works best for you.’” Theologically this hyper-individualism is called incurvatus in se, man turned in on himself. Each person thinks and acts as if he or she is God.
Followers of the Suffering Servant see individualism differently. “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). That general principle from our Lord applies to daily conducts. Hypotasso is a New Testament Greek word that can be translated “submit,” “subordinate yourself,” “be subject to,” and the like. Literally, rank yourself below others, be a servant as Jesus says. In my favorite epistle, 1 Peter, this is applied to how we think about government, bosses, marriage, and to all people we encounter. “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human creature” (1 Peter 2:13).
In the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, “Despite the civic spirit and generalized public support for mask wearing, passing local mask ordinances was ‘frequently a contention affair.’ Debates that sound familiar raged in city councils in Los Angeles and Portland, both of which rejected mask orders.” San Francisco even had an Anti-Mask League! (Josh Jones, Open Culture). Americans may be rampant individualists but Christians less so. We go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, the masked cheek, for the sake of others.
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