Unmasked
Am I the only one to get confused when wearing a mask? During the pandemic I had my face mask on when I went for a cup of coffee. I tried to pay by using my phone, but it would not process. What was the problem? My phone’s security works by facial recognition and the mask obscured my face! I felt flustered and peered intently at the phone, thinking it would click in. People in the socially distanced line behind me were snickering as they watched, and I too began to laugh.
Masks have a fascinating history and were worn for all sorts of reasons, and they still are. I remember watching a movie that featured a masquerade, a party where people wore elaborate masks to conceal who they were. The idea goes back to the theatres of ancient Greece and elsewhere, where actors would don a mask to get into character. Typically, they’d use a mask that featured a recognizable attribute of the role they were playing.
A friend of mine, who knew I was a Christian, asked me once about God. What is he like? Would he please come out from behind his mask and identify himself? My friend was being sarcastic, but I had an answer, based on Colossians 1:15, where we read that Jesus ‘is the image of the invisible God’(ESV). Jesus came, I said to him, to show us who God is, to reveal how God is love.
It’s something worth noting. If we want to know what God is like, how he thinks and how he cares for us, we look to the life of Jesus.
Jesus is God unmasked.
Prayer
Thank you, Father, for revealing yourself through your Son, Jesus Christ, and help me please to grow more and more into his image. In his name, Amen.
Study by James Henderson
First published on 16 September 2020 in GCI Update Devotionals https://update.gci.org
About the writer:
James Henderson is a minister in Grace Communion International, and is the retired GCI perintendent of Europe.
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