Masks
Sermon
Sermons On The Gospel Readings
Series II, Cycle A
Object:
There are going to be a lot of people running around out there with masks on this week. People pretending to be something they're not -- or maybe trying on something that in part they are, or want to be. (put on mask)1
Masks are interesting things. We all wear them, you know, and not just on Halloween. We put on the brave smiling mask when our hearts are breaking. We put on a gruff mask to keep people at a distance. We put on a wild and crazy mask to get attention or to avoid responsibility. We put on an "expert" mask to gain respect or to earn a living. Most of us have many masks.
Masks can be a means of survival for us, a way of hiding, perhaps, in a world that seems hostile. I have heard gay people talk about having to put on a mask, or perhaps a whole lion suit, to disguise their real identity so that they can be accepted enough to function in their daily work. Most of us do not have to hide in such an extreme way, but all of us hide at least occasionally. Sometimes that is a positive thing. Counselors and pastors must set aside, or mask off, their own problems while they are supporting someone else through a crisis.
Sometimes masks are not so benign. The wolf in sheep's clothing is a menace to all who fail to see through the disguise, and we have all had our fill of corrupt business and political leaders who hide behind a filibuster or the letter of the law.
Most often, however, masks are just part of living in society. They keep us from overwhelming each other with our undigested lives. As we all know, "How are you?" is not always an invitation to tell the whole truth! Masks allow us some privacy; they hide or screen off things that should not momentarily be on view.
Masks can hide, but they can also display. A mask can be a way of exploring another side of ourselves, or of bringing something deep within to light.2 Sometimes when we're on vacation we try on a different side of ourselves -- the cautious accountant goes skydiving, the shy child goes to camp and starts enthralling cabin mates with tall tales, and the white-collar worker tries life at a dude ranch, while the busy life-of-the-party person takes a silent retreat. For some people, getting drunk may be a kind of party mask, giving them the freedom to try on a different approach to social relations. In that case, the alcoholic mask tries both to hide shyness and to bring out a more daring and connected personality. Masks can conceal, or they can reveal; often they do a bit of both at once.
What masks do you wear day to day? (pause) What masks do you wear here at church? (pause) Are there sides of yourself that you feel you can't show here? (pause) Are there sides of yourself that you feel you can't show anyone? (pause) What do you hide behind, and when, and why? (pause) What facets of yourself are you masking off from view? (pause) What masks do you have, and why do you wear them?
When Jesus watched some of the Pharisees in action, they reminded him of the masked actors at the Roman theaters in the big town of Caesarea. So that's what he called them -- hupokritai -- hypocrites, as we say in English. The word actually means masked actors. Jesus says the Pharisees are like actors wearing their masks: they're playing a role, they're hiding as much as they show. They're not the real thing.
Now, what they are acting out, the things they represent, are valuable and important, and Jesus is the first to acknowledge that. These religious leaders, he says, are the heirs of Moses, fulfilling that great teacher's role of interpreting God to the people. Listen to them. What they are teaching is correct. But it should go more than mask-deep. If it's just a mask, something's wrong. (remove mask) Boy, it's good to get that off!
You know, if we just put on our religion -- or any other aspect of our personality -- if we are just a "mask" of piety or propriety or vitality or anything else, it soon becomes evident -- to others if not to ourselves. People will eventually see that we are actors -- portraying a wonderful and valuable thing, perhaps, but if at root we are unchanged by it, then we become hypocrites who hide as much as we reveal. When the face we present to life is just a mask, it narrows our vision and stifles our breathing, and it keeps others from seeing and knowing us as we are. So it's a relief to us and to others when we take it off.
Did you ever think that people might like you better without the mask? Now that's a scary thought. We're often afraid to put our real selves on display, because if people reject a mask that we wear, they're not really rejecting us, but if we don't wear a mask and we get rejected, then that hurts. So often we put the mask on in advance, and we don't give people a chance to reject the real thing. But people can see that mask for what it is, they sense it's not quite the real thing, and then they suspect that you can't really be trusted. The tragedy is that by then, we often don't know how to get the mask off.
It's not that our masks are necessarily bad. They may show and tell valuable things, and help us to fill important roles, as Jesus remarked about the Pharisees. But if what we present is only a mask, it's completely inadequate, and in some ways it's a lie, for it does not define us in our deepest and truest selves. And it is so easy to start out just by putting on a mask to cover up a bit of momentary untidiness, but then as we get busy, or as we get to liking the ways people respond to the mask, we begin to let more and more distance creep in between the mask and the reality, until we don't know how to pull them back together -- maybe we even lose track of the fact that we're wearing a mask -- and the day comes when the face looks great but the reality behind it is full of holes, and we're nothing more than a hypocrite, an actor, an emptiness behind a mask.
That so often happens in the church. We see what wonderful things God calls us to, and we try to live up to them, but we don't always manage it; and it becomes tempting to whitewash a little. You know, fake it 'til you make it, dress the part until you grow into it, put on the mask to help you get into the act. It is, after all, how we grow into things -- by trying them on, by acting "as if." There can be such a fine line between a mask that draws something out in us and a mask that conceals what we're ashamed to own. Sometimes we put that mask on because of the intolerance of others: if we can't be good, we'll at least try to look good, because it saves a lot of friction. I think that for leaders this has a special edge. We want to believe in those high ideals, and so we preach them, and we do what we can to model them outwardly at least. Sometimes it just gets too painful to ask about what's going on inwardly, and we mask it off, maybe even from ourselves, until we're nothing more than a hypocrite, an actor, an emptiness behind a mask.
Paul, in his letter to the church at Thessalonika, demonstrates that it doesn't have to be that way. The face he presented there, to the Thessalonian congregation, was bone-deep. The whole of his life and relationships reflected what was in his heart (1 Thessalonians 2:9-10). He dared to live in the kind of intimacy and transparency with his congregation that allowed them to see who he really was all the way through.
The thing is, though, that is what eventually happens whether we intend it or not. Sooner or later, our real character becomes apparent, mask or no mask -- just as we can recognize our close friends even in costume, or our children in hockey gear. We recognize the whole build and manner of moving, and are not fooled by the mask.
Jesus was not fooled by the Pharisees; and Paul knew that the congregation in Thessalonika would sooner or later see to the core of him. I wasn't wearing any mask, he says; rather, in a way, I became a mask: a mask for God, a face for the invisible God to present visibly to the world. Paul's life became a way of showing not only the truth of what was in Paul, but the deeper truth of what was beyond Paul, beneath and sustaining Paul, the reality of Paul's God.
The apostle says, "I was like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you [into the life of God's realm]" (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 cf). God's own fatherly care of him shone through into Paul's fatherly care of this new congregation, enabling them, as he says, to receive the message he brought as God's own word, and not merely as human posturing. So the Thessalonians saw, not a masked actor evangelist, but the very light of God shining through the whole of Paul's speech and living.
We are all called and invited into such a transformation. Not a transformation to cover ourselves up with this or that or the other mask, but to dare to remove our masks, to expose our deepest selves to the presence of God and the needs of our neighbors. And so, to become whole-person masks of God in this world, showing and telling, through the nuances of our daily living, what God is about in the world.
We are the one gospel our neighbors are guaranteed to read. Amen.
____________
1. Wear a Halloween mask for the first part of the message. The nature of the mask is unimportant: any mask that allows reasonably clear vision and speech, and does not portray anything upsetting or offensive, is suitable. The idea of wearing the mask, and some of the development of the mask theme, is from Dawne Taylor's meditation on this subject in Aha!!! volume 9 #1 (October to December 1999), p. 27.
2. From Jan Bush in Marks of the Maker, quoted in Aha!!! (Ibid, p. 28): "Masks are not meant to hide behind, but to reveal a sacred part of you."
Masks are interesting things. We all wear them, you know, and not just on Halloween. We put on the brave smiling mask when our hearts are breaking. We put on a gruff mask to keep people at a distance. We put on a wild and crazy mask to get attention or to avoid responsibility. We put on an "expert" mask to gain respect or to earn a living. Most of us have many masks.
Masks can be a means of survival for us, a way of hiding, perhaps, in a world that seems hostile. I have heard gay people talk about having to put on a mask, or perhaps a whole lion suit, to disguise their real identity so that they can be accepted enough to function in their daily work. Most of us do not have to hide in such an extreme way, but all of us hide at least occasionally. Sometimes that is a positive thing. Counselors and pastors must set aside, or mask off, their own problems while they are supporting someone else through a crisis.
Sometimes masks are not so benign. The wolf in sheep's clothing is a menace to all who fail to see through the disguise, and we have all had our fill of corrupt business and political leaders who hide behind a filibuster or the letter of the law.
Most often, however, masks are just part of living in society. They keep us from overwhelming each other with our undigested lives. As we all know, "How are you?" is not always an invitation to tell the whole truth! Masks allow us some privacy; they hide or screen off things that should not momentarily be on view.
Masks can hide, but they can also display. A mask can be a way of exploring another side of ourselves, or of bringing something deep within to light.2 Sometimes when we're on vacation we try on a different side of ourselves -- the cautious accountant goes skydiving, the shy child goes to camp and starts enthralling cabin mates with tall tales, and the white-collar worker tries life at a dude ranch, while the busy life-of-the-party person takes a silent retreat. For some people, getting drunk may be a kind of party mask, giving them the freedom to try on a different approach to social relations. In that case, the alcoholic mask tries both to hide shyness and to bring out a more daring and connected personality. Masks can conceal, or they can reveal; often they do a bit of both at once.
What masks do you wear day to day? (pause) What masks do you wear here at church? (pause) Are there sides of yourself that you feel you can't show here? (pause) Are there sides of yourself that you feel you can't show anyone? (pause) What do you hide behind, and when, and why? (pause) What facets of yourself are you masking off from view? (pause) What masks do you have, and why do you wear them?
When Jesus watched some of the Pharisees in action, they reminded him of the masked actors at the Roman theaters in the big town of Caesarea. So that's what he called them -- hupokritai -- hypocrites, as we say in English. The word actually means masked actors. Jesus says the Pharisees are like actors wearing their masks: they're playing a role, they're hiding as much as they show. They're not the real thing.
Now, what they are acting out, the things they represent, are valuable and important, and Jesus is the first to acknowledge that. These religious leaders, he says, are the heirs of Moses, fulfilling that great teacher's role of interpreting God to the people. Listen to them. What they are teaching is correct. But it should go more than mask-deep. If it's just a mask, something's wrong. (remove mask) Boy, it's good to get that off!
You know, if we just put on our religion -- or any other aspect of our personality -- if we are just a "mask" of piety or propriety or vitality or anything else, it soon becomes evident -- to others if not to ourselves. People will eventually see that we are actors -- portraying a wonderful and valuable thing, perhaps, but if at root we are unchanged by it, then we become hypocrites who hide as much as we reveal. When the face we present to life is just a mask, it narrows our vision and stifles our breathing, and it keeps others from seeing and knowing us as we are. So it's a relief to us and to others when we take it off.
Did you ever think that people might like you better without the mask? Now that's a scary thought. We're often afraid to put our real selves on display, because if people reject a mask that we wear, they're not really rejecting us, but if we don't wear a mask and we get rejected, then that hurts. So often we put the mask on in advance, and we don't give people a chance to reject the real thing. But people can see that mask for what it is, they sense it's not quite the real thing, and then they suspect that you can't really be trusted. The tragedy is that by then, we often don't know how to get the mask off.
It's not that our masks are necessarily bad. They may show and tell valuable things, and help us to fill important roles, as Jesus remarked about the Pharisees. But if what we present is only a mask, it's completely inadequate, and in some ways it's a lie, for it does not define us in our deepest and truest selves. And it is so easy to start out just by putting on a mask to cover up a bit of momentary untidiness, but then as we get busy, or as we get to liking the ways people respond to the mask, we begin to let more and more distance creep in between the mask and the reality, until we don't know how to pull them back together -- maybe we even lose track of the fact that we're wearing a mask -- and the day comes when the face looks great but the reality behind it is full of holes, and we're nothing more than a hypocrite, an actor, an emptiness behind a mask.
That so often happens in the church. We see what wonderful things God calls us to, and we try to live up to them, but we don't always manage it; and it becomes tempting to whitewash a little. You know, fake it 'til you make it, dress the part until you grow into it, put on the mask to help you get into the act. It is, after all, how we grow into things -- by trying them on, by acting "as if." There can be such a fine line between a mask that draws something out in us and a mask that conceals what we're ashamed to own. Sometimes we put that mask on because of the intolerance of others: if we can't be good, we'll at least try to look good, because it saves a lot of friction. I think that for leaders this has a special edge. We want to believe in those high ideals, and so we preach them, and we do what we can to model them outwardly at least. Sometimes it just gets too painful to ask about what's going on inwardly, and we mask it off, maybe even from ourselves, until we're nothing more than a hypocrite, an actor, an emptiness behind a mask.
Paul, in his letter to the church at Thessalonika, demonstrates that it doesn't have to be that way. The face he presented there, to the Thessalonian congregation, was bone-deep. The whole of his life and relationships reflected what was in his heart (1 Thessalonians 2:9-10). He dared to live in the kind of intimacy and transparency with his congregation that allowed them to see who he really was all the way through.
The thing is, though, that is what eventually happens whether we intend it or not. Sooner or later, our real character becomes apparent, mask or no mask -- just as we can recognize our close friends even in costume, or our children in hockey gear. We recognize the whole build and manner of moving, and are not fooled by the mask.
Jesus was not fooled by the Pharisees; and Paul knew that the congregation in Thessalonika would sooner or later see to the core of him. I wasn't wearing any mask, he says; rather, in a way, I became a mask: a mask for God, a face for the invisible God to present visibly to the world. Paul's life became a way of showing not only the truth of what was in Paul, but the deeper truth of what was beyond Paul, beneath and sustaining Paul, the reality of Paul's God.
The apostle says, "I was like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you [into the life of God's realm]" (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 cf). God's own fatherly care of him shone through into Paul's fatherly care of this new congregation, enabling them, as he says, to receive the message he brought as God's own word, and not merely as human posturing. So the Thessalonians saw, not a masked actor evangelist, but the very light of God shining through the whole of Paul's speech and living.
We are all called and invited into such a transformation. Not a transformation to cover ourselves up with this or that or the other mask, but to dare to remove our masks, to expose our deepest selves to the presence of God and the needs of our neighbors. And so, to become whole-person masks of God in this world, showing and telling, through the nuances of our daily living, what God is about in the world.
We are the one gospel our neighbors are guaranteed to read. Amen.
____________
1. Wear a Halloween mask for the first part of the message. The nature of the mask is unimportant: any mask that allows reasonably clear vision and speech, and does not portray anything upsetting or offensive, is suitable. The idea of wearing the mask, and some of the development of the mask theme, is from Dawne Taylor's meditation on this subject in Aha!!! volume 9 #1 (October to December 1999), p. 27.
2. From Jan Bush in Marks of the Maker, quoted in Aha!!! (Ibid, p. 28): "Masks are not meant to hide behind, but to reveal a sacred part of you."
