Following the prevalence of the new Omicron variant on the land of the free and brave, the lower death rate of Omicron, and the depressing report that even vaccinated and infected individuals may be infected by the new variant again, there is a growing number among us that start to take their masks off and enjoy the liberty that the nation has granted them.
Yet from history, we should learn, from the Crusades to the Indulgence, from the Thirty Years War to the American Indian Wars, that Christians, under their original sin and secular influences, are prone to digress from the teaching of our Lord and instead lift up Satan. Yet all of us, because of our love of our savior Jesus Christ, do not want to sin more. We shall always go back to the Bible and see Jesus’ teaching and Jesus’ action, as He said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words.” (John 14:23).
Of Duty
American Culture is prone to despise authority, but as Christians, we should not let our culture confuse us to the extent that leads us away from God’s words. Paul wrote, “let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordains of God,” (Romans 13:1).
Although we should not obey authority on earth that contradicts the teaching from our Lord, (as Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters”), when it comes to other authorities that do not contradict with the teaching of the Bible, it is well for us to obey the authority on earth, to serve our God in heaven.
And since our college certainly is an authority to us, the students, and since this authority has not been derived directly from God, it is then the question of whether the authority of asking us to properly wear a mask in the classroom and in the chapel is a violation of God’s teaching.
In Matthew Chapter 4 when our Lord is tempted by the devil, Jesus rebuked the devil, saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus was bearing discomfort just as many of us are uncomfortable when the mask covers both our mouth and nose. Jesus’s discomfort from flesh out of starvation might be a lot greater than our discomfort from the mask, yet Jesus recognized that life is not merely biological, but what is much more important is the true life that flows out from His words. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors and our enemies, and therefore I shall advocate that wearing a mask will be a blessing to both of your neighbors and your enemies.
Of Blessing
Although our community is full of young adults and medical support that makes it unlikely that any students will die from this epidemic, this is inadequate reason to believe that there aren’t blessings that are able to give our neighbors and enemies with our masks.
One characteristic of the COVID-19 virus is that when one is infected, one can pass the disease to others even if the symptoms haven’t revealed themselves. Therefore, it’s impossible to detect COVID before it is passed to another person. This causes great danger to the family members of people around someone if they do not wear a mask while having interactions with their friends. One could infect his friend before one appears to have any symptoms, and one’s friend may infect his grandfather without any revealing symptoms.
This may also happen to our elderly professors. No matter if you love your professors and your friend’s family, or hate them, as Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, please wear a mask even when you are with your young and healthy friends.
Quarantine is a torment. Wearing a mask can reduce the chance of your friends and enemies being quarantined, and it also reduces the chance for you to be quarantined. If you really hate the feeling of not going anywhere, not meeting any friends in person, and only attending class through virtual means, please wear a mask. Jesus teaches us, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” (Matthew 22:39).
Being infected also costs once’s society resources to be spent on the individual until the individual is cured. Students need to spend time sending one food after one is quarantined, while they could spend this time with their friends or studying. Professors need to prepare extra work to improve virtual students’ class experience, while professors could use this time to teach the class better as a whole if no one is infected. The covid tests need to check whether one is recovered and could be sent to places with poor medical supplies. Although everyone in the community is willing to help those infected, it is nevertheless a proper blessing from one to one’s community by wearing a mask and increasing the probability of preventing getting infected in the first place.
Jesus revealed the perfect law to us, and He fulfilled the law perfectly. We are two thousand years after Jesus’ birth by Mary, and there are no places where Jesus explicitly demonstrates to us how to act in an era of Coronavirus. But God has not altered, and the law has not altered, it is proper for us, just as we deduce on other matters, deduce that Jesus would wear a mask under the covid era. And since Romans 13 taught, “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14), and Jesus taught us that, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me,” (Luke 9:23), please wear masks properly, covering nose and mouth in classrooms, chapel room, priesthill, and whenever the authority commands us to do so.