Thinking back five years, when Covid 19 was taking hold in this country, our first defence, since there was no vaccine, was to put on our masks. They were in short supply and the protective barrier they gave us also blocked out vital communication. We couldn’t hear clearly what people were saying to us especially as we couldn’t get visual clues from the movement of their lips. We studied people’s eyes more.
When people are up to no good, they hide behind masks, seeking to conceal their identity, to protect themselves from being found out. Scared of the consequences. Like Adam and Eve, ashamed of their actions.
The ‘second Adam’, Jesus, came wearing no mask – honest and open. Facing suffering head on – no barriers. We see Him praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, baring all His anxieties at the thought of what was to come. Accepting the reality. Defiantly and courageously setting His unmasked face towards the cross for us. So that when we meet God, and we have nothing to hide behind, we’ll have no hidden zone, we can face God only because Jesus has restored us through the forgiveness we can have through His death. Although naked and exposed before Him, the barrier of sin which was preventing our relationship has been removed once and forever.
“We come to You with no pretence, yet nourished by Your grace.
We come as people needing love within this time and place.
We come confessing all we are, yet all we have to give.
We ask for your renewing power to teach us how to live.” – Andrew Pratt