Tell Me About Your Tattoo March 12, 2012
Tattoos. That’s how God wanted His people to rememberthe Exodus: get a tattoo. Sort of. “This ceremony will be like a mark brandedon your hand or your forehead. It is a reminder that the power of the LORD’smighty hand brought us out of Egypt”(Ex 13:16 NLT). The tattoo-like ceremony God had in mind was actually a set ofceremonies: Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the dedication of thefirstborn son. As Israelobserved these ordinances, the exodus would become tattooed on their hand orforehead—a permanent reminder of who they were and what their God had done forthem.
We shouldn’t take this literally, but we should take itseriously. These ordinances were to be so central and so normative in the lifeof Israel,it would be as if the people had marks on their hands and a stamp between theireyes. The result would be that the exodus would always be coming up in theirconversation and in their decision-making. It would be a formative influence intheir family culture. “God redeemed us with a strong hand” would be what ranthrough their minds on a regular basis. After all, this is how tattoos work, right?They are a conversation starter, a constant reminder, a mini-memorial of sorts.You can just imagine how differently Israel’s history would have been,had they worn the exodus like a tattoo as God recommended.
I want to be clear about my main point here. I’m notmaking a statement about tattoos per se. That’s obviously not what Exodus 13 isreally about. It’s about the formative influence of family ritual. Ritual isone of the most powerful teaching tools we have. By their very nature, ritualshave the power to set norms and shape values, and we don’t even have to tellour children how important the ritualistic thing is. They learn thatautomatically, by the fact that it shows up in their lives regularly. It’sfamiliar; thus, it’s formative. It’s normal, which quite literally means, itsets the norm. Its presence and value are not even questioned. Rituals seepinto our heart and mind at a precognitive level—i.e., without any reflection orverbal instruction whatsoever.
So what rituals are central to your life? Family funnight? An open door for hospitality at home? Weekend gatherings with thechurch? TV? What is getting tattooed on your forehead?