Tribute Tattoo

The headline caught my eye and the eerie nature of it evoked an unsettled feeling but a genuine curiosity. A British tattoo artist was designing a tattoo to memorialize his young son who passed away from a rare disease at the age of two and half. He planned to use an ink mixture that included ashes from his cremated son’s remains. After a little research I discovered that ancient Middle Eastern people memorialized their dead this way and I uncovered many headlines of a variety of people who have these very personal tattoos. It made me wonder if this was more than just trying to hang on to the physical presence of past loved ones. Was it as simple as the funeral remarks that loved ones will live on in our memories? Or was this an act of denial that death can not separate us from our loved ones? Whatever the answer might be to these questions it is obvious that once again we are reminded how precious life is and our longing for immortality underscores the reality of a God who created us in His image and put eternity into our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

No doubt there may be some who’s first reaction is that this is more than bizarre behavior and is a blatant disregard for the sacred in both the living and the dead. I grew up in a household where we were not allowed to put bubblegum tattoos on because the bible strictly forbade tattooing the body (Leviticus 19:28). Besides, only riffraff sported tattoos that more often than not were lewd, crude and unrefined (as the saying went). However, even a brief glance at the text reveals that to be consistent you would also have to be adamant about forbidding certain hairstyles and beard trimming. The scaring and tattoo prohibition in Leviticus was a warning to Israel to not indulge in pagan religious practices. In verse 19 one of these miscellaneous laws is not to wear clothing woven of two kinds of material (raise your hand in you are presently in violation of this one). Again this is a reference to pagan religious practices that was wrong by association not by nature.

So, are you suggesting one should get a tattoo that mixes inks with cremation ashes? I’m reserving my judgment even though it still seems eerie and bizarre. What I believe to be important is that we never forget that the sting of death has been swallowed up in the Christ victory of the cross (1 Corinthians 15:50-57). Thus, what I desire is the ultimate marks… the marks of Jesus (Galatians 6:17). Then we can honor those who have gone before us by sharing the faith that they shared with us. Now, that’s a tattoo! -DAN