Why my goofy tattoos are the most theologically profound

I just hit 76 tattoos — I keep track on a note on my laptop — and numerous people have asked me to give the explanations behind them all, which may or may not ever happen, but I can certainly do some! (I wrote before about why I got a tattoo from Spongebob here)

My newest tattoo, above, was done by my friend Meghan from church. She has a whole flash sheet of kiddish-looking drawings, like the one I ended up getting. They were all so great.

She had a whole page that was Psalm 68, played out by bugs.

I told her I want four of them, but of course, you have to start with one, so the first one I got was the little kid asking Jesus if He ‘got games on his phone.’

It seems goofy on the surface, if not a hint sacrilegious: a kid asking the Incarnate God if He has games on His phone. But the reason I love it is, that kid is all of us.

Think about how many people in the Gospels approach Jesus and ask Him for dumb stuff.

James and John ask Jesus to sit at His right and left hand when He becomes a king.

Pharisees and Sadducees ask Him to perform miraculous signs.

Peter asks Him, ‘We’ve left everything…what’s in it for us?’

The woman at the well asks Jesus for bottomless water so she doesn’t have to keep coming to the well.

Even after His resurrection, the disciples ask Him, “Now are you gonna restore Israel to its own kingdom?” Like, talk about still not getting a point.

And I’m sure there are many more, but those are all off my head! And it makes me wonder, do you think Jesus got tired of dumb questions? Or, people not getting it? I know I can handle about two dumb questions before I simply lose my cool.

So it’s important to remember that I am the kid who would ask Jesus if He has games on His phone.

I’m the one standing before the Lord of the Cosmos and asking for a distracting dopamine hit.

That’s why Meghan’s doodle struck me so deeply. We have access to the Living Water, but we want a root beer instead, because it’ll feel better right now.

I like how Jesus is leaning into the kid, still holding his hand, like it’s ok to want or ask for dumb things every now and then — we’re all still learning and growing, and learning to ask for better things.

e

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Day 72 of 100 Days of Blog

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