GPBC Blog

By Mark Nordlund --

Recently, my 20-year-old daughter decided to get her first tattoo and I was very happy when she invited the family to come with her!  She had been contemplating this for a long time, praying and considering what design would best convey the message in her heart.
 
Nowadays, tattoos have become commonplace and I am always interested to explore the meanings and stories related to people’s tattoos. Tattoos may be simple images or just a few words, yet they often contain many layers of meaning.  Over the years, when inquiring about people’s tattoos, I’ve heard numerous stories about cherished loved ones, some of whom have died; about painful times or hard lessons learned; about meaningful ideas or important spiritual matters; about feelings of belonging (to a gang, a military branch, a motorcycle club, etc.); and every once in a while, about embarrassment for a regrettable tattoo (often from someone’s youth).  But even that tattoo tells part of the story.  We all have tattoos in a way – things about us that, if explored, would reveal our story and what defines us.  The story behind a tattoo requires us to draw in close in order to truly understand. 
 
Father Greg Boyle lived among the gangs of Los Angeles and developed job opportunities and other ways out of violence for gang members.  Doyle saw the value of every person and the deep pain and shame that churned beneath the violence in his community. He recognized the great need for compassion – the love of Jesus that can heal and redefine a person. 
 
The tattoos that Boyle saw told of gang affiliations and of endless pain.  He recalled a time when he was affirming one young man and it impacted the young man so much that he said, “I’m gonna tattoo that on my heart!”  This became the inspiration for the title of a book by Boyle.  In it, Father Boyle writes:
 
“Compassion isn't just about feeling the pain of others; it's about bringing them in toward yourself. If we love what God loves, then, in compassion, margins get erased. 'Be compassionate as God is compassionate,' means the dismantling of barriers that exclude.”  
  ― Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

After more than a year of consideration, my daughter settled on the design for her tattoo.  She created a simple vine with the word “abide” woven in as a reference to the words of Jesus in John 15.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. . . .  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”    ― John 15:4, 9 ESV

 I think this tattoo points to exactly what Boyle is hoping to see in the gang members of LA and in all people. Jesus wants to tattoo his abiding love on our hearts that we might define ourselves as his beloved. And in so doing, his love in us breaks down the barriers that separate us from the most hurting in this world. Without Jesus, we can’t do any of this.

Tattoos are meant to be abiding and permanent and to say something meaningful about a person. I now also see a tattoo as a beautiful metaphor for abiding in Jesus. As we abide in Him, he gets under our skin and we look more and more like Jesus.

I hope that the next tattoo you see reminds you to let Jesus’ abiding love fill and define you. To let his abiding love for all people define how you perceive and are with others. And to let his compassion dismantle barriers and cause you to draw near to the marginalized and hurting with the love of Jesus.