Today’s Scripture Reading
(October 22, 2018): Numbers 6
Confession time. I used to wear
a mullet (for those who have no idea what that is, now is the time to google
“mullet haircut.”) The truth is that I wore the mullet long after it had ceased
to be fashionable. Some good people tried to convict me of my sin, but I wasn’t
listening. One good friend tried to convince me that my position in the church
meant that I should shave off the mullet and go for a more businesslike cut. I
did not react well to the idea. Another actually
tried to bribe my hairdresser to cut it all off while she had me in the chair. According to the rumor, I wasn’t there at the time,
my hairdresser’s response was that “he wouldn’t be Garry without the mullet.”
And so the mullet continued to shine on my head.
But then my hairdresser died, and I had to go and find someone else who would
care for the demands of my mullet. And my new hairdresser decided to confront
me about my mullet. Why was I so attached to a hairstyle that had become an
object of ridicule? It was a question that I honestly couldn’t answer. The
reality was that my hair probably, somehow, connected me with my youth. And my
youth was not something that I was sure I wanted to give up. And so the hair
continued. But my new hairdresser convinced me to change the style. Her words
were that I should trust her. “If you don’t like the hairstyle I will give you; your hair will grow back.” I had to admit
that that was the truth. My hair is always growing.
And so I replaced the mullet
for a shorter, and spikier, hairstyle.
(That one lasted until another hairdresser sat me down and told me that I was
too tall to wear a spiky look. Ah, but
that is a story for later.) And the mullet has not, as of yet, decided to make
its return.
There are a lot of reasons that
we might have for the way that we cut our hair. Memories, ease of care,
laziness, a phobia about people with sharp scissors messing in the vicinity of
our heads, or a myriad of other reasons. But this passage speaks of a
ceremonial reason. In ancient times, if a person wanted to make a vow of dedication
to God, then they might take a vow to live as a Nazirite. For a short period, this person would make some significant
sacrifices in their lives, which included abstaining from alcohol, remaining
ceremonially clean, and allowing their hair to grow, without cutting or shaping
it, for the period of the vow. We know now what ancient people didn’t know. Our hair contains a history of who we are,
what our health might be, and what drugs we have taken. There is a story
contained in our hair. And for a Nazirite, that story belonged to God.
When the vow came to an end,
the person would then come to the entrance to the tent of meeting, shave off
the hair – the story of their time with God – and burn the hair as an offering
to God. For that period, God had been the driving force behind the story. And
so the story and the hair belong to God. And because it belonged to God, it had
to be treated in a holy manner. In this case, the hair became the fellowship
offering of the Nazirite to his God, and a memory of the time that they had
spent together.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 7
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