Lockdown cracks its whip. So does Nature. We continue to walk our dogs, mow the lawn and clip our toe-nails. Needs must when the devil drives. Necessity is laid upon us. So said St Paul, but he was talking about a compulsion to preach the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9.16). Then there is our hair... I notice that barbers' shops have re-opened in Georgia, USA. Not so here.
I lament my shaggy locks as my ears become invisible. And if lockdown goes on much longer, the fringed curtains of my eyes, as Shakespeare so elegantly put it, will also have disappeared. I shall be completely disqualified for civilised life.
And that is how it was, as it seems, for two biblical heroes -- Samson and John the Baptist. They were likely to have been Nazirites. That is, they were men who had undertaken to avoid strong drink and dead bodies and to leave the hair of scalp and face untrimmed for the duration of a vow.
Amish men, like many Muslim men, take beards seriously. So do some Orthodox Christians. Avoiding the coiffeur is for them a matter of discipline and identity. And the question of beards goes beyond religion. Practice has varied in the British army but in the Royal Navy if a man chooses to keep his facial hair he has to cultivate a full-set (i.e. moustache and beard). We find St Paul making an appeal to nature in such matters (1 Corinthians 11.14).
Does it matter? This is similar to the issue of the prescriptive food laws that we find in the Old Testament. In both cases it is generally agreed that Christian men are free to choose. If we choose to sport beards and eat pig-meat, that is in order. But we should not make our choice a matter of dissension. As Paul says (Romans 14.21,22): 'It is right to abstain from eating meat or drinking wine or from anything else which causes a fellow-Christian to stumble. If you have some firm conviction, keep it between yourself and God.' (REB)
Now, where did I put my comb?
If you have a comment on his post please send an email to Revd John King. Edited extracts may be published. To forward this a friend click on the chain icon below.
Comments