No Picture (The Baptism of Our Lord)
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Some of my earliest childhood memories are from being at the beach in Barnegat Light, on Long Beach Island in New Jersey. My Dad’s parents had a house there, just a few houses in from the dunes leading to the beach. They had built the house when my Dad was a kid as a weekend and summer place, but my Dad basically grew up there. And by the time I came along, my grandparents lived there full time, and we’d go down and visit them.
And perhaps because some of what we did there was so different from where we lived, I remember certain things vividly. I remember being at the beach, playing in the water, and flying kites from the dunes. I remember going out on the charter fishing boat that my grandfather owned. And I remember always seeing the Barnegat Lighthouse, which seemed to tower over that part of the island.
My grandparents sold the house and began traveling the country when I was about 5, so those memories were long ago. And I hadn’t been back there in decades. But periodically, I’d remember stories about being there to my Dad, who always could tell me things I didn’t know and often said he’d like to get back there and visit some time also.
So, this past October, I figured we could make it work! Doggies were allowed on the beach after September 30, and my Dad was up for a trip. So, Phoenix and I went up, grabbed Pop-pop, and spent a day and a half looking around at stuff on Long Beach Island. It was a fast, but great trip, especially because my Dad could tell me stuff about places that I had remembered from long ago.
And so we saw the lighthouse, which for all of my childhood was closed to the public, but is now open. So I climbed the lighthouse and could get the perspective that only my Dad and Uncle had seen as teenagers when they snuck in! We saw the place where my grandparents’ house had been (there’s a new house there now), and we crossed the dunes (on the now official path!) and I got to walk Phoenix on the beach where I had played as a kid. And, we got to see the marina where my grandfather had the boat, and the little shack there where my Dad had worked when we has in high school.
We also got to see Zion Lutheran Church, the tiny little church one block from my grandparents’ house, where my Dad’s family had been members, and where I was baptized 59 years ago that week. I’m sure we went to that church when we later came down to visit my grandparents. But, since going to church wasn’t an unusual experience like the beach, I don’t remember ever being inside. And although I knew I was baptized there – and still have my baptismal certificate – I never saw a picture from the day of the baptism. In fact, at one point or another, I asked both of my parents where the pictures were, because they’d be interesting to see. But, apparently I must have been baptized before photography existed, because they both told me nobody thought to take pictures that day!
And in this day and age, that just seems bizarre! How could you not take pictures at a baptism? I mean, they took pictures at their wedding 2 years before. How could there not be a picture from my baptism?!
In one respect, that’s the same thing I feel whenever I read Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism, too. For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, Luke doesn’t actually give us a picture of Jesus’ baptism. Our reading today begins with a description of John’s time preaching in the wilderness and predicting the one who will come after him.
And then we skip some verses. Those verses are Luke’s parenthetical comments about how John the Baptist ticks off Herod Antipas who then has him thrown in prison.
Then Luke continues, “Now, when all the people had been baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized…” And I want to say, “wait!” You skipped when Jesus was baptized, and all the stuff about the water and the river and maybe dialog between Jesus and John. Where’s the picture?
But there are no pictures. All that Luke records is that afterwards (and perhaps a while afterwards) as Jesus was praying, he heard God’s affirmation that he was God’s Son and that God loved him. In fact, maybe only Jesus heard that. It’s not clear from the way Luke writes the story. Even that picture is a bit out of focus.
But maybe, no pictures is part of the point. Sometimes, when we read about Jesus’ baptism, we get caught up in the image of John the Baptist. After all, he’s a pretty unique character and hard to forget. But John the Baptist isn’t the point of the story, and maybe that’s a reason Luke doesn’t explicitly mention him.
And sometimes, when we read about Jesus’ baptism, we caught up in the image of the Jordan River and the wilderness. After all, like the beach of my childhood, it’s a pretty different image than we’re used to seeing at our baptisms. But, the River isn’t the point of the story, and maybe that’s a reason Luke doesn’t mention the water at all.
And sometimes, when we read the story of Jesus’ baptism, we focus on that one day when Jesus came to be baptized, just as I might think about that one day I got baptized. But, that day was the beginning of something bigger, and that day wasn’t even the point of the story. The point of the story was the relationship with God that Jesus’ baptism confirmed and the mission of Jesus’ ministry which proceeded after his baptism.
That, after all, is the point of the voice from heaven. It’s not to make Jesus feel good or even tell him something he doesn’t know already. It’s rather an affirmation that sends Jesus into the world to make God’s presence real in the lives of others and to share good news in a world that needed it.
And honestly, even though I can’t imagine doing baptisms today without pictures, the pictures really aren’t the point. Nor is the water or the day, or especially me! The point of all of our baptisms is that each one of us is promised through baptism that we are God’s beloved children as well. The point of all of our baptisms is that we are all sent on a mission to make Jesus’ love a tangible reality in the lives of others. And the point of all of our baptisms is that we’re called to make the good news of Jesus known by the way we live into the future, not just on the day we got wet.
Anyway, I finally did get to see Zion Lutheran Church in Barnegat Light at a time I could remember. I took a picture of the font I was baptized in (and my Dad told me the story of the guy who had given the font in memory of his wife). And I got my Dad to take the picture of me (and Phoenix) in front of the church (which he had clearly neglected to do 59 years ago!)
So I did get a picture, but the picture is only important because it can remind me of something more important. And the important things about each of our baptisms are the things we live in now and into the future.
And so as we begin living into this new year, remember your baptism! But even if you have a picture, remember that your baptism is really about a living relationship with God that you have each day. Your baptism is really about Jesus’ promise to live in and through you to make the good news known to others in the world around you. And your baptism is a promise that, no matter how far from the day of your baptism you get, God’s promised future to you and to the whole world is still in front of you.
Amen.