BAPTISM is not about getting wet. Or you.

The fact that we get wet leads us to think that baptism has something to do with water. It doesn't. Most baptisms have nothing to do with getting wet. Most baptisms, in fact, are specifically designed to keep the person dry.

Gig Harbor and Mount Rainier, Washington

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We are certain we can’t live without it. The smart life has a long-term job, savings, health coverage, life insurance, a house, and a retirement plan. We invest in our children, spend time together as a family, gather everyone together for the holidays, and rekindle the flame now and then with a quiet evening out. Steady growth towards a better life means we can fulfill our dream of sending our kids to the university, watch with joy as they marry and forge happy lives of their own, and know the delight of being a grandparent.

It’s not true.

There is a path taken and a path not taken. There is also a path not considered.

The path not considered is a path without insurance, savings, investments, real estate, and comforts. It is a path that builds toward nothing and deprives you of the joys of home and family. There are no holidays, no gatherings, no successes, no dreams, no retirement. It is a path where your children build their lives without you. It is a path where the in-laws snuggle your grandchildren.

The path not considered is not considered because it is absurd. The path not considered is not considered because it can’t be done.

It’s not true.

“You will have pain, but your pain will turn to joy.” There is pain on the path not considered, but also life. And even joy now and then. It can be done. It is done.

Baptism is not about getting wet. It looks like it is, but it’s not. The people of God were baptized in the Sea. Possibly a few of them got sprinkled, but none went under. Noah and his family were baptized. They floated on the water; they did not go under. Jesus’ baptism on the cross was not about getting wet. The significant part of his baptism on the cross is that he died, not that his blood got him wet.

The significant part of Moses leading the people through the Sea is that pharaoh’s army was drowned. The significant part of Noah’s ark is that everyone else drowned. The significant part of John’s baptism is that the people of God were about to be destroyed: those who wanted to live had to come to John.

It looked like Moses and the Israelites were under the water, if you looked at it from a certain perspective. If the waves were crashing if might have seemed like the ark was under water, if you looked at it from a certain perspective. The cross was the death of Jesus, if you looked at it from a certain perspective.

The significant part of baptism is that Moses that the enemies of God died. The significant part of the baptism of Noah is that everyone else died. The significant part of John’s baptism is that the people of God died.

The significant part of Moses’s baptism is that God closed the waters and threatened to kill anyone who talked about going back. The significant part of Noah’s baptism is that there was no way back: it was all gone. The significant part of Jesus’ baptism by John was that it was his first step on the path of perfect obedience to the Father. The significant part of Jesus’s baptism on the cross was that it was his last step on the path of perfect obedience to the Father. His path always went forward. The old life was no more; a new life was begun. There was no thought of turning back.

Baptism is the veil a child of God passes through, from one side to the other, with God, wherever he takes us. It is a veil that a person can never return through. It is moving on with God and his people and his work, and leaving behind the world and its people and its work. It is a statement that all this will pass away, that the people left behind will one day perish and that only those who have passed through will survive.

If it is a declaration of loyalty to go through the veil, it is a declaration of disloyalty to go back. Baptism declares the person has stepped off the path of the world and onto the path of Christ. Going back is not allowed. “You shall not pass that way again.”

The path of Christ is neither the path taken nor the path not taken. It is the path not considered. It is not the path of adventure but the path of necessity. It is the path without savings, insurance, houses, holidays, and family. It is the path not considered because it is ridiculous. Pointless.