Gospel Art Critic

A copy of this well-known painting hangs on the wall of the foyer outside our chapel here in Monroe. On Sunday, I was sitting out there with Katie during Sacrament Meeting when she pointed to the picture. I asked her who it was and she just looked at me with a puzzled expression, so I said "Is that Jesus?"

She smiled and said "Jesus!"... and then hit me.

I was a bit taken aback and asked her why she hit me. She pointed to the picture, said "Jesus" again... and hit me.

I realized then that it did in fact look a bit like John the Baptist was restraining Jesus from striking him. I would accept Katie hitting me as a possible commentary on the historical inaccuracy of the painting's use of the modern LDS method of grasping forearms during a baptism to help stabilize the person being baptized, but she's two years old so I figured I'd better set the record straight.

I smiled and, in a very fatherly voice, told her that John was holding Jesus so He could go under the water and come back up. We even did a little dip together to demonstrate the concept. I was confident that the issue had been resolved -- right up to the point when she got a very serious expression on her face, shook her head slowly, and said "No, no, Jesus - be nice."

That's one phrase I never thought I hear.