Looks Can Be Deceiving
a sermon based on John 1:29-42
by Randy L Quinn

Looks can be deceiving.  We all know that “you can’t tell a book by its cover,” but we still jump to conclusions based on our previous experiences or based on what we expect to see.

One of the shows Ronda and I saw on our recent cruise was a magician/comedian.  He didn’t do many tricks, but he did tell jokes and used humor in the midst of his magic show.  At the end of the show, he told us a few of his secrets.  (I’d say he taught us how to do his tricks, but my own experience tells me that unless I practice, I’ll never really be able to do his tricks.  So I prefer to say I know the secret to some of his tricks.)

What he did, though, is what any good magician does.  He makes us look one way while he does something else.  He used humor and comedy to draw our attention away from his hands so we didn’t see what he was really doing.

He knows how we look and how we see.  And he takes advantage of that.

He proved what I already knew – looks can be deceiving.

All I had to do this week was look out the window on Friday to find another example.  The sun was shining.  There was water dripping from the edges of our roof.  It looked like a warm day.

But it was only sunny.  The temperature never reached double digits.

Looks can be deceiving.

On more than one occasion, in more than one city, I have found myself being addressed by someone claiming to be a prophet.  Maybe you have too.

Sometimes they are at street corners.  Sometimes they are outside shopping centers and malls.  Before 9-11, I remember seeing them in the airports.  One even came to my office to pray with me and the church I was serving at the time.

One in particular that I remember was wearing a long, wool, confederate-style military overcoat with a Greek fisherman’s cap.  He had a long, somewhat shaggy and unkempt beard that was more grey than anything else.  There were yellow stains in his beard suggesting to me that he smoked (although I could not detect the smell of any smoke in his clothing).

I was wearing my Navy uniform when he saw me, and he smiled the smile I have seen from countless veterans who claim an immediate sense of camaraderie with anyone in uniform.  He asked me about some world event, but before I had a chance to answer he went on to tell me that he was a prophet.

He gave me a wooden nickel to prove his status – a nickel that proclaimed the truth of Christ’s victory over sin and death.  He told me he was writing a biography about some obscure saint whom he believed to be a key figure in world history.  He went on to tell me about the people he had known and how he had influenced their lives.

I could see that he was never going to let me speak.  He was not going to listen to anything I had to say; he only wanted to “preach” to me.  And since I had places to go I walked away while he was still talking.

As I left him that morning, the only word that came to my mind was “kook.”

Maybe you’ve run into similar “kooks.”  Maybe you did better at ignoring them so they couldn’t begin the conversation, or maybe you stayed even longer than I did.

But as I left him, and the reason I remember him so clearly still today, I began to wonder what made him so different from the way people saw John the Baptist?  He was a self-styled prophet of his day who chose some rather eccentric methods to proclaim his version of the truth.

What was the difference between them?  They both looked alike, really.

One difference, I suppose, is that John was able to convince some people he was right and had a following of sorts.  He even had his own disciples (Jn. 1:35).

Some of it may be the passage of time that proves the difference, but I think the other major difference between today’s “kooks” and John is that John the Baptist clearly sees himself as one who is pointing toward God.  He sees himself as a signpost along the road of life that tells us where to find Christ.

John even sends his own followers to seek Jesus.  He has no vested interest in a large following for himself.  He is simply the signpost, a symbol of what was to come.

The so-called prophets of our day inevitably point to themselves.  They might talk about Jesus, but the signs they are carrying – whether literal or metaphorical – serve to warn us about getting too closely involved.

Amazingly, some people do follow these “kooks.”  Their message is too enticing, I suppose.  Their “looks are deceiving.”  People like Jim Jones and David Koresh convince people that they have a clear understanding of scripture and can bring a sense of salvation to those who follow them.  Unfortunately we learn about them after their lies are exposed – and often too late for many who follow them.

The lie could have been seen earlier by looking to whom they were pointing.

John reminds us all that the task of the church, the task of each baptized Christian, is to point toward Jesus.

But we cannot do that if we aren’t looking for Jesus.  Twice in our scripture for today we read that John saw Jesus (Jn. 1:29, 35).  Both times he pointed him out and told people to “look” for themselves (Jn. 1:29, 36).

Since looks can be deceiving, two of John’s disciples follow Jesus to take a closer look.  They spend an entire day with him.  And they come away convinced that John was right.  Andrew, the only one of John’s disciples who is named here, seems to have learned the lesson well.  He listens to Jesus long enough to recognize who he is and then goes to tell someone else – his own brother.

Andrew became a signpost for Simon.  He became a symbol of what it means to lead others to the Messiah, the Christ.

All too often I’m afraid, we fall into the trap of pointing to the church rather than to Jesus.  It’s easy to point to ourselves rather than Jesus because all too often we haven’t been looking for Jesus.  Our focus is more often on our own needs and our own wants.

Look around you this morning.  What do you see?

Ø      What people have said to me is “our church doesn’t have many young families.”

Ø      People have told me they see a church on the decline.

Ø      What people have said to me is that our church needs to reach new people and bring new people here.

Ø      What I have heard people say is that we are struggling as a church because there aren’t enough people in the pews and not enough money in the offering plates.

Look around you this morning.  What do you see?

Ø      I see people whose lives have been made better because they know the love of Jesus.

Ø      I see people who have gathered to praise God because of the miracle of grace.

Ø      I see people who are being changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ø      I see the face of Christ on your faces.

And because of what I see, I know I serve as a signpost for our community when I invite them to join us here.  I know our church can and does point to Jesus.

I guess you could call me a “kook.”  But I’d rather be a “fool for Christ” than to be fooled by appearances (1 Cor. 4:10).

It’s time to look for evidence of God at work.  When we can all see Christ here, we would be fools not to be like Andrew and bring our friends and our neighbors and even our brothers and sisters to meet Christ – for Jesus is in our midst.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.