Appearances Can Be Deceiving
It’s a frosty winter day at a church in a large city. The people are excited because today they get to meet their new pastor. About 10 minutes before the service a disheveled and dirty man stubbles in. His jacket is old and filthy, he has an unruly mop of shaggy grey hair, and he doesn’t smell very good. The head elder quietly asks the man to leave because it’s a special day of celebration for the church. The man humbly asks if he can just sit in the back for a few minutes and warm up. The elder reluctantly agrees. As the church bells ring the man gets up and starts walking to the front of the church! The head elder is appalled; you can hear the whispers from the people in the pews. The man boldly stands in the very front of the church and faces the congregation. He takes off the dirty winter coat and underneath he’s wearing a nice shirt and tie. He removes the shaggy grey and reveals that he is their new pastor. He knew that appearances can be deceiving and wanted to see how people would greet a stranger who didn’t appear the way a person coming into a church should.
This is just a story, but it illustrates a critical point. We tend to judge things by their outward appearances. This tendency is so common that we have several cliches to describe it: “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” “Beauty is only skin deep,” and “All that glitters is not gold.” These cliches all express the same idea that appearances can be deceiving. And if we know this to be true in our interactions with things in this world, it is even more true when we are dealing with the things of God. Our Lord often chooses to work in ways that don’t meet our limited human expectations. We wouldn’t think to look for the king of the universe as a helpless baby lying in a manger or hanging from a cross. But this is exactly the way that our God chooses to reveal himself to us. He takes the humble and ordinary things of this world and makes them extraordinary. Simple words of faith shared by a child, water poured on the head of an infant, bread and wine shared by a congregation seem like such ordinary things, but they are powerful miracles of God that give life and faith to his people. Appearances can be deceiving. God does not meet our expectations, because he vastly exceeds our expectations.
The people of Jesus day also judged things by their appearance. God had revealed much about the Savior in the prophecies of the Old Testament and the people of Israel were eagerly awaiting the coming of their Savior. When they heard the fiery preaching of John in the desert, they wondered if he could be the One they had been waiting for. Like Samuel in our lesson today they were only looking at the outward appearance of John, instead of listening to the message of truth he was telling them. How often do we do the same thing? Do we make assumptions about others based on their appearance without getting to know them? Are we quick to judge and slow to listen? Are we reluctant to show love to someone because they don’t appear to be someone who would respond well, or are someone we would not like to associate with? We often make snap judgments about others. Like the people in the opening story, we sometimes think that we are better or more deserving of God’s love than others. John understood that he was only the forerunner of Christ. He gives us a powerful reminder to look at our own lives and realize that we too are not worthy even to untie the laces of our Savior’s sandals.
This is why John must have been confused when Jesus came to him to be baptized. Jesus was perfect and didn’t need to have any sins that needed to be forgiven. This is why John was confused. But Jesus needed to be baptized so that he could fulfill all the commands of his Father. The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry that would culminate in his death and resurrection. Just like we heard how David was anointed as king with oil and the Holy Spirit to show him as God’s chosen king, Jesus is now anointed with water and the Holy Spirit to show that he is God’s chosen instrument of salvation. When the heavens open and God speaks, and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove there can be no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is the promised Messiah who comes to save all people from their sins.
God’s powerful voice from heaven announces that Jesus is his Son and that he is well pleased in him. Jesus needed to be both God and man so that he could suffer and die for our sins. As the true Son of God, he could keep the law perfectly and be the only person that God was ever well pleased with. Because he was true man he could suffer and die. When Christ died on the cross, he took the sins of the entire world upon himself and was able to pay for them because he was true God. He then rose triumphantly from the grave and won for us salvation and eternal life. God chose Jesus to suffer and die because he was well pleased with him, he chose us for life even though there is nothing good in us. This is the amazing message of his love which he freely gives to us through the blessing of baptism.
Jesus did not appear to meet the expectations the people had for their Messiah. In the same way, baptism appears to be unexceptional. Human expectations are that for something profound to happen we need special symbols, rites, and words. We mistakenly think that for baptism to work we need special water administered in a special way. But God does not choose to reveal himself to us in special ways, he prefers to remain hidden behind ordinary people, using ordinary water, but speaking the amazing and extraordinary words of his grace. Baptism is an amazing blessing because it gives life to those who are dead in their sins. It is a washing and renewal that connects us directly to the forgiveness that Christ won for us on the cross. It is a free and gracious gift that we do nothing to receive. And this is another way that baptism does not meet our expectations.
By nature, we are inclined to believe that we need to do something to earn the love of our God. We think that if we try hard enough or are good and worthy enough this will make God love us. But the truth is that no matter how much we strive and struggle we will never be good enough to pay for a single one of our sins. Just like babies can do nothing to help with their baptisms, we too can do nothing to earn the grace of God. As Paul tells us in Titus 3, “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is the visible sign that our God has sealed us to himself. He made us his own children and made us heirs of his eternal kingdom.
Our baptism is a constant reminder that no matter how much we sin, no matter how often we are unfaithful to our God he remains faithful to us. In baptism, God pledges to wash and forgive us of all our sins. We have been reborn as one of his dear children and nothing we do can change that truth. God has pledged to be faithful to his children and welcome with open arms those who repent of their sins no matter how great they may be. Baptism makes us alive in Christ and empowers us to constantly struggle against the impulses of our sinful nature.
Luther reminds us in his explanation of baptism that baptism empowers us for the battle we fight each day against our sinful nature. Baptism means that the Old Adam should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance and that all its evil deeds and desires be put to death. It also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. This is what it means to be reborn through the washing of water and the Word. We struggle each day to drown our sinful nature and live according to the command of God. We seek to live in humility and faithfulness. We strive to keep from making snap judgments about others based on their appearance and instead show the love of Christ to everyone we meet.
My friends our expectations can often lead us astray like they did the people in that fictional congregation. We all know how foolish we can be when we make assumptions about the things of this world. That problem is so much greater when we start dealing with the things of God. God chooses to work with us through means that seem to not meet our expectations. Their appearance is always deceiving! But we give praise and thanks to our God for choosing to save us in such an amazing way. If we had to work out our own salvation, we would never be able to do enough or be good enough to save ourselves. But the amazing message of the Gospel and the power of baptism is that Christ has done it all for us. We don’t need to do anything; we have received salvation by the love and grace of our God. So, rejoice in the comfort of your baptism knowing that you have been washed and purified. Your salvation is secure, and you are a dearly loved member of God’s family.