Looking
through a pile of old yellowing photographs stored in an old trunk, I came
across a picture of my mother and me standing beside a cluster of daffodils in
our back yard. I was perhaps seven or eight years old at the time. The picture
captured me dressed in my Easter’s finest posing with my mother also in a newly
purchased outfit. I always thought the yearly Easter photograph was to give
evidence that I could be dressed up and look decent, if even for a brief moment
in time.
The photo portrayed the result of my
mother and me making a trip by the trolley car to the shopping hub on the city
limits of Philadelphia and its suburbs. Back in those days there were no
shopping centers, strip malls, or online shopping sites. There was the Sears
catalogue that sold everything from houses to hosiery, but Mom insisted we needed
to try on the clothes to make sure they fit properly. This, I was assured, was necessary
because I was an awkward size. It was bad enough that I had to try on clothes
that met my mother’s approval; it was sheer humiliation to be looking at racks
of suits labeled “husky.” A new Easter outfit as I recall meant a new suit,
shirt, tie, and if my mother had her way – new underwear. So the picture I was
looking at was the end result of the yearly Easter ritual and pilgrimage to the
nearest department store to buy new clothes for Easter.
She may have dressed me up and made me
look different, but under all those new clothes I was still the same
mischievous elementary boy who drove his teachers crazy and annoyed the
neighborhood with his pranks. Supposedly I was a bad influence on the neighbor’s
saintly children who, unknown to their parents, were equally as ornery. Perhaps
Mom wanted a picture taken to which she could later look to help her mentally refute
the reports she would hear about me from time to time. How could such an
angelic looking child perpetuate such mischief as was reported to her? Well
Mom, looks can be deceiving!
The biblical Easter week is launched with
the account of what is called Palm Sunday. What a clear demonstration that
looks can be deceiving. In Luke’s Gospel 19:36 ff. we read about people who
looked good but later would prove otherwise. Jesus is making an entry into the
city of Jerusalem on the back of a borrowed colt. As Jesus approached, a great
crowd was drawn to him (37). They displayed honor toward him as “many spread
their garments upon the way; while others spread branches they had cut from the
fields” (Mark 11:8). Soon shouts of rejoicing were heard and praise to God with
a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen Jesus do (Luke 19:37). The
words they speak reveal that they held Jesus in highest esteem saying, “Blessed
is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest” (38) - words drawn directly from the Psalms 118:26. The enemies of
Jesus look at the spectacle before them and conclude, “Look the whole world has
gone after him” (John 12:19). My how looks can be deceiving!
What Jesus saw did not deceive him. He saw
people who by their outward activity looked like their hearts were following
Jesus but in reality their hearts were really far from him. In fact, what he
saw made him weep (Luke 19:41-42). Jesus saw blind people who saw only a
popular figure, a loving and compassionate personality, a miracle worker, a
magnificent teacher, an amazing orator, a possible political emancipator, but
not one who could bring them the peace they so desperately wanted and needed –
peace with God and the peace of God. Jesus knew looks could be deceiving! That
is why the “LORD said to Samuel… The LORD does not look at the things people
look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart"
(1 Samuel 16:7).
If you and I had come upon the Palm Sunday
scene we would probably have concluded, “These people will be loyal to Jesus.”
That is the picture we thought we were seeing. But history teaches us that the
picture was deceiving. Very likely many in that massive crowd would say a week
later, “Crucify him!” People are more likely to be fickle than faithful.
I am not sure how many people still dress
up in their “Easter finest” in our day and age. How many, however, on Easter
will dress up in their religious practices, words, and other religious facades
to appear that they follow Jesus but in reality are deceivers? Jesus said to
religious leaders on one occasion, “These people honor me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain” (Matthew 15:8). Looks
may be deceiving, but they never are to God. Jesus told a sinful woman, “True
worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the
kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:23). May that be the way we
approach God daily – not deceptively, but devotedly.
