Jesus Defied Appearances

What Did Jesus Do?

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge by right judgment.”
John 7.24

You can't judge a book by it's cover, or so it is said, and apparently it is not wise to judge the Messiah by appearances either. To the crowd in Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths it sure looked like Jesus was a Sabbath breaker (John 7.23). But Jesus defied appearances.

Most of us probably consider ourselves decent judges of character, and that we can size up a person pretty accurately after observing them for a short time. We'll weigh how a person speaks, how they are dress, and how they comport themselves and come up with what we believe is a reasonable assessment of the individual. I believe it is safe to say that most everyone would rate themselves a good judge of character. Jesus certainly had no few judges who thought they had him pegged. But Jesus defied appearances.

Consider: Jesus made a lot of people angry by appearing to have violated a Sabbath prohibition against performing certain proscribed acts of labor, specifically healing someone on the Sabbath who, according to those who condemned Jesus, could have and should have been healed on one of the other six days of the week. Yep, to those who judged by appearances it looked like Jesus had broken the Law. But it only appeared that way. Defying appearances, the Lord in fact was fulfilling the Law when he made a man's whole body well.

Jesus was always doing things that appeared wrong to those who judged by appearances. He consorted with Samaritan women (John 4.1-42). He touched lepers (Mark 1.41). He forgave adultery (John 8.1-11). He even claimed equality with God (John 5.18)! But Samaritans were a condemned and despised people. Lepers were unclean. Adulteresses were supposed to be stoned to death. And no one could call God “Father” unless they were the Son of God. Besides all this, the Son of God would certainly have appeared far more glorious than the scruffy, itinerant rabbi from Nazareth. Ah, but Jesus defied appearances.

Right judgment considers more than what meets the eye. God judges not on the outward appearance, but on the heart (see 1Samuel 16.6-7). And every word Jesus spoke, every work he did, had a deeper significance than it often appeared. Many judged Jesus by appearances and found him wanting. The Father judged the Son by righteousness, and was well pleased with him.

There are at least two things believers need to keep in mind about appearances: 1) we must not despair or be discouraged when our actions and words are frequently misjudged by the world, and 2) we ourselves should suspend judgment of others based on appearances alone. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4