Sunday, January 18, 2026: "Pointing Fingers"
The First United Presbyterian Church
“Pointing Fingers”
Rev. Amy Morgan
January 18, 2026
John 1:29-42
The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
Never point with one finger. That’s the rule if you work for Disneyland resorts. If a guest asks for directions to the bathroom or to Space Mountain, “cast members” are instructed to point with two fingers or their whole hand. It’s been dubbed the “Disney Point.”
Disney representatives have explained that they developed this practice because, in some cultures around the world, pointing with one finger is considered rude, even an obscene gesture, regardless of which finger is used. Disney welcomes guests from all over the globe to their theme parks and resorts, and they want everyone to feel comfortable, seen, and known. Depending on how it’s done, pointing can offer guidance and direction and be a means of hospitality, or it can be vulgar and unkind. Disney wants their guests to have the best possible experience when someone visits one of their parks. They want people to find what they are looking for, whether it’s a once-in-a-lifetime family vacation or a trip down memory lane, so training “cast members” to be mindful of how they point is key.
Most of us don’t put that much thought into the way we point. In fact, a lot of the pointing we do doesn’t utilize our fingers or hands at all. For instance, we are great at pointing out other people’s flaws and misdeeds, using tools like social media comments and newspaper opinion pieces. We are practiced at pointing to institutions or systems we blame for our difficulties and society’s problems. We know how to point out those we feel ought to be ashamed of themselves.
And our pointing is not designed to make people comfortable, seen and known. It’s not meant to communicate welcome and hospitality. It’s not considerate of different cultures or worldviews. It doesn’t help people find what they’re looking for. More often than not, our pointing makes people feel belittled, ashamed, and afraid.
There was plenty of this kind of pointing going on in the first century, too. Within the Jewish community, people pointed at Rome and its representatives, blaming them for crime, poverty, and abuse of power. Soldiers suppressed any protest against the government. Tax collectors stole their money. Local officials treated them like peasants in their little fiefdoms. Religious leaders pointed to “sinners” within their community as people worthy of God’s judgement and the community’s condemnation. Different factions within the Jewish community pointed at each other with disdain for the way they believed or practiced the faith. They pointed at the Zealots for stirring up trouble. They pointed at the Pharisees for their obsession with purity. They pointed at the Sadducees for their rejection of the afterlife.
Yes, humans have always been skilled at pointing at others to place blame, shame, and judgement. But the other thing we’re good at is pointing to ourselves as examples of all that is good, righteous, and enviable. This is the entire reason social media exists, I’m convinced. It was devised so we could curate our images in the best possible light, and point to ourselves to literally gain followers. If you’re not a social media user, first of all, good for you. But that doesn’t mean you don’t know what I’m talking about. Self-promotion, trying to gain a following, is not a new phenomenon, and it isn’t limited to the social media sphere. Social media is just a genius tool that accelerates and amplifies our ability to point to ourselves in glory.
Which is what makes John the Baptist so incredibly bizarre. Sure, he ate bugs and wore strange clothes and lived in the wilderness. That’s all weird. But in the portion of his story we heard today, he uses the Disney Point. And he uses it to help people find Jesus, not himself.
In the passage just before what we read today, John is talking with Jewish priests and Levites who have been sent by the religious leaders to find out who John is. They are looking for the Messiah, or at least for the ancient prophet, Elijah. They are hoping John will point to himself, but he doesn’t.
Instead, John points to Jesus, and when he does so, he pays attention to his audience. He knows how they think and understand things. He knows, for instance, that they’ve read the prophet Isaiah and understand who the Messiah is, the Anointed One. They’ve read where Isaiah talks about the lamb led to slaughter. He knows they believe God speaks to prophets in signs and wonders. He points with his whole hand and gives clear directions so these religious elites can find what they are looking for, so they can find their way to Jesus. And the next day, he points to Jesus so that his own disciples, his own followers, will unfollow him and go follow Jesus.
Those disciples start following Jesus, but they are quickly stopped in their tracks by the first question Jesus asks in John’s gospel. Jesus turns around and looks at these two fellows tracking him like a puppy dog. And he asks them, “What are you looking for?” Their answer is a question, like in the game show Jeopardy. But they are looking for where Jesus is staying. Not because they want to check out his digs and see if he has any fun video games. But because they want to stay with him, dwell with him, be around him long-term. They are looking for a teacher, a leader, they can trust with all their time, all their lives. That’s what they are looking for. And Jesus points the way.
One of the disciples, Andrew, went and pointed his brother, Peter, to Jesus, too, because he was certain that he had found what they were looking for.
The world we live in today is a lot more confusing, a lot more difficult to navigate, than a Disney theme park. There are hidden obstacles and obscured truths and too much information to make sense of anything. Even if we did know how to find our way around this life, most of us don’t know what we’re looking for, or couldn’t articulate it clearly if we were asked.
There are plenty of people who will point us toward products or political parties. There are plenty of people who will point us toward themselves, assuring us that if we just follow them, do what they are doing, go where they tell us to go, we’ll find what we’re looking for.
But those people are not going to ask us what we’re looking for. They’re going to tell us. They’re going to tell us that what we’re really looking for is slimmer bodies, nicer things, fewer responsibilities, more friends and fun.
But, deep down, I think most of us are looking for the same thing John’s disciples were looking for. Relationships that will last. Guides we can trust. Someone to point the way to a life-giving community.
And for that, we still need someone to point us to Jesus. But we need them to use the Disney Point, to care about how we see and understand the world, to show hospitality and kindness and respect. That might mean, as it did for John, using different names and symbols for Jesus, ones that resonate with people in this time and place and culture. It might mean, as it did for John, describing an authentic experience they’ve had with Jesus. It might mean, as it did for John, pointing away from themselves.
And it might mean, as it did for Andrew, that once we’ve found Jesus, once we’ve found what we’re looking for, we can go and point the way for others. We can use more than one finger, more than our whole hand. We can use our whole lives to point to Jesus. Because when we’ve found our way to Jesus, when we’ve found that lasting, loving relationship, when we know who to follow and have been led to life-giving community, our whole lives are transformed into a giant, flashing, neon arrow pointing to Jesus. That’s what each of us are, or can be, at least sometimes.
So may we follow those pointing the way to Jesus. May we be those who are pointing the way to Jesus. All to God’s glory. Amen.
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