As the people misunderstood the authentic John the Baptist of history ("What did you go into the forest to see?"), people may misunderstand him now. So suggests this sermon. Because John the Baptist may appear today in clothing other than that of camel’s hair, John’s message may appear in different forms.

To illuminate a common distortion of the figure of John the Baptist, the sermon uses a childhood experience, which also captures the listener’s attention. The sermon refers to this experience throughout in a most useful way. Thus step by step, by juxtaposing a child’s distorted image of John the Baptist and the biblical reality of John, the hearers are led to see what the contemporary role of John the Baptist is to be and, with that, what their role is to be.

Humor and playfulness have n…