Signs For the Sake of Signs
A reading for Tuesday, December 7, 2014: John 6:30-33, 48-51
A sign for the sake of the sign was missing the point. Anyone can do that. A sign just to prove that you are a sign maker? Give us the same sign as the old sign maker, so that we can know that you too are just as effective a sign maker as the old sign maker. That's what the crowd was asking Jesus for. Show us a sign, so that we might know you are truly a sign maker...
But Jesus says, the sign is simply a way to point to something much bigger. Even Moses provided signs, not to prove he was important as a sign maker, but to prove that God was doing something in the world. The manna in the wilderness, given to the Israelites as they wandered towards the promised land, was a sign that indeed God was present with them on the journey. It pointed to a larger point than just proving the importance of the one asking for it.
What signs and wonders will you see today? If we look for signs for the sake of signs, I imagine we will be disappointed. How often I have prayed, "God just show me something and then I will know you are there?" I wonder though if that too is missing the point?
Truth is, God has provided signs all around to prove that God is with us. The sun that rises in the morning, even on a cold frosty morning. The birds that fly to the feeder seemingly unaware that it's so cold. They have no heat and no blanket, and yet there they are. Another day full of signs to demonstrate to all that are looking that God is present in creation.
"Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
A sign for the sake of the sign was missing the point. Anyone can do that. A sign just to prove that you are a sign maker? Give us the same sign as the old sign maker, so that we can know that you too are just as effective a sign maker as the old sign maker. That's what the crowd was asking Jesus for. Show us a sign, so that we might know you are truly a sign maker...
But Jesus says, the sign is simply a way to point to something much bigger. Even Moses provided signs, not to prove he was important as a sign maker, but to prove that God was doing something in the world. The manna in the wilderness, given to the Israelites as they wandered towards the promised land, was a sign that indeed God was present with them on the journey. It pointed to a larger point than just proving the importance of the one asking for it.
What signs and wonders will you see today? If we look for signs for the sake of signs, I imagine we will be disappointed. How often I have prayed, "God just show me something and then I will know you are there?" I wonder though if that too is missing the point?
Truth is, God has provided signs all around to prove that God is with us. The sun that rises in the morning, even on a cold frosty morning. The birds that fly to the feeder seemingly unaware that it's so cold. They have no heat and no blanket, and yet there they are. Another day full of signs to demonstrate to all that are looking that God is present in creation.
"Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
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