"Beyond Signs and Wonders" - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Beyond Signs and Wonders
Epiphany 5 – Narrative Lectionary 4
February 9, 2014
Grace, Mankato, MN
John 4.46 – 5.18

“Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe.” (John 4.48, The Message)

Our text gives us two quite different healing stories. In the first, a royal official begs Jesus to heal his son. Initially rebuffed, the official persists and Jesus tells him his son will live, sending him on his way. Many of us who have had sick children or ill loved ones can relate. I had to bring our youngest daughter Amy to the emergency room when she was about seven, suffering from a pain in her hip. It turned out she had a hip infection. Our oldest daughter Angela suffered through several bouts of bronchitis until we finally told the doctor that we needed to get some answers. Fortunately, he agreed and we determined she had moderate to severe asthma and allergies. The second healing has a man with a chronic illness whom Jesus seemingly picks at random. We’re not sure he wants to be healed, and when Jesus does so, breaking Sabbath laws, the man appears ungrateful. Clearly has no idea who Jesus is and throws him under the bus with the religious leaders of the day.

These two stories highlight an important theme in John: the place of signs in the life of faith. Jesus will perform seven signs in John—or eight depending on how you count—and clearly he is of two minds about them. Signs are instrumental in revealing something of who Jesus is and what God has sent him to do. But he is rightly concerned because the ooh and ah effect of the miracles becomes distracting to people. They start talking about the signs and looking for them rather than what they point to. And in the case of the paralyzed man and the religious leaders, signs can sometimes blind us to who Jesus is.

I don’t think we have changed much since Jesus’ time in our need for and fascination with signs. I was reminded by that Wednesday night when someone mentioned (yet another) book on Revelation. People want to read those signs into today. And hardly a day goes by when someone sees the face of Jesus in a piece of toast or a bit of fungus. Furthermore, I’ve had a number of people ask me about dreams or visions of loved ones and what their meaning might be. On one level, it is understandable: we all want to know the way ahead or the next step forward. Should I take that job? Is this the person I’m supposed to marry? Where should I go to school?

There are two things about signs that our text and John’s gospel wants us to know. The first is that the purpose of signs is to point toward Jesus, who he is, and what he came to do. In today’s stories, the signs of healing point to Jesus’ opposition to those things that prevent the abundant life God wishes for all of creation and his ability to restore health and life to us. In fact, it is clear in John’s gospel that Jesus himself is a sign of God’s love and mercy. Moreover, the signs that Jesus does, pointing to himself, say “I am here,” not “I will fix this.”

That brings us to the second thing about the signs Jesus does: the signs often come in ways that we don’t expect and almost always give us what we need, not what we want or look for. They often come into our places of brokenness rather than wholeness, into our darkness rather than our light. It took me eight years to get to seminary and I looked for signs along the way. None of the came as expected. One sign came when I interviewed for the “perfect” job and was not hired. Another came from an aunt who pledged support where none was expected. And a third sign came from a sister who reminded me, when I was whining about my age, that I would be 42 whether I went to seminary or not so I might as well do what God is calling me to do.

Of course, the sign that sums all of this up and in which Jesus’ identity and mission is most perfectly captured is the cross. Through Jesus’ death, God shows completely God’s love for us. We know signs are from God when they point to Jesus and the love God has for us. They point the way forward when they are not what we ask for, but what we need. And we know they are true when they come to us in the midst of our difficulties and trials. In other words, faith (a verb in John) is not an answer, but a way of living. Jesus is here. Amen.