No Sign Here
5 min read
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
John 4:46-48
On the one hand, we might ask, “Jesus, can you blame us?” Are we expected to believe in things that we cannot see and that most people have not experienced simply because someone says it is so?
On the other hand, we are expected to do that all the time—and not just with matters of religious faith. We are expected to believe that everything that people do to achieve a successful life—get a good education, work long and hard, make lots of money—must in fact result in a successful life. We are expected to believe that tomorrow will bring what every day in the past has brought, whether for good or whether for bad.
Every human being lives every single day holding on to some expectations. Those expectations are the product of our worldview. Those expectations are the basis for whatever hopes we might hold on to. In fact, we need such expectations in order to live a productive and healthy life.
But having a productive and healthy life is not the same as having a fruitful and meaningful life. We can have a productive and healthy life even if we are completely blinded to what is true and real, so long as everyone else around us holds on to the same delusions. Having a fruitful and meaningful life, however, can only happen within the framework of understanding what is true.
When some experience comes along that blows away our expectations, we are forced to reconsider our understanding of what is true, what is real. In that way, any experience that challenges our expectations is a sign that points us to truth.
Miracles may be wonderous, but they are no longer “signs,” per se, if our life is already grounded in the truth of Jesus Christ. There are no signs inside of Torrance point the way to Torrance. We are already there.
Jesus said, “[Blessed] are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29b). But it seems to me that the greater our faith, the more miracles we will see. They just cease to be “signs” for us.
Father, Forgive our shallow faith, where we always need the miracle, always need the emotional jolt, always need the good performance, the good sermon, the good testimony to engage our faith. You are our sign. Let my daily walk with You be the basis of my life and all that I hope for. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
