Signs The Book of John

The important thing about a sign is not the sign itself. What is important is what the sign points toward or tells us about. The Oxford dictionary defines a sign as “an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else.” For example, giving flowers may be a sign pointing to affection. Or, in the old maxim, red skies at night are a sign that sailors can delight. But, red skies at morning may be a sign that they should take warning. And, some meteorological research substantiates that those signs in the sky are worthy of heeding.

A sign points us to something that is very real but may not be visible at the moment. Sometimes, heeding a sign can save our lives. When a fire erupts in a room, we look for an exit sign, not because of the aesthetic beauty of the sign, but because the sign points to a means of escape.

In his Gospel, the Apostle John did not call the supernatural works of Jesus miracles. He called them signs (semeion). They were magnificent. But, they all pointed to something – or someone – much more magnificent than themselves. They all pointed to something about Jesus’s identity that they otherwise may never have seen. Jesus was a man. People could see that. But he was so much more. Jesus did what human beings did – ate, fished, took trips, etc. But, he came to do so much more. The signs in John’ Gospel demonstrate who Jesus is and what he came to do in our lives and in our world.

But beware: We dare not get fixated on the signs themselves. People did that to their eternal loss. A wayward world only wants signs, Jesus said (cf, Mt 12:39; 16:4; Jn 2:18;4:34). But, we will seek to look and see to what or to whom those signs pointed. We will do so over the next eight weeks.

What will happen when we have eyes to see what the signs of Jesus were pointing toward? Hear Johns words: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (20:30-31).”
Let us see where the sign of Jesus may lead us. I pray we will see more fully all that he wants us to see and how he can change our lives and our world.