Being signs for each other

Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11

Being signs for each other

Gary Larson once created a wonderful cartoon of a child pushing a door that has a clear sign on it that says pull. What makes the cartoon even funnier is another sign in front of the building that reads: MIDVALE School for the Gifted. 

Perhaps one of the reasons we laugh at this cartoon is because we have done something similar at least once in our lives. Done the opposite of what a sign instructs us to do. But sometimes there are plausible reasons for getting confused.

In the archive section of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, I kept pushing a door that opened by pulling. The attendant kindly pointed out, with a not-so-well-hidden smirk, that there was a clear sign posted on the door, and this was true. However, this sign was only on the outside of the door, and, to my great delight, I saw others often struggling with the same door. The reason was that the signage was inconsistent.

Signs are meant to help us. The lack of signs can be disastrous. But signs can also be wrong or misleading…and, as such, they can be equally dangerous.

A long time ago, cartographers would often mark the end of their navigational knowledge with a sign: There be Dragons! The reason was simple…we all have a fear of the unknown. What would happen to us if we crossed over the edge of the known into the unknown? Would we return? And if we did return, what would we be like to others? Would they think us liars or lunatics…or would they believe us? Thankfully there were some who were courageous enough to push on past the old wrong signs and they were richly rewarded for their bravery. But those who followed in their wake were also rewarded because they now had new signs showing them the truth. Perhaps there is a lesson for us in this…maybe it is time for those of us who know the way, the truth, and the life to start leaving signs for others. 

In the deep Kalahari, where there are few landmarks to navigate by, the San people leave each other signs to point out places where food and water can be found. This is more than a simple act of kindness. Without such signs the survival of the San as a people hangs in the balance. Here again is a lesson for us as believers in Jesus. How can we leave signs for others of how we can become better humans together? Not only for ourselves, but for the well-being of all of creation?

Of course, signs in and of themselves can be misconstrued, misunderstood, or simply ignored. Think about the signs of the planets given to us by God as indicators of seasons, days, and years. Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens are signs of the glory of God and yet people have misread the signs and have worshipped the creation rather than the Creator. Paul tells us in Romans that ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been “seen” through the things he has made. But despite these clear indicators, people exchanged the glory of God for images. People worship the sign rather than the sign-maker.

John tells us in his Gospel, that the changing of water into wine was Jesus’ first sign. Like the first sign of Moses, water changed into something else…with Moses, water turned into blood…undrinkable…with Jesus, water turned into wine, not only drinkable, but very palatable according to the taster. But in both cases, these signs were given to point people in the right direction…to show them that their God was mighty to save and to deliver them from a power far greater than themselves. To worship the wine would be a mistake. 

Just as the sun, the moon, and the stars were designed to help us to tell times and seasons and months and years, so the changing of water into wine in stone jars used, not for drinking purposes, but for ritual cleansing purposes helps us understand that Jesus came to cleanse us…to purify us by means of some form of miraculous intervention. Just like the ten plagues in Egypt served to remind both Israel and Egypt that there is but one God and he is not to be trifled with or resisted, so the so-called seven signs of Jesus in the Gospel of John serve to reveal his power to provide what we cannot. 

It is no coincidence that Jesus used wine as a sign of his blood during the Passover feast. He stood on the brink of a far greater deliverance than the exodus from Egypt and he used a well-known sign to help his disciples make that connection…the Passover lamb and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins on the world. 

But notice that the biblical signs are multiple…one pointing to another. From the very first sacrifice in the garden of Eden to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, to the final sacrifice on the cross to cover the sins of humanity, signs and symbols, feasts and festivals, Sabbaths and New Moons, idioms and parables, were all pointing forward to Jesus. Each and every one of these signs displayed the greatness and the power and the love of God for his creation…they were designed to, as Isaiah put it, cause the nations to see God’s glory through the vindication of His people. 

God’s people…our lives…everything that we are and everything that happens to us…everything is used by God as a sign for the nations. We are witnesses to God’s love for His world. Every gift He gives us is to be used for the common good. Each gift is given as a sign for others…a display of His goodness and kindness…and therefore each gift is to be used for that purpose. A variety of gifts are given to a variety of people as the Spirit, the giver of the gifts, chooses. Not everyone has the same gift as that would defeat the purpose of the gifts…they are meant to be used interdependently for the growth or edification of the church. To elevate the gift or even the recipient of the gift is to miss the point entirely. And to elevate one gift over another is equally misguided. The gift is a sign that the gift giver desires other-person-centred unity in the church…all of us working together for the good of everyone else…so that unbelievers may see the benefits of faith in the Almighty God of love. The Church is meant to be a sign for the nations. 

The same can be said of us today as witnesses. We may be very different one from the other, but to say that one is more important than the other is ludicrous. We are all witnesses, serving as signs to point people to the one true God. Just as Jesus did not intend for the disciples to worship the stone purification jars or for us to worship the bread and the wine, so he did not intend for us to exalt a human being or even a collection of human beings to an elevated position. True, we are to respect our leaders and we are to submit to the leadership, but Paul makes it quite clear that we are all to submit to one another. We may have different roles to play but ultimately, we all share the same function. We are signs for each other and we are signs for the world.

But just as signs can be misleading, so our lives can be deceptive or ambiguous or confusing. Like the doors in the Bodleian Library, the sign of the Lord’s presence in our lives may be hidden…or only on one side of our compartmentalised lives…the churchianity side. The day-to-day side lacks a sign or worse…bears a different sign altogether. 

So, here’s the question I would like to ask you today. When others look at your life…when they experience your life…when they see your actions or hear your words…what do they see? Do they see someone who with one hand points to Jesus and with the other points in a different direction? Is your life helping them or hindering them? Is your signage clear?

Yes, you may answer, my signage is clear…as clear as it can be with God’s help. And yet those who know me – even those who knew me before I was changed by Jesus – have not responded in a positive manner. Then may I remind you of Abraham’s response to the request of the rich man in the collective place of the dead. The rich man asked the Abraham send the beggar Lazarus to his family to warn them of the awful consequence for abandoning God. Abraham replied that if people did not believe the Word of God they would not believe even if confronted with a resurrected being. 

And that is exactly what happened. Remember? The other Lazarus, brother to Mary and Martha, was raised from the dead and the leaders did not believe. In fact, they were plotting to kill him because many people were believing in Jesus because of this sign! And also, remember that after Jesus was raised from the dead, these same unbelieving leaders chose to bribe the guards telling them to lie rather than tell the truth! Rather than humbling themselves and repenting and changing their wicked ways, they persisted in what they knew to be a lie! All the evidence of God’s power was there for them to see and yet they chose not to believe. The same may be true of you. It is possible that people will see the signs of God written all over your life and yet not respond positively at all.

This past week, my closest and dearest childhood friend past into glory. She is now with Jesus. Georine was an exceptional person…in so many ways she exhibited the qualities of Jesus in a very natural manner. Never once did she judge me, even when I was at my worst…and believe me she knew me when everyone else was trying to avoid me…and she stood with me…stuck with me, closer than a brother and a sister. I am not unique in this. Georine was like that with everyone, always seeing the best in others…believing the best of others. 

As such Georine stands even in death as a sign for everyone who knows her. She points, not to herself, but to the one she loved so dearly. Her life, even into eternity, directs us to love him too. 

Would you pray with me today and every day, that our Lord would graciously work in your heart and in my heart so that, like Georine, and perhaps someone you know, we can be signs for each other?

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022