Day 40 – Here’s Your Sign!

Read:  John 6:25-59

The crowd responded to Jesus’ call to place their faith in Him (John 6 29) by asking, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?” (John 6:30) Their question picks up on an underlying irony in John’s Gospel. Having been drawn to Jesus because of the miracles He performed, having eaten bread and fish He miraculously multiplied, and having followed Him across a lake He somehow miraculously crossed, they now ask for a sign? So far John has carefully recorded five of Jesus’ many signs. He has also included the failure of many to see and understand those signs.

The crowd, motivated by hunger and their recent dining experience with Jesus, pick Moses as an example of a miracle-working prophet. Again, the irony is not lost on John and should not be overlooked by his reader. Jesus makes two important distinctions between the manna provided in the desert and what He came to offer. First, He points out that it wasn’t Moses who provided the bread, but God. He also distinguished between the temporary nature of the manna and the eternal benefit of the “Bread of Life” (John 6:40-50).  In a statement strangely similar to that of the Samaritan woman (John 4:15), they ask Jesus to “always give us this bread.”  Jesus’ answer to the crowd is also similar to his answer to the Samaritan: “I am what you are seeking.”

While some insist on signs to prove Jesus' claims, Jesus insists that signs are not now, nor have they ever been enough. Seeing and eating miraculously produced manna was not sufficient for the children of Israel. The crowd had seen Jesus' miracles. They had eaten the bread He multiplied and still they did not fully believe. There are those who believe with little or no evidence and those who will never believe regardless of the evidence produced.

If people are only convinced that God is real based on the miracles He performs, then miracles will never be enough. Jesus is not a genie in a bottle. While God does not owe us proof, He has provided it because of His grace. We have all asked God for a "sign." God may or may not answer that prayer, but based on what we've read in John, it is also likely we would misinterpret whatever sign He provides. The problem with "signs" is that we believe we can determine what they mean. God has given us something better than a sign; He has provided us with His Word. That Word was made flesh in Jesus Christ and has been recorded and preserved for us in the Bible. Perhaps, rather than praying for a "sign," we should pray for the faith to believe what God has already revealed to us in Jesus Christ. 

Sign of God,

Give me the faith to understand Your Word and rightly apply it to my life. Help me see Your Spirit at work in and around me. I set aside my agenda and invite You to reveal Your truth to me. Forgive me for seeking a sign when You have provided me a Savior.

Amen