SIGNS

Signs are all around us all the time: advertising something; instructing us where, how much farther, or how fast to go; directing our attention to an idea; etc. The apostle John is unique among the New Testament Gospel writers in his use of the word “sign” (the Greek word, ‘semeion’). Matthew and Mark, quoting Jesus, use the word ‘sign’ negatively in their gospels, but John intentionally employs this term throughout the first half of his gospel, and he does so in a positive and helpful manner.

So what is a sign and why does John use this term instead of ‘miracle’? Encarta Dictionary defines a sign as follows: “Something that indicates or expresses the existence of something else not immediately apparent.” You might just simply say that a sign points you somewhere or to something. So it is with John’s use of the word. John uses the word “sign” instead of the word “miracle” in order to reveal not only the fact that Jesus performed acts of great power (which he did) but more importantly for John, in terms of his purpose for writing his gospel, to demonstrate a greater and deeper spiritual reality outside of the actual miracle itself. In his gospel John only includes seven of the many miracles Jesus performed, and in each case there is a deeper spiritual lesson he wants us to learn regarding who Jesus is and why he came.

With the exceptions of a brief chapter-or-so long prologue and similar epilogue, John’s gospel has two major sections of narrative. The first is built around the structure of the seven signs and the second is focused on the passion of Jesus – the week that included Jesus’ arrest, suffering, death, and resurrection. NT scholar Raymond Brown refers to these two sections of John’s gospel as the “Book of Signs” and the “Book of Glory.” This is a helpful way to understand the intentional structure of John’s gospel. Why does this matter? It matters because John wants us to see each of the miracles in the “book of signs” pointing us to the “book of glory,” the story of Jesus’ passion, i.e. the cross. Every one of the signs shows us some aspect of who Jesus is by pointing us to his glory, his death on the cross for his people. So each week that we look at one of these seven signs, I will connect the miracle to some aspect of the passion of Jesus, not because I am taking creative license with the Bible, but because that is precisely what John wanted us to do, in order that we might a) know who Jesus really is, b) believe in him as he has revealed himself to be, and therefore, c) have eternal life in him.

So the question before us each of the next few weeks will be: What is the greater spiritual reality Jesus is showing us in this miracle? What can we learn about Jesus… according to Jesus himself, through this sign?

Come join us at City on a Hill on Sunday evenings as we learn more about who Jesus is, as John shows us his identity through the seven signs.