Signs

Suppose you were driving along, and you saw a sign that said, “Dual carriageway ends.” Would you know what was up ahead? George Bernard Shaw once remarked that the U.S. and U.K. were “two nations separated by a common language.” Americans who have the nerve to drive around the U.K. quickly discover the differences between American English and the “mother tongue.” “Dual carriageway ends” tells you that your four-lane road is about to become two-lane. How about a sign telling you to “give way?” That’s the equivalent of a “yield” sign. And one announcing a “zebra crossing?” Why, it’s a “pedestrian crossing.” Of course, even in the U.S. we need to heed the information provided by road signs. Who hasn’t been a little more cautious on seeing the orange and black sign announcing “road work ahead?” Even in a city whose roads you know well, to say nothing of places you’re visiting for the first time, and even guided by Samantha or Bob on your GPS, it’s helpful to have those large green and white signs that safely guide you through confusing interchanges. As good drivers know, we all need to watch for signs and attentively follow them.

We all need signs in the spiritual life too. I often think of the spiritual life as a journey. Sometimes on this journey, I feel as if I’m driving at night in the fog – as I recently did coming home from Columbus. Even so, more often than not, like the white edge lines on the right side of the road, God provides signs of God’s presence, and when needed, God even provides green and white highway signs to keep us going in the right direction.

We are now in the season of Epiphany. Epiphany is a season of signs. It’s a time for us to get clues as to Jesus’ identity and hints about where he may be at work. Actually, the clues and hints began at Christmas, as we remembered again the astonishing willingness of the Word to become human, of the transcendent, mysterious, unknowable God to take on human flesh inside the body of a woman and to come among us as vulnerable infant. We could meditate a lifetime on the unfathomable mystery announced in that sign! The visit of the gentile eastern astrologers, which we remembered on the day of Epiphany, reminded us that the Word had come to us for the sake of all people, not just for a chosen few. Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism gave another sign of who this Jesus might be: one who models for us solidarity with all people, dependence on prayer, and trust in God’s affirmation. Next week, we will learn that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s prophecies in Isaiah, the following week we will discover that Jesus’ presence is often destabilizing, and finally, on the last Sunday in Epiphany tide we will glimpse, perhaps just for a minute or two, Jesus’ glorious divine nature.

Meanwhile, this week, we have jumped back into the Gospel of John. Written almost at the turn of the first millennium, the Gospel of John addressed to a Jewish Christian community in conflict with the wider Jewish community. As such, it makes many allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures, but in a symbolic way. It also presents its readers with seven key signs that help them understand Jesus’ identity as God’s Son. In Scripture weddings often symbolize the great heavenly banquet and the joy that awaits us as God’s beloved. And so, in the wonderful story of the wedding at Cana, the gospel writer provides the first signs showing that Jesus might be more than just a Galilean carpenter. Three days earlier in the narrative, Andrew had left John the Baptizer and followed after Jesus. He had then persuaded his brother Simon to join him. The next day Jesus called out Philip and Nathanael. He even promised Nathanael that he would “see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Did these first disciples wonder if they were on the right road, following after this strange Galilean rabbi? The events at this wedding celebration – at which they, Jesus, and Jesus’ mother all happened to be guests – gave them their first clue that Jesus had extraordinary power. They could indeed begin to hope that he might truly be the Lamb of God, as John the Baptizer had called him. They could indeed entertain the possibility that he was God’s anointed one, and that perhaps they had made the right choice in following after him. What is more important, what the disciples saw at Cana opened up the possibility for them that God lovingly embraces people and provides for them with extravagant generosity. Can you even picture the amount of water that became wine – almost 600 bottles? Does that tell you something about God’s nature?

Actually, that God might be extravagantly generous is not a new message in Scripture. Our reading from Isaiah tells us something similar. Taken from the last third of the book, this section was written to a people who have returned from seventy years of exile and are now trying to rebuild Jerusalem. Through the prophet, God promises that they will be “a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” Alluding to the joy of the participants in a wedding feast, God assures the dispirited people that the Lord delights in them and that, “just as the bridegroom rejoices in the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” In the psalm we encounter a God at least as extravagantly generous as Jesus at Cana. God’s love is priceless and beyond human imagining, God’s righteousness cannot be scaled, and God’s justice is unfathomable. All of us will feast at the great messianic banquet . Stay with that image for a moment. Do you wonder what such a great banquet would be like? Who do you think would be seated around the table? And what did Paul tell the Corinthian Christians about the gifts of God’s spirit? That a generous Spirit had spread them around to everyone, The only condition? That they be used for the common good.

Are you getting the picture? Do the signs lead you to a different or clearer idea about Jesus and the God who sent him? If nothing else, see that the God whom we worship is not a stern lawmaker, ready to cut us off at the slightest infraction – not that recognition of our shortcomings isn’t healthy and necessary. See also that God does not need to be placated with punctilious adherence to myriad rules and observances – not that a rule of life and spiritual disciplines aren’t good. Most important, see in Jesus, and the things that he does, the extravagant, generous love of God, a love that embraces us all. And when you begin to see those signs, do what Jesus’ first disciples did: follow after him and know that you are on the right road.

So where are the signs of God’s presence in your life? Where are the signs that help you stay on the road that leads ever closer to God? Where are the signs that assure you that you are God’s beloved child – just as you are this minute? Have you seen them? Well, what do you do when you travel to a strange city? You slow down and pay attention to the green and white signs. To see the signs of God’s presence, to check whether we are still on the right road, we have to slow down a little, we have to take time, and we have to allow God the chance to get a word in edgewise. We have to pray, reflect on our lives, and take the time to express gratitude for all that God gives us.

Would you like a way to begin doing that? If you don’t already do so, take a few minutes every evening, to do a spiritual self-examination. Begin by asking God for light, for God’s light to show you your day. Then, review your day in your mind. Don’t beat yourself up for what you did or for not doing this or that. Rather, thank God for everything that has transpired, good or bad. Notice what part of your day evokes strong feelings. Pray about that. Look ahead to the next day and pray for God’s leading. Then rest in God’s presence.

My brothers and sisters, be assured that following our generous, loving God is not like driving in the U.K. Our extravagant God, who loves all of us as his beloved children, who sent Jesus to make sure we knew that, will give you the signs you need, in a language that you can understand. Even if you are driving at night in the fog, if you are open to God’s presence, God will indeed lead you.