Several contemporary sources that tells us something about Jesus – both Christian or non-Christian – agree that he was widely known as a miracle worker. And yet, as John reminds us in his prologue, most of Jesus’ contemporaries did not receive him (John 1:1). How can that be?
Our passage in John this week gives us a clue. Jesus criticises his contemporaries because their faith in him only extends as far as the signs and wonders he performs (4:48). But a sign only works if we look beyond it to the thing it points to. If we focus on the sign itself, we miss the point entirely. Jesus’ signs in John are meant to point us to the eternal realities – sin, salvation, new birth, the gift of the Spirit, eternal life – that we can’t see, but which are the heart of Jesus’ teaching. If we let the signs point us to Jesus words, we can move beyond believing our eyes to believing him. Sadly, most in Jesus’ day did not make this transition, but John has written so if we listen carefully to Jesus, we can.
Ed