signs

What's the most spectacular sign of God's presence that you could imagine? How would raising the dead rate? If you saw a resurrection how would you react?

In Luke 7:11-17 Jesus raises a widow's son. He does it out of compassion, which is reassuring: Jesus knows our pain. But how does the crowd react? They get it. They realize that this isn't just a parlor trick. And it's not just a valuable service provided by your friendly neighborhood Messiah ("Please form a line here to experience your own miracle."). They glorified God and said, "A great messenger from God is here." They realized that the Kingdom of God really was breaking through.

Signs should point us to God. God may give us a sign in response to a need, but the need creates the opportunity and isn't an end in itself. When I see the freeway exit sign for my street I know I'm close to home and I'm happy but I don't tell everyone about the exit sign. I look forward to being home. Jesus' signs told people that the Kingdom was nearby (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15-16), but he didn't want people to focus on the signs. At times he told people not to tell others about the sign. He wanted people to get home to the Kingdom and not get distracted gazing at the sign.