Today
I find myself thinking about signs and how sometimes we just want one You are driving down the highway having
switched from one roadway to another and suddenly you think; “The speed limit was just
70 miles per hour. Is it the same here?”
You wait and wait for the sign knowing a ticket might be close at hand. Perhaps that says too much about my
driving. Or you are facing a decision in
life, small or large and you want assurance you are on the right course. A sign of affirmation or a u-turn sign would
serve you well, or so you think. The
more I am in unfamiliar turf, the stronger I sense this. Forever I feel this way about the stock
market and my little investments. I hate
researching this area but I want affirmation I am investing wisely.
Those
are to me the small places of life.
There are bigger ones that are connected to the deep loyalties of our
lives. Looking for meaningful work is
one. Is this a right fit? I have watched a friend settle into a long
term position and throughout the first several years all the signs seemed to
indicate this might have been a wrong fit.
Should he stay or move on? What does that seem to say about suitability
to his work, his profession, and all that lead him to the decision in the first place? Was he misguided when he said yes to this position? How can this place become a better fit? Does he need to shift something in his
perspective and expectations? All this
is tough questioning for a good person. The
good news is it has settled out into a fit, but not without real effort and
shift.
Sometimes
signs are not crisp like a speed limit.
Most of us negotiate with how we will
interpret a speed limit. Must I obey or how many
miles over it can I safely drive? We
know that is open to interpretation.
I
love the Gospel of John because it is filled with sign and symbol. The first three Gospels are more linear and
largely event connected. John adds a
layer that is more a meditation on meaning.
Jesus talks longer and in the symbols of sacred seasons, light, dark,
day, night, evil and good. The law
is always mediated by grace, God’s care. There is also the desire for a firm sign
that Jesus is clearly the Christ, the Messiah. There is also utter resistance
to this notion of Jesus as Christ by those in authority, except for a very few.
In
the background of today’s lesson are two stories, the healing of the man born
blind and the teaching on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Both violate the desire
for a clear linear picture. Mud and spittle
on the Sabbath does not seem right medicine.
Jesus assuming the title of Good Shepherd who can be heard and followed
into deep safety seems too close an identity with God.
So
again the authorities ask;
"How long will
you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you
do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me; but you
do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.”
Jesus
goes on to talk of how closely his works are outcroppings of divine care seen
by any who follow him. Yet those
questioning him are clearly more tagged by the violation of their understanding
of Sabbath keeping and by Jesus' understanding of his alignment with divine
will. These are wrong signs for them.
Jesus
reduces his place simply to this: “If I
am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them,
even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and
understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
And
herein lies the pinch. We moderns are not unlike these ancients. We like things clear and proven. We do not want to hang our decisions on “might
be’s” but on clarity. Yet all we get is this compassionate outcropping of God
we call Jesus as a sign for how to live.
Will
we shape our moral, economic, political selves on the charity we find in Jesus
on the off chance he is the Son of God, the Good Shepherd, the wisdom that runs
deeper than life? Will we settle that
the clearest sign we get is a call to live by kindness, be measured by
humility, seek in every place how to love each other better? Will we enjoy spending ourselves in concern
for each other over against putting self as the highest priority? Will we run counter to the self promotion
the world asks of us many times?
When
we look at our path and see we have somehow failed at following what we then discern
as best, will we turn and begin again as best we can following a kinder and
more charitable way, as a sign
we accept correction and forgiveness?
Sometimes
this is all the sign we get.
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