John 4:48. Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and
wonders you will not believe.”
This verse is from John, part of a longer action-packed
passage featuring Jesus teaching and healing. Jesus is busy. En route to Galilee, he encounters the
Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well. He stays two more days, gathering more
believers. When he gets himself and the disciples to Cana in Galilee, he is
visited by a royal, who begs him to save the life of his son, who is close to
death with a fever.
I wonder at Jesus’ patience. Hordes of people flock to
him, full of questions, desperate to be near the hope that he embodies.
Pharisees show up to pepper him with questions and to test him on the law. His
disciples don’t take center stage in these passages, but you can almost feel
their anxiety leaching from the sidelines—what is He doing? Why is He taking
such risks, talking to a Woman Like That? Can you keep an eye on him while we
go into town and try to find something to eat?
Jesus is the calm eye of this holy storm, pointing out to
us that his promise to us is in every moment. Again and again, he tells us
anxious, fearful people that the signs of God’s love for us are ever-present—if we only open our eyes and look.
This morning I read a letter sent by a young American aid
worker to her family, written while she was in captivity in Syria last year.
She writes, “I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the
word, I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else.
+ by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall.” Even in
her prison, with darkness approaching, she saw the signs. I hope I can open my
eyes, also.
—Kim Malcom
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