Notes from a Sojourn
March 29, 2020
“Signs and Wonders”
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A (John 11.1-45)
Jesus raises Lazarus to life. “Signs and wonders!” you might quip. But wait, is it a wonder or a sign? Can it be both?
The phrase “signs and wonders” is often used as a witty remark. It rolls off the tongue so effortlessly that we might assume “sign” and “wonder” mean the same thing. But they don’t. And, in fact, knowing the difference between the two will help us learn something important about the good news of Jesus Christ, according to John’s Gospel.
What’s in a word?
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus’ acts of healing, feeding, and raising the dead are described as “marvellous,” “remarkable,” and “mighty.” But in John’s Gospel, these same actions are regularly described as “signs.” Why the difference? What is John the Evangelist calling our attention to when he does this?
"Wonders" can be marvellous, remarkable, impressive, and even entertaining. They may astonish us or inspire admiration and praise. But astonishment and inspiration don't last forever. We finish our popcorn, we wait in line for an autograph, or buy a t-shirt. A "wonder" is what it is. It fades. After trying to describe a wonder to your friend you might end up saying, "I guess you had to be there."
But "signs" are different.
A sign is a thing, but it’s not the 'Thing' to which it points. Think of any road sign. The Slippery When Wet road sign is a real thing – it’s a yellow diamond-shaped piece of steel attached with bolts and wingnuts to a vertical post hammered into the ground. It’s real. But it is not the wet slippery road beneath your car tires. Like all road signs, it’s a thing calling your attention to the 'Thing' beyond, within, or around it.
Raising Lazarus from the dead is a sign. It’s a real thing. It happened. Yet, in the hands of John the Evangelist, it’s calling our attention to the 'Thing' beyond, within, and around it. The question is, what (or whom) is this ‘Thing’ the sign is pointing to?
Jesus' works are signs to the work of God
If I were to sum up the central claim of the Gospel of John it would be these words of Jesus: “The Father and I are one” (Jn 10.29). Jesus routinely tells anyone watching and following him that the “works” he does are not his own – they are the works of the one he calls Father: “The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (Jn 5.19). So, the works of Jesus healing, feeding, and raising the dead are ‘signs’ pointing us to the work of God in this world, the Source (the “Father”) of all.
As signs, the works of Jesus in John's Gospel point to the work that God is able to do as Creator (water into wine, bread from heaven, walking on water) and Deliverer (healing the royal official’s son in Capernaum, the paralytic at Bethesda, the man blind from birth, and the raising of Lazarus from the dead). To those who perceive the work of their Creator and Deliverer in Jesus, they see signs calling their attention to the presence of God's redemptive and creative work in their lives. These signs lead them to belief and faith (“Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,” says Martha).
But to those in the story who do not (or will not) perceive their Creator and Deliverer at work in Jesus, they see wonders only – remarkable deeds and astonishing provisions – but are themselves unchanged. Wonders lead to admiration and praise, but not belief in the 'Thing' that makes them possible. For the religious leaders of Jerusalem to admit that Jesus’ wonders are in fact signs is too threatening: “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy our holy place and our nation” (Jn 11.48). Jesus’ signs reveal the impartiality of God’s love, especially for those deemed morally compromised. To the religious leaders Jesus reveals that God’s love is for everyone and not just them. And so they plot to kill him.
Do you believe this?
In the Gospel of John, raising Lazarus from the dead is the seventh sign Jesus gives to his followers before entering Jerusalem where he will be betrayed, arrested, abandoned, and crucified. It is a sign of God’s power to deliver people from death to life and, so, it’s a foreshadowing of what some call the “eighth sign” in the Gospel of John: the Resurrection of Jesus.
In that eighth sign, God’s work of Deliverance and Creation are simultaneous: the Crucified One is delivered from death (pascha, he passes through death to life) and he is resurrected to new life (“the first-born of creation,” and “the first-born from the dead” Col 1.15;18). In this eighth sign, Jesus' words to Martha in Bethany today are fulfilled: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11.25-26).
Do you believe this? That’s the question Jesus is asking each of us to carry into Holy Week.
Today, when Jesus raises Lazarus back to life, do you see an amazing (if improbable) one-hit wonder? Or do you see beyond, within, and around this sign: God’s power to deliver your life from death? If that’s so, then the “eighth sign” of John’s Gospel in two weeks' time will up the ante: will you see God’s power to create our lives anew by the power of the Resurrection?
The Rev. Colin McFarland+
