A Fresh Perspective - June 8, 2007
In Matthew 16 representatives from two Jewish groups, normally at odds with one another, come together in their opposition to Jesus. They come requesting a ‘sign." Jesus had engaged in many works of power, healing the lame and diseased, but obviously this did not provide them with incontrovertible proof or evidence for faith.
Franciscan priest and spiritual writer Richard Rohr has said that there are three basic ways to see Reality. One possibility is that God is against us; that God is out for God's self and takes pleasure in making us squirm. The second possibility is that God is aloof, indifferent, and distant; that God is apathetic towards us and we are basically on our own. Or the third possibility is that God is benevolent, good, and compassionate; that God deeply cares for us and seeks our good. Most of us look for some indication, some "sign" that God is for us.
Jesus rebukes these who try to entrap him by pointing out, that while they can interpret the "signs" in the sky and determine the course of the weather, they are clueless in interpreting the "signs" of the times. God was present in the words and deeds of Jesus, but they cannot see. They are blind to God's presence and reality among them.
Does this mean there are no "signs"? No, but it is a matter of interpretation. It all comes down to how we "see." Remember one of the opening scenes in the movie Bruce Almighty? God gives Bruce a number of "signs" that he doesn't recognize, all the while Bruce is ranting and raving at God for being so elusive.
What is it that we are looking for when we seek a "sign?" Do we want God to make faith easy for us? Would it even be faith if God worked some dazzling miracle to win us over? (Jesus was tempted at the beginning of his ministry to adopt this kind of strategy.) Do we expect God to conform to our agenda or cater to our demands? Are we looking for a way out, an easy excuse: "I asked this of God, but God didn't show up"? Well, maybe God did show up; maybe God is already here, but we don't have eyes to see.
Faith is about "seeing" and then translating that vision into a way of life that embodies the forgiveness, grace, and goodness of God. Is there indisputable proof that God loves us, is for us, and seeks our good? No. But there are plenty of "signs" - if we have eyes to "see." Jesus, himself, is the greatest "sign," whose life, death, and resurrection proclaims that God is Love, and that one day we will all come to "see" it and be changed by it.
Chuck Queen is Senior Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, Frankfort (www.ibcfrankfort.com); he welcomes your comments at cqueen@fewpb.net. Look for "A Fresh Perspective" every Friday.