Stephen
Terry, Director
Signs
That Point the Way
Commentary
for the October 5, 2024, Sabbath School Lesson
"and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been
turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the
servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and
said, 'Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine
after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till
now.'" John 2:9-10, NIV
When Andrew Lloyd Weber's rock
opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" first rolled out in October 1971, it was a sensation
and production tours continue to the present, often to sell-out crowds. I
cannot count how many times the tour has performed in Spokane where I attended
a performance. I have seen the movie version and have owned the musical
soundtrack in the past. There are a number of memorable quotes from the movie
but one that speaks to our lesson quarterly's emphasis this week was spoken by
King Herod.
Jesus, after his arrest in the Garden
of Gethsemane, was hauled before Herod because Herod wanted an opportunity to
see one of the miracles, he had heard so much about. He challenged Jesus, "Prove
to me that you're no fool! Walk across my swimming pool!" When Jesus remained
silent and performed no miracles, Herod declared him a fraud and sent him away
to later meet his fate with Pilate.
Our lesson seems to think Jesus
erred in his silence, for this is where we begin, not with the profundity of
the declarations of chapter one of John's gospel, but with miracles Jesus
performed. This may be because modern agnostics refuse to commit their belief
in God without the evidence of miracles. To ask, "If there is a God, why doesn't
he do something about the evil in the world?" is simply another way of saying "I
will only believe in God if he performs a miracle to fix this in my presence!"
It ignores over eight billion miracles created to deal with the problems we
face. Every birth is another effort by God to speak healing into the world. But
we sit on our obese rears and instead of being the miracles God intended us to
be, we blame God for our failure. Then we take it a step further and claim he
does not exist, or he would have spoken or used his hands, and the problem
would have been fixed. We overlook that he already spoke, and everything was
good, and he did use his hands to form us and put us in charge. But when that
went awry, instead of owning our mistake and seeking healing, we blamed God. "If
you hadn't created that woman, we wouldn't be in this fix! She gave me the
fruit you know!" Thus began a long history of blaming God and the women he
created for all the problems in the world. In some countries, women live in
virtual slavery today because of this ill begotten recurring blame. Christians
are not alone in demonizing women. The story of Pandora's Box reveals that even
pagans blamed women for the world's problems.
The upside to this quarter
beginning with the miracles of Jesus is that Christians already believe, and
the quarterly is typically used by those who are already members of the church.
But beginning with the wedding at Cana creates division even among those who
are already Christians. Teetotalers, who refuse to believe that Jesus would
ever create a fermented beverage for people to drink, try to convince everyone
it was just grape juice. The Greek does not support that rendering, but not to
be thwarted, they look for examples from other sources that hint that it could
have been grape juice therefore it must have been grape juice. But if we apply
the principle of Occam's Razor that the simplest explanation is the most
likely, it was wine. Jesus was a religious Jew. Religious Jews drank wine
throughout the Old Testament and continue to do so today, even as part of
Sabbath ceremonies. A Nazarite abstains from wine and does not cut his hair.
There is no indication in scripture that Jesus was a Nazarite. Although he was
called the Nazarene because he was associated with Nazareth, Nazarene and
Nazarite are not the same thing.
So why do we begin with
miracles? The lesson title seems to say it is providing signs so people will believe
and begin moving toward God. But if that is the case, why did Judas, who had
seen so many miracles, move in the opposite direction? And why did Jesus refuse
to perform miracles in settings where it would seemed to have convinced those
most capable of spreading the good news like Herod or Pilate? Jesus himself
answered that question during his ministry. "A wicked and adulterous
generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the
prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a
huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth." (Matthew
12:38-40) Jesus' resurrection would be the only sign they would receive,
yet they even bribed the soldiers guarding the tomb to deny that sign had ever
taken place. (Matthew
28:12-15)
Even before this Jesus performed
a great miracle when he raised Lazarus from the dead. While the people
proclaimed Jesus must be the Messiah, the religious leaders sought not only to
kill Jesus, but also to kill Lazarus and undo the miracle Jesus had performed. (John
12:9-10) Even miracles are meaningless to the obstinate rejector of the
reality of an encounter with God. These opponents of the gospel are modern
incarnations of the magicians of Egypt who stood before Pharoah and discounted
the miracles done by Moses by producing their own counterfeits. In each case,
Pharoah, who listened to their lies, felt his heart harden against God,
bringing ever greater woes upon him and his kingdom. This is a lesson for us,
lest we follow a similar path. If we deny the miracles in the gospels because our
own eyes did not behold them taking place, we will be rejecting something far
greater than a miracle.
We have become jaundiced because
of all the lies we have been given. Modern magicians make a living from
performing acts that seem miraculous but are nothing but lies based on
deception and misdirection. All lies originate from one source, the father of
lies, Satan. (John
8:44) Some may consider themselves "Christian" magicians, but deception and
Christ are strange bedfellows, especially since such deception brings into question
genuine miracles that are not magic.
In farm country, electric fences
protect livestock. Mean children will sometimes trick younger children into
touching the electric fence, telling them it is safe to do so. The jolt tells
them they were deceived. While the pain may have made them wiser, it has also
made them less trusting. It has the same effect every time a "miracle" turns
out to be deceptive sleight of hand and no miracle at all. It becomes easier
and easier to justify the idea that the miracles of Jesus' ministry are
impossible fables that no rational person would accept as true. In the end that
deception steals our faith, leaving us with only ashes and doubting if God ever
really existed. But the Bible makes a promise to give us beauty for those ashes
of doubt and despair. (Isaiah
61:3) This is such a powerful promise that wicked King Manasseh had Isaiah,
the writer of those words, sawn in two. Despots and antichrists manipulate
people through fear. Hope is their worst enemy, so they eradicate all hope
wherever it shines its light. Isaiah sought to direct that light into people's
lives, just as Jesus brought light into the world. It is no accident that Jesus
quoted from Isaiah during his ministry. It is also no wonder that the world
killed them both.
So, what are we to do if our
hearts have become so hardened by deception that we find it impossible to have the
simple faith of a child that would allow us to come to Jesus in our innocence
and find the peace and hope that have left us? The Bible tells us to come
anyway. If we do, God will work his greatest miracle, he will replace the
hardness in our hearts that has turned them to stone and give us a heart of
flesh in its place. (Ezekiel
36:26) Why is this necessary? It is because only a heart of flesh can love
others. Hearts turn to stone because of fear. The one who fears does not know God,
because fear and love cannot coexist. God is love. (1
John 4:8) As we continue in relationship with God, not doubting, but
walking in faith, love will grow, and fear will shrink. As fear gives way to
love, we become overcomers of the fear that would otherwise seek to rule us. (1
John 5:4-5) The miracles in the gospels are fine, but to find this freedom
from fear is the greatest miracle of all.