A sign for the times!
by Colleen Fitzpatrick
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He hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort (Luke 23:8b).
Read Luke 23:1–12
I remember seeing a movie, The Man with Two Brains, which starred Steve Martin. My (sometimes fallible) memory is that his wife had died, and he had fallen in love again. He was standing in front of a portrait of his deceased wife and saying, ‘Send me a sign. Just send me a sign’. The portrait started spinning around furiously. He said once more, ‘Send me a sign’, as he watched the painting spinning around, and then took it off the wall and put it where he couldn’t see it.
Wouldn’t it be great if God was better at providing signs to help guide us in our decision-making, to see what will happen in the future or, even more importantly, to show God’s amazing powers that would cause people to become Christians?
Herod wanted to see Jesus perform a sign – maybe a miraculous healing, a repeat of turning water into wine, or perhaps even some stunning revelation about what glorious things awaited Herod in the future. Any one of these probably would have satisfied Herod and proved that Jesus was a subversive and justifiably worthy of elimination.
It was not to be. Jesus was not going to play the game. He just stood there, not responding to the taunts, insults or accusations. Maybe if Jesus had performed just one sign, things would have turned out very differently.
Jesus’ humility meant that he had nothing to gain but the cross. As Christians, we are very much in the minority in our current times. We have no earthly power, but we are still called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified so we can serve not only God but also our fellow humans.
As we gather for worship, we confess our faith, hear God’s promises of forgiveness once again and receive the gift of Jesus’ body and blood. If that’s not a sign of God’s love, I don’t know what is!
One of my favourite prayers is the old version of the post-communion prayer. Let’s pray it together.
We give you thanks, almighty God, for refreshing us through your healing gift of holy communion. We pray that through it, you would graciously strengthen us in faith toward you and in love toward one another: through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Colleen has a husband, two daughters, three granddaughters and a wide range of extended family and friends. She lives in Adelaide and loves the way the various parts of her life intersect. Colleen is involved in numerous committees within the church and community. She loves to read. Colleen coordinates her congregation’s prayer group and is delighted to respond to requests for prayer from friends and family.
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