They saw Jesus approaching, walking on the water … He said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”  Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading (John 6:19-21)

Jesus walked on water exactly once.  Since he clearly could walk on water, why not do so often, even all the time?

Just this once, when Jesus climbed into the disciples’ boat, “immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading” (John 6:21).  Why not zip across in miraculous fashion all the time?

Lots of people are hungry, everywhere, all the time.  Why not keep multiplying loaves and fishes endlessly?  People are sick in body and soul, everywhere, all the time.  Why not make them all well and whole at once?  Better yet, why not simply prevent all these bad things from happening in the first place?

John’s Gospel avoids using the words miracle, miracles or miraculous.  Instead, John talks often about Jesus’ signs.

A sign points you beyond itself.  The sign is not the point, not the goal or destination; the sign’s job is to point.  And the point is not to focus on the sign, but to follow where the sign is pointing.  If I want to go to Pittsboro, see a sign that reads PITTSBORO – 10 MILES, and I pull over and stop at that road sign and tell myself I’ve arrived in Pittsboro …

The point of Jesus’ signs is Jesus.  The signs tell us who Jesus is.  Healing is not our ultimate goal, Jesus is – because once we follow the signs to him, we are in the deepest healing we will ever need.  An abundance, even an over-abundance of food, is not what we most need; Jesus is.  Once we follow the signs that point to him who is the Bread of Life, we are receiving that for which we most hunger.  During our darkest nights, upon all life’s storm-tossed seas, once we have welcomed Jesus into our boat, we’ve already “arrived.”

As Jesus approaches Jerusalem for the last time, as he heads towards where he has been pointing all the long way, he gives fewer and fewer miracles/signs.  Perhaps among his final miracles/signs is healing the face of a man mutilated by one of his own disciples (compare John 18:10 and Luke 22:51).  Jesus does not skirt betrayal, arrest and flogging, he does not use miraculous power to avoid condemnation, sentencing, crucifixion, death and burial.  These, too, are signs, pointing us to God, to who God is, to how God goes about the work of reconciling the world to himself.

Follow the signs all the way, all the way to him who IS The Way.  Follow the signs to where they are pointing, and we’re already home free.

Are you parking at a “God sign” of some kind, instead of following the sign all the way to Jesus?  What will help you start moving from the sign towards your true destination?

If you’d like to read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can find it here.