“Sign Language”
“Sign Language”
John 1.43-51
John 1.43-51
In the name of the Living God and the Christ who has appeared to us. Amen.
He was absolutely alone, fleeing for his very life. He had just left his home and was parked out in the middle of nowhere with only a rock for a pillow. On top of all of this, his parents were trying to tell him who he could or couldn’t fall in love with. (Totally unfair!) His name is Jacob, and what you probably remember about his story is the dream he had that dark, lonely night: he sees a stairway, or a ladder resting on earth and reaching all the way to the heavens. He sees the angels ascending and descending upon it. Above the ladder stands Yahweh, Himself, the Almighty God. This memorable account from Genesis 28 has been pictured in painting and poetry, story, and song, including the well-known spiritual: “…we are climbing Jacob’s ladder.”
Now, what you probably don’t remember about the dream is what God promised and what Jacob believed. God made a promise: I am with you, Jacob, and will watch over you wherever you go. I will not leave you until I have made good on what I have said: the land upon which you lie will be yours and your descendants. They will number like the dust of the earth, the stars of the sky, and all people will be blessed through your offspring.
Jacob believed it. The dream was a sign that even there, absolutely alone, fleeing for his very life, away from home, parked in the middle of nowhere with a rock for a pillow, Jacob still had a gateway to God. That’s what he called it. Awestruck at the promise and the sign given, he said, “This (not a temple) is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Have you ever hoped for a sign? Maybe you’d be content with something bit smaller, even: something like Nathaniel had in this morning’s gospel. Jesus “sees him” under the fig tree before he even meets him. Or maybe you’d be okay with something smaller still: “God, please, please, just let me know you’re still there. Lord, just help me forget about the painful past. Help me move on. Jesus, rest your hand upon me and help me sleep, tonight. Lord, give me a small miracle just to help me through this day.”
Most of us have had moments of longing for a sign from God: whether it’s an unforgotten past, an unforgiving present, or an unforeseen future, we look for something tangible to let us know that we are not alone, that God has not abandoned us, and that the Lord will make good on what he has promised.
But there are a couple of difficulties with seeking signs from God. The first is, God usually sends them when we’re not looking for them. Jacob didn’t fast and pray or fleece in order to squeeze a sign out of God. He simply went to sleep. In the Bible, God chooses when we need a sign and when we don’t—that makes things difficult for us sometimes, doesn’t it? It means most of the time we’re just going to have to trust His word.
You’ll notice that in today’s gospel Nathaniel is far from seeking a sign from Jesus: he’s doubtful that anything good can come from Nazareth at all: Nazareth, the town that’s become a punchline. Yet, Jesus chooses to do a small sign for him, in order to what? In order to point him to something greater.
That’s the other thing about looking for signs from God. God places them in the Bible (and in our lives) in order to move us to something greater. What are the “greater things” that Nathaniel will see? Yes, in his life as a disciple, he will encounter greater miracles than Jesus seeing him under the fig tree: Nathaniel will witness miraculous healings, Christ driving out demons, people rising from the dead. But even here in the very beginning of the calling of the disciples, Jesus points to the greatest sign of all: Jacob’s ladder; the heavens opened, a gateway to God, and the promise of God. And where will the angels be ascending and descending? Upon the son of man, Jesus, the King of Israel, by his own words. God’s greatest sign of promise is found in life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus; and it is through this sign of the son, that we are to understand all the promises of God.
Jesus is that living ladder, the gateway of the promise, the heavens tearing open. This is what he would spend the next three years trying to get Nathaniel and the others to understand. When he died the death meant for us, the curtains were torn in two from top to bottom, giving each of us access to God through faith in Jesus’ blood. When he burst forth from the three-day prison of death, he became the new Jonah, sealing the promise of God in the resurrection, the sign above all others. He is the only gateway by which we have access to the full, final promises of God, and through which we, the nations, can be blessed by Jacob’s offspring.
In those times when we are absolutely alone, or feel like we’re fleeing for our lives, or away from home, parked in the middle of nowhere with a rock for a pillow, God may choose to give us the little sign we need to get us through the night; or he might ask us to simply believe, even when everything tells us otherwise. But the Lord has given us the greatest sign: his own son poured out as an offering for each of us, placed between heaven and earth as a gateway to the eternal, alive forever for us. This is the only miracle that ultimately matters, and the only sign we really need.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.