Looking for Signs

Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

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If God was here he'd tell you to your face,
Man, you're some kinda sinner

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

"Signs" originally written and recorded by the Five Man Electrical Band, this version by Tesla

Signs, everybody wants a sign. Thomas doubted the stories of the resurrection. He wanted to see Jesus. Not only did he see the Lord, he saw his hands and side and put his hand in the holes. Granted, he just wanted to see what the other apostles had seen, but still, he's not taking anybody's word for it, he just wants to see it for himself.

The Discovery Channel made stars out of the hosts of "Mythbusters." One of the myths they debunked was "we never landed on the moon." Still, people won't believe until they see astronaut lunar debris for themselves and will still say "they brought this stuff six months before opening the moon for tourism."

Americans have always been a skeptical people. It probably began with the revolution. It's reflected in the Bill or Rights. After all, the main articles define governmental rights, but where are the rights of the common man? That's right, the Bill or Rights. It probably turned the corner from skeptical to cynicism during Watergate. Where all governments have their shady actions, President Nixon took this to new extremes.

So the Pharisees want their signs. Jesus tells them that their generation will receive no sign.

In truth, Jesus had shown them a sign, the incarnation. Emmanuel, God with us is the sign sent to this generation. God with us is the sign sent to all generations. It was first seen in the person of the Father in the Garden of Eden, it was seen again in the person of the Son in the Garden of Gethsemane, and is seen in our own gardens in the divine wind that blows across all creation, the Holy Spirit.

We all want signs, it's only human. The glory and the joy of God is that the signs of God in the world are found all around us. We find them in a hand from a neighbor. We find them in the hugs and kisses of a loved one. We find them in the warmth of the sun and the refreshing breezes of our own gardens.

What stands between us and this glorious revelation, let me tell it to your face, it's sin. Sin will be in our way until Christ comes again. In the meantime, Christ breaks into our world every day in every moment. Live intentionally and see that Christ is in the world. Those are the signs worth seeing. Those are the signs worth following.