Meditation for February 4, 2009

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Mark 8:11-12

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him.  12 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."

Are You Looking for a Sign?

Sometimes you and I look for a sign that we're going in the right direction, that things are going to be okay.

When we're driving in an unfamiliar area, we might literally be looking for a road sign that tells us we have come to the next turn in the directions that we have been given, or in the map that we have been following.  Maybe because we have maps and people who give us directions - and for some, GPS devices in their cars - there is a tendency for us to think that life should be this straight-forward.  So when we agonize over a tough decision, and finally make one, we might look for a sign that it was the right decision.  A week into a new job, we might be looking for a sign that we have accepted the right position.  Or, perhaps we have remained in a difficult job for many years, and we're not sure if it is time to go.  "Lord, I could use a sign here.  Is it time for me to start looking for a new job?''  We have been dating someone for three months and we see the potential for so much more.  "Just give me a little sign, Lord.  Is this THE ONE?"

We can also be looking for a sign when it comes to the most foundational questions of faith. 

God, are you real?  Are you really who the Bible says you are?  Do you really love me as much as some people say that you do?  Do you care what happens to me? 

Especially during those times when we are going through the deepest challenges, which usually involve a huge loss - loss of a job, loss of a loved one or a close friend, a divorce, a serious downturn in our health - we might question if God is there with us in the midst of our crisis, and find ourselves looking for a sign from God.  We want a sign that God really is with us, and that God really does care.  This is normal, it seems to me.

The Pharisees seemed to be coming at Jesus with a whole different attitude.  There wasn't a genuine desire to know if Jesus was the Messiah, a knowing that would emerge out of an openness to getting to know Jesus and finding out who he was and what he was about - over time.  There wasn't a genuine openness to finding out if Jesus was someone who loved them and cared about them, someone who would be there for them.  Instead, there seemed to be a contentiousness, an antagonizing stance, a deep mistrust - almost from the very first encounter that they had with Jesus.  On some level they felt threatened by him, I suppose.  And how did they respond?  You might say they had the approach of a chief prosecutor, with Jesus being on the witness stand.  This can be appropriate in a criminal trial.  It isn't the best way to build connections and long-lasting relationships with people, however!  And Jesus, being a rather perceptive sort, could see where they were coming from, and almost never answered their questions, and didn't play their game.

In fact, Mark gives us Jesus' very human reaction to their ulterior motives.  "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 this generation.'"  He sighed deeply in his spirit.  Yeah, I guess.  Perhaps when you have been on the receiving end of someone being on the warpath, you too have sighed deeply in your spirit.

My Bible has a note on this passage, that the phrase "this generation" 'recalls Old Testament terminology for human faithlessness'.  (The Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version, note on Mark 8:12)  The editors cite some passages which you can look up, which back their point.  (Genesis 7:1; Deuteronomy 32:4-5; Psalm 95:8-11)  They also point out that Jesus uses this or a similar phrase more than once in Mark. (See, for example, Mark 8:38 and 9:19)  "This generation" - meaning all those who challenge the purposes of God and don't really have the open hearts that a life of faith requires - will not be given a sign.  Why?  Because they wouldn't see it, even if it was right smack-dab in front of them!

On the other hand... on the OTHER hand...  for people who are open, for those who are genuinely seeking God, for those who aren't so on the defensive (or, the other side of the same coin - for those who aren't always on the attack), there will be signs of God at work and God among us all over the place!  During the time of Jesus, it was seen in all the healings, in the water being turned into wine, in 5000 men (plus women and children) being fed with five loaves of bread and two fish, in Lazarus being raised from the dead, and - oh, yeah - that whole thing about Jesus' resurrection on the third day.  Let's be honest here.  Those who really wanted to see a sign had plenty of signs given to them!

It is no different today.  Those who really want to see a sign from God have plenty of signs given to them.  All we have to do is open our eyes and our ears and our hearts.

Two people are brought together, fall in love, and - despite all the challenges and crises in their lives and in the world - stay happily married for 50+ years.

People overcome challenging health issues and divorce and children who reject them (and reject God) for a while, and somehow come through to the other side, and realize that God was with them through all of it.

Despite all the bad news reported on TV, on the internet, and in the newspapers and magazines, we see that there are a lot more stories of genuinely good people in the world, doing genuinely good and compassionate things.  People dedicate their lives to finding a cure for cancer.  Others work with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta.  Brave people work for reform in places like Rwanda and Sudan, when they could choose to flee.  People volunteers to love and serve others at soup kitchens and homeless shelters and on mission trips and in the Peace Corps, and they receive love back.  A "not-perfectly-healthy" man opens doors for people in coffee shops in Louisville and Lafayette, and picks up trash, and recycles cans, and smiles at people, and tells them that Jesus loves them, and gives them hope.  And many people are touched by him.

Are you looking for a sign that God is real, and that God cares deeply for you?  How are you looking?  Are you looking with total skepticism, or even with an in-your-face-antagonistic-I-bet-you-can't-love-me-God... look-how-ornery-I-am kind of way?  Are you looking for a sign from God with a stance that says "I am going to prove that I am right and all these other wacko believers are wrong!"? (I believe it is called self-righteousness.)

Or... are you looking for a sign from God with a heart that is open, trusting, inviting, and even smiling?

It makes a difference how you go about looking for a sign.  One group sees signs from God all over the place.  To the other group, "no sign will be given."