Show Me A Sign

I had lunch with Elizabeth today at La Mie. Food was good and the conversation was good as well. We chattered through lunch and beyond covering such diverse subjects as kids, college, sports, good books to read, cooking, Julia Child, travel, Alaska, France....never a lapse in in the conversation! We ended up talking about tomorrow evening's service, the readings, and the sermon. I laughed as Elizabeth confessed that she didn't have anything put together yet and we giggled at the idea that maybe she should just tell the congregation that she was fresh out of ideas and what did THEY think the readings meant? After all, what new can you say about Jesus being the 'bread of life?' That led to some discussion about both the apostles and the crowds of people who came to hear Jesus preach. They all wanted some sort of visible sign of his divinity. "Show us a sign!' they'd shout, 'heal someone, raise someone from the dead, restore sight to the blind!' Even today we're such visual people...we want to see Christ at work in the world. It can't be real or true if we can't see it, right? Then I confessed that my favorite song from the 70's rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar is Herod's Song. Herod wanted visual proof as well. Who knows what might have happened if Jesus had shown Herod a sign and had turned his water into wine.