A Sign

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

A SIGN

John 6:30-33

30 So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 

NIV

It seems people are always looking for a miracle in order to believe. As long as the conversation was all about food, free food, food provided through a miracle at that, they brought up a miracle from the past trying to justify why they believed in the Law of Moses rather in Jesus. So they asked what kind of miracle you can do. Had they not just seen him feed them all from five loaves and two fish? What more of a miracle do they want? Those people were just not satisfied. Of course Jesus had just told them about not working for food that spoils but instead if they did the work of God, believing in the one he sent, then they would have done the work of God and had food that would never spoil but endure to eternal life. So show us, make us believe, is their response. What Jesus tells them is the beginning of a very pointed truth, which we will get to next, but for now we should focus on the truth about these people. Many people will not believe unless they see a sign, a miracle for themselves. It seems so many people are looking for some supernatural spiritual experience and it does not have to be Jesus. Any supernatural or what they believe is supernatural, or what they have been convinced is a supernatural phenomenon will do. Some people, even those who call themselves believers or Christians are looking for a sign to prove their faith in Jesus has worth. Many will gather to see some special person who claims the gift of healing, and has people healed miraculously on stage. It seems so many are so desperate to see a sign in order to truly believe. But in reality all we have to do is just believe that what we need is the bread God has sent from heaven. Although some of us have actually been recipients of a miracle from the hand of God, or through the power of the Holy Spirit, which is the same as the hand of God, we still only need to believe. Maybe some people truly do need a miracle, a sign from God in order to believe. If we are so convinced that God is a hoax, that Christians are just being doped than God comes alone and throws a miracle we cannot deny right into our laps. That is in fact what happened to this believer, and then God kept right on going, doing one miracle after another, year after year, even after this believer’s faith was unshakable. Why there are many miracles is unknown, but surely appreciated and testified about. But the true miracle is the fact God sent Jesus as the bread of life, so that whosoever believers in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The most magnificent miracle is that we believe. We have heard the voice of the Spirit, we have responded to his wooing, his call, and we believe. What a miracle, what a sign.