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Summary
John wants us to count the signs.
In John 4, Jesus leaves Samaria and the Samaritans who joyfully proclaim, “This is indeed the Savior of the world.” And He goes to his homeland, specifically Cana, where He performed the first sign. He goes to his homeland, for He had said, “A prophet has no honor in his homeland.” And so, “They welcomed him,” for they had seen all the signs that He had done in Jerusalem. An “official” asks Jesus to heal his son. Jesus responds, “Unless you (y’all) see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” Then, at the 7th hour, He heals the man’s son. And John writes: “This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.”
John wants us to count the signs. John is clear that Jesus did numerous signs, but he has built his Gospel around seven public signs which Jesus and John exposit. In The Revelation (of Jesus to John) there are seven seals, trumpets, thunders and bowls — they aren’t called “signs,” but they do reveal things. The 7th in each series is different from the other 6, for it is the edge of eternity, the Sabbath rest of God, the endless End full 7th Day. John wants us to ask, “What is the 7th sign?” So, I googled it and found an old horror movie titled “The 7th Sign.”
In the movie, Abby (played by Demi Moore) concludes that she’s rented a room to Jesus, having returned to earth as the Judgment of God and so breaking the seals and bringing about “The Apocalypse” — which includes the death of her unborn baby. So, of course, Abby stabs Jesus with a knife. Light comes out of the wound, and Jesus explains that He had once come as the Lamb, but now He had been sent as the Lion — the wrath of God. What a great movie clip for Mother’s Day!
The clip contained some truth but a lot of lies. Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb. In The Revelation, John hears “The Lion has conquered,” but when he looks, he sees a Lamb standing on the throne as if it had just been slain, and every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth… starts worshiping in an unceasing symphony of praise. He’s always both. He’s always Relentless Love.
How did Hollywood succeed in turning the Gospel into a horror story? I don’t think they did; they learned that from us: the institutional church. What could be a more horrifying horror story than the idea that God (whom we say is Love) will one day endlessly torture the vast majority of His own children? And yet, it is a horror story that works . . . for selling maps of the End Times — that is, knowledge of good and evil, which we can use to save ourselves from God (who alone is Savior, according to Scripture). We seek signs. And that is what John is talking about in John 4.
I’ve seen some wonderful and miraculous signs, but I feel rather ambivalent about signs, for I can’t seem to control them. Jesus also seems to be rather ambivalent about signs. “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign…” said Jesus. Why is Jesus so ambivalent about signs?
Jesus goes to his homeland where He is welcomed and dishonored. Does that make any sense to you? Have you ever been to a used car lot? Have you ever been to the grocery store with a six-year-old? “Daddy, I love you SO much… Can I have gum?” A spoiled child is a miserable child, for that child seeks signs of his father’s love but can no longer see the Love that the signs point to — the Love that makes the signs worth reading.
God is a very wealthy Father. Jesus is an extremely attractive Bridegroom. I bet that Samaritan woman was pretty good looking. She had been welcomed by six men and honored by none, for none saw her heart — none, until the 7th man, Jesus. He honored her and she honored him. And yet He had done no “great works” or miraculous public signs. And “Jews aren’t welcome in Samaria.”
I bet strippers and prostitutes often feel welcomed and yet dishonored. Remember when Jesus rode into Jerusalem (His Bride) and went to His Father’s house (the Temple) on Palm Sunday? He was extremely welcomed (“Hosanna! Save us!”) and dishonored. They stripped him and took his life on the tree under a sign that read: “King of the Jews.’
So, Jesus says to the official, “You will not believe unless you see a sign.” Jesus then performs the sign, and the man goes on “his way.”
The 1st sign was water to wine (If I had that power, we would have no budget problems.) The 2nd sign was healing this father’s sick child (We are all children of “Our Father.”) The 3rd sign is restoring a lame man (Until each member of a body wants all members to be well, a body is lame.) The 4th sign was bread (If we simply seek the sign, we break the body; yet, Jesus still performs the sign.) The 5th sign is sight to the blind (But none are as blind as the religious leaders.) The 6th sign is Lazarus rising from the dead (But Lazarus still dies.)
The 6 signs reveal that God has all power, and Jesus is that power; He is the Lion. The 7th Sign reveals that He freely chooses to lay it all down — He is the Lamb. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the Word of God who creates and sustains all things.
And so, the 7th sign is also the Substance. It reads: “In this is Love.” In chapter 2, John revealed the 7th sign in his commentary on the 1st sign. When Jesus cleansed the temple, the Jews cried out, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” and Jesus replies, “Destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up.” The 7th sign is the edge of the Substance. It’s not only one man’s earthen vessel — not only one man’s body — but Christ’s body: the New Jerusalem Coming Down, the Temple of Living Stones (What we called “Thing #5” on Easter Sunday.)
And how do we get there? We must lose our self-centered, frightened “psyches” and find them in the psyche of God (Jesus and the Kingdom), where everyone bleeds and none are wounded; where everyone’s judgment is the Judgement of God; where everyone loves as they have been loved, and so, none are alone. It’s already at hand, and the gates are always open, although in the darkness, we may be too terrified to look, for this is the Judgment: “The Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light.” The doors are wounds on the Body of Christ. In Him is Life.
Thomas asked for a sign. Jesus appeared and said, “Place your hands in my wound.” And then, “Blessed are those who haven’t seen and yet believed.” Perhaps He meant, “Thomas, it hurts me to prove my love to you, and even more, it hurts you. Happy are we when you believe, for then we have already arrived at home.”
Don’t seek signs. And don’t ignore signs or try to change signs. But read the signs. It turns out that everything is a sign, and they all mean “I love you.”
“Blessed are those who haven’t seen . . .” Seen what? Signs that cannot be ignored. Apparently, Jesus does not want you to believe because you have to believe, and so must confess that He exists; He wants you to believe because you hope that He exists.
I watched “The 7th Sign,” amazed at how we could turn the Gospel into a horror story, but then amazed at how some folks in Hollywood, just trying to tell a story, couldn’t help but preach the Gospel.
Abby gives birth during “The Apocalypse,” choosing to die for her baby, who in some weird way turns out to be Jesus, who then says to Abby: “It was you (the 7th sign is you) — one person with enough hope for an entire world.” OK . . . a little messed up in the details, but not as much as you might think. Check out Revelations 12. And Jesus is the “Son of Man” (humanity), “Christ in you” is “the Hope of Glory,” and He’s hope enough for an entire world.
A mother knows her child in a way that no one else can. And this is how you will know Jesus and all things with Jesus, for all things are in Jesus. And you won’t be dead, for nothing in the Kingdom can stay dead, for it is a communion of sacrificial love in unceasing ecstatic joy, which is Eternal Life: The Life of the 7th Day.
In fear, we seek signs to save ourselves from the Judgment of God; and the Judgment of God is to save us from ourselves with Himself: The Sign and the Substance.
So, take that piece of broken bread, dip it in the wine, and place it in your belly. It’s a seed. Happy Mother’s Day, Bride of Christ.
The 7th Sign means that God is Good, God is Life, God is creating you in His own image and will not fail. Once you’ve read the 7th Sign, you will know the meaning of all the signs, and you will embrace the Journey, for everything means “I love you.” And you will become the 7th Sign. “We love because He first loved us.” That’s not a horror story; that’s the Gospel.