16 April 2024 John 6:30-35
“What sign can you do?” the people say.
Then there is a sign. It says, “Heaven – This Way.” There is an arrow pointing the direction. (There is also water turned into wine.)
The people say, “That’s terrific, but it is just one sign. Can you do another?”
Then there is another sign. It says, “Heaven – This Way.” There is an arrow pointing the direction. (There is also a crowd of 5000 fed with five barley loaves and two fish).
The people say, “Incredible! But there are still some who are unconvinced. Can you do another?”
Then there is a third sign. It says, “Heaven – This Way.” There is an arrow pointing the direction. (There is also Jesus healing the sick, again and again.)
It goes on and on – “Heaven – This Way” with an arrow pointing the direction, along with more and more acts of power. And always the people want one more – someone wasn’t there the last time, others need more to convince their parents and siblings, still others have heard that it could be a trick. “A lot can be done with special effects, you know.”
And yet no one looks at where the arrow is pointing. Some plead with the people and say, “You keep asking for signs, and they keep on being provided, and all you can say is ‘One more sign’? Really? Why don’t you look at where the sign is pointing?
It is pointing at Jesus. He is Heaven. He is the way.
Some begin to look and walk tentatively closer to Jesus and start to wonder about heaven. They can’t imagine a life where everything is perfect. It makes no sense to them. They say, “In heaven, every pitcher pitches a perfect game, and every batter bats a thousand. But that’s impossible. It makes no more sense than saying 2+2=5. If a batter bats a thousand, there are no perfect games. If there are only perfect games, then nobody bats a thousand. No one even gets a hit. All the joy we have in life seems to derive from imperfection. We ‘get ahead’ of the other guy, but there is always farther to go. We ‘improve’ our skills and ‘raise’ our children so that they pursue ‘higher’ education, but there is always farther to go. Our world only makes sense if there is farther to go, if perfect is always out of reach.”
The signs say, “Heaven – This Way” with an arrow pointing the direction. And all the arrows point to Jesus. But still people wonder….
Jesus says, “You cannot imagine a perfect world. That’s understandable – you have never been to heaven. But I have. Do you trust Me?”
“Do we trust You to do…what?”
“Do you trust Me? Do you put your confidence in any world, any life that has Me at its center? Do you trust me to be the solution to your ignorance, your pain, your anxiety, your frustration? Do you trust me to be the ‘farther’ that your world is always aiming at?”
“That’s a pretty big ask.”
“Is it? You can’t prove that numbers exist, but you trust them anyway, depend on them anyway, and numbers have never stood in front of you to show you how real they are, how much they care about you. You can’t prove that minds other than your own exist, but you trust that they do anyway, and build all your relationships on that assumption. But many of your relationships have let you down. I have shown you sign after sign after sign, all of them proving how much I love you, how I can fill your life with health, power, love and peace, how I want you to live with Me in heaven. I have never failed you, or forsaken you. Is it an ask as big as all that?”
Is it?
Heaven – This Way.
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