And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
Genesis 9:12-16
The relationship between God and man has always been based on signs and symbols. However signs are counter intuitive to faith. In most of the Bible stories we see signs towards the anticlimax and not towards the beginning. Noah received the sign after the flood, not before it. Abraham received circumcision after he had left his home and was roaming in the plains. Incidents such as the burning bush are a rare occurrence in the Biblical narrative. God first provides with the instructions and then shows the miracles. Thus we can understand why Jesus was loathe to perform signs in the beginning of His ministry.
Now some scholars have a theory about distinction between signs and miracles. The Gospel according to St. John contains a set of seven major signs, each of which are said to have a major significance. These are :
Changing water into wine at Cana in John 2:1-11 - "the first of the signs"
Healing the royal official's son in Capernaum in John 4:46-54
Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in John 5:1-15
Feeding the 5000 in John 6:5-14
Jesus walking on water in John 6:16-24
Healing the man blind from birth in John 9:1-7
The raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45
We are currently discussing the second sign. Specifically these are signs of His divine authority. We need not forget that John portrays Jesus as the Incarnate God and the purpose of the entire narrative is to point to His divinity. Hence starting from the material transformation of water to wine he leads us up to Jesus' authority over life and death.
The word 'sign' can often be used in other connotations.
A sign is an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else.
With that in mind as we read the narrative we find several signs to which Jesus Himself points. As a matter of fact since most of the narrative of John is symbolic in nature we find a lot of hidden signs. Let us discuss what it means for us to explore such signs as well as prepare for the signs as shown by Jesus.
Signs in the Gospel of John
The entire gospel of John is rich in symbolism. Most of the symbols are not explained by the author and is left open to interpretation making it a healthy source of theological discussions. There are hidden references to concepts (e.g. In the beginning), numbers (five porticoes at the pool where the man was healed) etc.
In the gospel narrative, there are also a set of symbolism used by Jesus Himself. These are mostly explained by the Messiah through word or action in the following narrative. They are much less likely to be used for theological debates. This brings us to the first part of the discussion. Jesus points out the disciples to a harvest in the middle of a desert with a well sitting in midst of it at mid day. Let us look at what He is trying to say.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.
John 4:31-35
When the disciples ask about food Jesus refers to the task at hand. In Israel food inadvertently referred to some form of bread, which was obtained from grains. Jesus thus goes on to explain that His food is the divinely appointed work. His work sustains Him. It is indeed not a healthy lifestyle for a follower of Jesus to adopt. Becoming a workaholic is never in the cards for a follower of Jesus because that involves taking less care of the body which is a temple of God. That is not what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is referring to the sense of fulfillment on accomplishing His divinely appointed task.
The reference to the harvest is again two folds. The harvest does provide the sustenance. But that is not the only significance of the harvest. The harvest, being ready, points towards accomplishment. A farmer puts a lot of investment- time, energy, seeds, fertilizers, to grow a crop and then he has to wait for the harvest. The harvest being ready is good news for the farmer.
The harvest in itself is a two-fold representation. It represents the souls ready to receive the good news of the Kingdom of God. Also the fact that the harvest is ready also signifies that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
John 4:36-38
As the harvest is ready there is a need for laborers. The followers of Jesus are the God-appointed Laborers for the Kingdom of God. At the same time Jesus informs us that it is a team effort. One sows and one reaps. One spreads the good news and the other brings in the souls. The only proprietor of the souls is God. If you notice, in the narrative, none of the disciples interact with the people. The Samaritan woman sows the seed of the good news.
Signs and Wonders
Next we are going to look at the second sign as recorded in the Gospel according to St. John. John calls these miraculous works of Jesus as signs and not miracles. The Synoptic gospels all refer them as miracles and there are also a lot many recorded miracles. The Gospel of Matthew notes more than twenty miracles. John records seven miracles only.
So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."
John 4:46-48
After being hounded by the Pharisees for a sign to prove His authority Jesus is intolerant of the people's need for assurance by the means of signs. Jesus asks for faith and is rewarded with an interrogation. The faith based on miracles is superficial and although the spectator believes in the moment, their mind often deludes them into coming to a logical conclusion. Faith on the other hand is a natural response of the heart and does not involve the machination of a worldly brain.
The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
John 4:49-50
Jesus exhibits His authority over human life and John notes it as a sign.
As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
John 4:51-54
