Here's Your Sign (A One Greater Than Solomon)

In Luke chapter 11, we find a most fascinating admonition from our Lord as He taught the people.²⁹ And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. ³⁰ For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. ³¹ The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.


"Signs ,signs everywhere a sign, do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign? Sign says you got to have a membership card to get inside." As this old folk song points out in frustration, we love a sign! People just love to have it all laid out nice and neat, to be directed without effort, to be living on autopilot. The effort to know, to relate, is replaced with directions on how to relate and where. No effort is required to live the cookie-cutter faith. The leaders have decided and this is what you must believe according to doctrine. Works great, except... there is no depth of understanding if one does not struggle, as the caterpillar struggles, to be transformed into the butterfly.Staying in the state of a caterpillar is safer than the the dangerous struggle to become the creature that it was designed to be, but the life is a mutation or corruption of the intended design of the creature of beauty.  Now, nothing is wrong with pure doctrine from the word of God, but care must be taken that we do not formulate the paths of our Lord into a religious set of rules, requiring no personal relationship or responsibility for our own actions, giving guarantee for mindless ritual.


We, as Christians, are intended for beauty, a glorious reflection of our Father. A brother or sister to the Son of God, following His path, the one laid out by His glorious work. Christ blazed the trail for us to follow, making it possible for us to be in relationship with our Lord, but one that does not require a sign, it requires faith. Only by the faith in the Son of God may we be born into this great kingdom, a spiritual temple that contains the glory of the Lord as the tabernacle of old contained the shadow of things to come. We please God with faith and without it it is impossible to do so. Relationships do not always come with directions or signs, but they must come with love, respect and humility. The word of God contains a love letter that will guide us into this glorious relationship, if we are humble and faithful, struggling, if need be,  to be the creature we were intended to be. Once the transformation has taken place, the  reflection is apparent.