Think of the last time you gave someone directions to a particular location. Maybe you told them to “go to the third traffic light and make a left” or “watch for a restaurant with a big green roof.” You pointed out the signs along the way.
We began Ordinary Time this year recalling the wedding at Cana in Chapter 2 of John’s Gospel. In that passage the narrator explains, “Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him” (verse 11).
With Easter, we now hear of more explicit signs—Simon Peter and the other disciple seeing the empty tomb, and two men in dazzling garments telling the women that Jesus has been raised (John 20:6-8, Luke 24:4-8).
None of us will likely ever see a sign as definitive or physically tangible as the empty tomb. And this reality becomes even more evident as we share our faith in Jesus Christ.
How do you know Jesus Christ really is the Savior? We cannot empirically prove this to a curious friend. It’s not possible give someone clear-cut directions to Jesus’ empty tomb.
And this is why that one, rather bland narrated verse from the wedding at Cana about the beginning of Jesus’ signs is so important.
Can you remember, what were those first signs for you? What was it like to experience “the beginning of signs” as you first began to believe in Jesus as Messiah, as Savior, as Incarnate Word?
The first signs are often less clear and less stunning, but signs nonetheless. The disciples might have never reached the empty tomb moment, had their faith not began with the first signs in Galilee.
And this can influence how we share our faith—yes, we must always be ready to proclaim the ultimate sign of the empty tomb, of Jesus Christ’s definitive victory over death. We should also be ready to share what the first signs were for each of us.
By sharing these first signs and pointing out the signs along the way, we’re preparing others to see the dynamic power of God reaching out in grace to lead and form them as disciples too. The signs along the way of discipleship might seem small, vague, or hard to find, but even the disciples who saw the empty tomb started somewhere—with the first signs.
Our ability to name the signs that led along our path of discipleship is a critical part of authentic witness, of personal testimony that reassures others that even though we’re now filled with Easter joy, we didn’t start at the empty tomb. It begins with the first signs.
Copyright © 2013, Colleen Vermeulen
Colleen Vermeulen
Colleen Reiss Vermeulen, M.Div., M.N.A., blogs, ministers in parish life and lay/deacon formation, and serves as a U.S. Army Reserve officer. She and her husband, Luke, have been married since 2011 and live in Ypsilanti, MI with their two young sons.
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[…] Part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is preparing ourselves to be ready to share our faith journey–to share how we first became and have continued to grow and be continually converted as disciples. Often we jump to wanting to share the big moment. When we came to a decision after a long discernment. Or maybe the time we first really truly prayed to our Lord as Savior. But, the early, sometimes small signs in our life…they’re important too… […]