“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’”–John 4:48

How often do we too look for signs and wonders in the midst of this broken fractured world? I don’t know about you, but there are times in my life when I truly want to see those signs and wonders. When someone I love is diagnosed with cancer, I want that person to be cured of their cancer. And that is only one example, there are so many more I could share. Often times God shows up in ways we never imagined or expected. We are looking for signs and wonders and God shows up in completely different signs and wonders than we expect.

It seems to me that often the world is looking for extravagant signs and wonders that will show them the kingdom is here on Earth. But the truth is that those signs and wonders aren’t flashy like a Hollywood sign. But rather they are flashy in their own way. They come from our gentle humble radical Christ who wasn’t afraid to turn water into wine, who wasn’t afraid to sit with tax collectors and sinners, who was all about reminding us of God’s love by dying on the cross and then being raised from the dead.

“Easter says you can put death in the grave, but it won’t stay there.”–Clarence W. Hall

Lent is a time when the signs and wonders of Christ come once again in unexpected ways. For me, death in the midst of the days of Lent has more of a heaviness to it than any other time. A dear friend passed away this weekend. She is now reunited with the love of her life. Yet our hearts are broken. This is only one example of how life and death are so apparent as signs and wonders. On Easter morning, Jesus is risen from the dead when we are reminded that life not death has the final word. 

Each Easter, as the keys to the organ swell as we sing the words to “Jesus Christ is Risen Today,” I find myself clinging to the promise of the cross; the ultimate sign and wonder of how much God loves each of us.