Signs

Walking through the park, the trees are still exposed frames standing stark against a dull grey sky. Their architectural frameworks are ready and waiting to bear their load of bud, blossom, flower and leaf. It’s still a cold breeze blowing across the open football pitches, making you regret not having a pair of gloves in your coat pocket. Dogs race over the grass and track muddy paw prints across the tarmac path. Deep puddles still lie in indentations of the ground on either side and there is still the possibility of a thin film of ice hardening the surface overnight.

But there are signs.

The signs of springtime. 

Tight buds protrude from branches and from the tips of offshoots, waiting for just the right amount of sunlight and warmth. A little colour is already beginning to flesh out other bare bones. Some green erupting here and there. Small patches of white blossom catch the eye through the mesh of criss-crossing twigs and switches. Daffodils line a wood chipped pathway, by no means the golden host of Wordsworth but a welcome sight nonetheless. A team of council workers offload lawnmowers and strimmers from the back of a truck, getting to work tidying up unkempt borders and grass.

There are signs of change and the arrival of life. New beginnings are happening. 

Spring is the water being turned into a full bodied wine.

Spring is the giving of sight to the blind, and the restoration of power to the legs of the lame.

Spring is the feeding of a hungry multitude of people.

Spring is the raising of a dead man from the tomb.

Signs publicly displayed and manifestly visible in the gospel of John, pointing to the one whose own resurrection from the dead heralds the inauguration of the new Kingdom of life.

‘This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs,’ complained the Jewish leaders. 

People saw the signs, they saw what Jesus did and they believed in him.

The new Kingdom is breaking out of the old age and becoming manifest all around us if we will only take the time to stop and look, to pay attention and see the signs. Fresh new life breaking out everywhere.

Look for the buds of righteousness, and the blossom of truth. Look for the colours of love, compassion, joy, healing and forgiveness that stand out against the dark, drab, oppressive colours of condemnation, pain, hunger and death.

God is revealing himself. Resurrection and redemption have happened, and are happening right now before our eyes.

‘Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.’

John 20:31 (The Message)