What I miss the most about being a kid in school are the field trips.  And these days it seems like kids go on more field trips than we ever got the opportunity to go on when I was younger.  Benjamin’s class went to the Nelson Atkins Art Museum this past week.  I want to go to the art museum.  The problem is – it’s closed on my day off.

Now, considering “field trips,” it would have been good if we could have all gone on a field trip before the sermon this morning.  It would have been good for all of us to take a trip down to Branson – not because of what you see in Branson, but because of what you see as you approach Branson.  When you get to Springfield and head south on 65 toward Branson the road-side scenery begins to change.  Huge billboards advertising all the great attractions at this popular vacation destination line the landscape.  There are signs everywhere.  Signs that make you smile and signs that amaze you.  There are signs that make attractions look a lot of fun and there are signs that really make you think and appeal to your senses.  There’s no doubt, there are a lot of signs for a lot of different things.  All of them have a purpose – to attract your attention and hopefully your business when you get to Branson.

            The people, in the time of Jesus, also followed signs as these signs got there attention.  The kind of signs they saw were miraculous signs – signs that were events contrary to the usual course of nature and intended to be a pointer, so to speak, to something far greater.  This is what John 6:2 says, “and a great crowd of people followed Him because they saw the miraculous signs He performed on the sick.”  The signs attracted those people to Jesus.  They followed him because of what they saw – and there sure were a lot of people who saw those signs. 

            Now, to be clear, those signs weren’t advertisements on the roadside like they are near Branson.  Those signs were miracles.  People were being healed of afflictions and physical sufferings were put to an end.  But much like a giant billboard, the signs that Jesus gave to the people before the feeding of the 5,000 in our text today were meant to point to something far greater.  The billboard is just a billboard.  There is something far greater in Branson waiting for you.  So it is with Christ.  Those signs that Jesus did were not the end (though some thought them to be).  They simply pointed out to the people that there is a whole lot more coming.  And a whole lot more they would get – all 5,000 plus of them.

            There were a lot of signs from the Lord prior to the feeding of the 5,000.  He healed a man with leprosy, He healed Peter’s mother-in-law as well.   Then there was the blind man and the paralyzed man and we can’t forget Jairus’s daughter.  Those are but a few.  They were not done for those people alone – but also to show those who witnessed the miraculous signs that there is something far greater – something that would heal them all.  This would come on Calvary.  During Lent we see these “signs.”  During Holy Week – as we travel to the cross together with our Lord – we see the “bringing together” of all that Jesus did for the sake of you and me.

            When we look back, we see how God provided for His people.  You see, He didn’t provide for His people with food at the feeding of the 5,000 alone.  We can look back at the Old Testament text for today.  God provided manna and quail for the people when they needed food.  And then, of course, there was the time that Elijah was fed and cared for by the Lord through ravens that brought him bread.  And Elisha might have been speaking of the signs of the feeding of the 5,000 when he fed 100 people.  A servant asked Elisha, how can twenty loaves feed one hundred people?  Elisha responded, “Give it to the people to eat.  For this is what the Lord says: They will eat and have some left over.  Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.”

            What about the signs of today?  Are there signs?  Sure there are.  There are plenty of signs.  But the question is, “How do we know it’s a sign?”  That’s a very good question.  Sometimes we can be fooled.  Do you remember back at the end of 1990 when Ivan Browning made a prediction that all signs were leading to a major earthquake centered in Southeastern Missouri – and nothing happened?  You have heard others talk about the signs.  The signs that we are getting sick when I start to get a scratchy throat – the signs that it’s going to start storming any minute or the signs that the end is coming or the sign I need from God when I have a tough question to answer.  We talk about the signs.  And there are signs. But be careful.

            Not every sign is from God – though sometimes we think they are.  We ask God to give us a sign when a tough situation or decision approaches us in our lives.  There’s nothing wrong with asking for the Lord’s guidance – but sometimes our ears are only open to what we want to hear.  Sometimes we only listen to the signs that benefit us.  Or we might even be inclined to make up a sign and say that it was from God.  But that’s the way we are.  If something happens – it might hurt someone else – we can justify it by saying that the sign is from God – when actually it is not.  Our inward focus on ourselves tends to hear what we want to hear rather than the voice of God.  And then we miss or ignore “the signs.”

            St. John wrote in his first epistle, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…”  Beloved in the Lord, not everything we hear or see is a sign from the Lord.  The world and the devil do a good job at tricking us into believing that God is speaking to us when actually they are attempting to deceive us.  So John says, “Put it to the test.”  Does it go along with what God would have you to do?  Does it compromise the truth in the Scriptures?  Does it put a different spin on what you know from God and what He would want from you and for you?  None of us are immune.  We can all fall into the trap of believing the signs are leading one way because God is telling me – but then it turns out all wrong.

            Know this, even if it does turn out all wrong it doesn’t mean that the Lord is not with you – or taking care of you – or a part of your direction.  You see, it seemed all wrong when Jesus was ridiculed by the masses and taken to task on everything He said.  It seemed so wrong that Jesus would have to endure the scorn of the Sanhedrin and then the punishment of those Roman Soldiers.  It would seem so wrong when He was carrying His cross and nailed to that tree.  It would seem so wrong to see our God die that way.

            But that wasn’t wrong.  It wasn’t wrong for Jesus and it wasn’t wrong for us either.  Everything that happened did so because the Heavenly Father allowed it to happen.  All signs pointed to God’s grace for your sake.  All of His grace came about for you on that cross in the form of blood shed from our Savior.  These signs not only look back to what was ahead of our Lord, but they also look forward to something far greater for us yet to come.  These are the blessed signs of hope in the day of our trouble.  These are blessed signs of comfort even when we don’t feel like anything today can help.  Signs look forward and all signs are looking good.

            You see, these signs are discernable through the eyes of faith.  The same God who feeds His people of old is the same God who feeds His people of today.  So, He set us down on the hill and He feeds us along with the 5,000 plus.  His gifts are good for our body like they were for those that day on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  His gifts are good for our soul as well.  He is the bread of our life.  Not only is He the bread of life for our bodies, He is so much more for our soul, that is our life to come.  He feeds us today with His Word and life.  He feeds us with more left over just like He did on that faithful day of the feeding of 5,000 plus.

            There are a lot of signs.  More signs than we could ever count.  There are signs on the side of the road, signs that raise a red flag of caution for our life and signs that truly show the way.  All true signs talk to us through His Word – Because His Word is truth.  The signs that direct us today are the same that directed God’s people to that place where Jesus would feed them.  They are His miraculous signs.  What draws us to Him is more than just a sign.  It’s His work on the cross for our life.  He draws us to Him by this.  All signs are clear – the cross is at the center.  Amen. 

The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.