The Gospels are filled with the miracles that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry. He turned water into wine. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He fed thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish. He made the blind see, the lame walk, and cast out demons. That’s a lot of miracles! I often wonder—why did Jesus performed those miracles? An inspirational blog by Wes McAdams, a preaching minister for the Church of Christ, helped me with an answer to that question. Here’s the passage that caught my attention. 

Sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs He had performed by healing the sick. (John 6:1-2) 

What that struck me is how John called Jesus’ miraculous healings “signs.” What is a sign, anyway? When we see an exit sign, we know that sign isn’t the exit; it tells us how to get to the exit. The sign in front of McDonald’s is not where I go to get a burger and fries, but the building behind the sign. So when Jesus performed miracles, John says that those miracles were signs. Later in Chapter 20:30-31, John writes, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” According to John, the signs pointed to Jesus, so people would believe that he was the Son of God. Through those signs we read about what Jesus did, but more importantly, we learn about Who Jesus is, and that in believing we have life. We don’t have life from believing what Jesus did; we have life from believing who Jesus is: that Jesus really is the Son of God.  

And when we believe who He is and put our trust and believe in his name, we not only have life now, but in the life to come…and that’s the very Best News!