Jews demand signs and Hellenes look for wisdom

[I've been a bit busy with my dad's hospitalization, but now that I have my computer I can post while sitting by his bed.]

In this part of Matthew we read about many of the miracles Jesus did in the region of the Sea of Gallilee. One thing that strikes me about these miracle stories ("signs") of which Jesus is the center is that signs aren't done just for the sake of the person who asks for it, but more importantly to point out who God is, and who Jesus is. 

Time after time people come up to Him and ask Jesus to do something for them, which seems to invariably be a healing. When a person you love is sick, your greatest desire is that your loved one get well as soon as possible. If you or someone who love is in danger, you want God to save.

But this healing and saving is all about you or the one you love, and can easily miss the point. It's said that people promise God all sorts of things in exchange for healing or saving from danger, but when that worldly salvation happens the promises which were made are quickly forgotten. This is true, all too often.

There was a man in my former parish of Helpston named Robert Campbell. When his father had a severe  heart attack at the age of 50, Robert promised the Lord that if his father lived that he would go to church every Sunday for the rest of his life. Unusually, when his dad did survive Robert indeed went to church, every Sunday. And, that weekly church-going did change his life as a result. Robert was a gentle, good, kind, and deeply thoughtful man, and he attributed those qualities to what God had done in his life as a result of Robert's undertaking of a sincere religious practice.

A few years ago, Robert returned his soul to God when he died of a massive heart attack at the age of fifty, the same age as when his father had his heart attack. Robert was ready, because he kept his promises to the Lord and did what he said he would. This is rare, but very beautiful.

! Corinthians 1:22 says that Jews demand signs, but in fact this is a universal human characteristic, though in the Holy Land of the 1st century this might have been a notable Jewish quality. The second phrase in 1:22 says that Hellenes look for wisdom. Hellenes, or Hellenic refers to Greek culture and attitudes, especially the Greek philosophical framework which emphasized learning and knowing something special which will enable you to achieve spiritual salvation.

What strikes me most often about the miracle stories of the Bible, Old and New Testament, is that no matter what God does or achieves, his people, despite their desire to follow him, have a kind of spiritual ADD. God does a great and astonishing wonder, the people believe it, and then sooner than later they just forget and do their own thing, acting as if they're in charge when in fact they never were.

It's not easy to stop drinking, or smoking, or living in physically, mentally, and spiritually unhealthy ways. It takes, as twelve-step groups will tell you, depending on your higher power and not on yourself, walking humbly with your God.