Greater Things

I read through the gospel of John.  I see the seven signs:

turning water into wine    healing the official's son at a distance   making the paralytic walk   feeding 5,000 with loaves and fishes  walking on the water   healing a man born blind    raising Lazarus

Are things missing in his first steps toward making all things new?  There wasn't a creation salvation: he didn't protect the coral reef, the melting ice caps, or the species' we've lost since then.  He didn't harbor a child, a battered woman, or an oppressed slave.  And, of course, he didn't create any political freedoms. But there's also this:   Jesus didn't lift anyone out of poverty.  

In John's story, healing takes priority and changes four stories.  That Roman official spreading the news.  The paralytic at the center of a Sabbath controversy that would cost his healer dearly.  The man born blind walking away from darkness to light.  Lazarus making the most of his second chance sharing a table with Jesus again and again.  Certainly new legs and new eyes could now give a man a living.  Mary and Martha spared destitution with the return of their brother's strength.   A field of people were given a meal, but just once.

He was here to point to himself, the rescuer.  He was here to usher in a new creation trickling it out to our grasping hands. First things first: draw hearts, shift thinking, give choices.  

He didn't come to make us rich, but to make us reach.  For him.  For one another.  Perhaps the poor won't always be with us and we can move to eradicate poverty in my lifetime,

Today we would ask for all the other things -- communal salvation, global relief.  We'd beg, "Help all the sheep. All the folds."  That was his intent all along.  We just weren't ready to join him.  He wanted us to be a part of the process.  He's left some miracles for us to do.  Rescue and redeem all of creation through the work he's already done.  And even greater things than these.

{Giving out of Poverty.  Lent 2013}