Which of us has never asked God for a sign? Have we opened the Bible at random hoping to find a word or a phrase as a sign to help us? Have we even asked God directly for a sign to guide us in an important decision or outcome or reassurance?

The first reading from James stresses the importance of asking God in faith, not doubting. Sometimes this is easier said than done. But in my mind faith is not a feeling– it is a desire of our will. We do not need signs to tell us that God wants to fulfill our every need. Elsewhere in Scripture we are promised that God knows our every wish, our every need. We don’t need to spell it all out or ask God to “prove it” by giving us a sign.

The Pharisees in Mark’s gospel want Jesus to “prove it” as a way to test him. Jesus “sighs from the depth of his spirit” and says “ Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” Then he left them…and went to the other shore. Can you just hear that sigh of Jesus’?

In another Gospel, the Pharisees are promised a sign – the sign of Jonah. Three days in the darkness of a whale’s belly, then spit out on another shore, transformed. Deposited where God wanted him to go and where he feared going. Jesus’ death and resurrection after three days in the darkness of the tomb  - another sign, the big one.

By seeking a sign we want to avoid the necessary journey of death and rebirth, of resurrection, of transformation.  I wonder if one sign would be enough to cement perfect faith? The desire for one sign will lead to another and another, deep faith never satisfied. We might think that a sign would eliminate doubt and offer proof, but in my mind faith always leaves room for doubt or it wouldn’t be faith.

An old song came to my mind as I reflected on the Gospel: Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign by Five Man Electrical Band. Truly there are signs everywhere if we have eyes to see. The resurrection of Springtime, the  kindness of strangers, the cry of a newborn. Name your own. Psalm 78 agrees: What they craved the Lord gave them; they were not disappointed in what they craved.