^“One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.” But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

Super Bowl 50 is being played in my backyard. Well, not literally my backyard but it certainly feels like it as the teams, sponsors, fans and all the tag-a-longs of the biggest sporting event in the world have descended on the Bay Area.  And with the people comes the marketing to those people.  We are seeing huge signs on the sides of buildings and of course with big signs come controversy.  Some are so big that the city has already made the companies remove them.  Bigger isn’t better when it’s illegal.  But, as we all know, big signs get talked about and recognized, so I guess even that the largest had to come down, they received their few minutes of attention.

The Pharisees wanted “big” and miraculous signs from Jesus before they would believe.  Jesus responded bluntly that if big and miraculous were what were needed, then they were looking for the wrong things.  Sometimes we have to be reminded that Jesus shied away from the big and continued to minister in the small and unnoticed.  Our world loves a big sign, but as we are in but not of this world, let’s be sure that we don’t get caught up and swayed but instead remain steadfast in the small signs of grace, mercy, love and redemption that God delivers to us of each and every day.

Reference:  Matthew 12: 38-39 (New Living Translation)