Narrator: Ten men in top hats stand around a hole in the ground. They’re waiting for a sign. The members of the mysterious “Inner Circle” gather at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania — a tradition they have kept over 130 years, since 1887! Crowds as large as 30,000 people have gathered for this event over the years — all watching for the same sign. The Inner Circle are actually handlers of a very peculiar groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil. Legend has it that if Phil comes out of his hole and sees his shadow, then he predicts six more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, then spring is near.
This practice of looking for a sign to understand what is happening in the world may seem odd. Sure, Groundhog Phil is a fun tradition involving the suspension of disbelief. But looking for signs and finding meaning in them is something humans have done for centuries.
The leaves changing colors on trees is a sign, for example, that it is fall. Signs are so vital to human existence that it could be said we are “Homos Significans” or “meaning makers”. We look out into the world and try to make sense of the deeper meaning.
This search for meaning goes back to ancient culture. The Babylonians collected signs and organized their meaning into a compendium that attempted to systemize all observed signs. For them, signs weren’t the cause of things but merely predicted events. For example, the sign for a king’s death, seeing an animal or a certain star constellation, was not the cause of his death, just the sign of its occurrence.
Even in our relationships we look for signs. Just start typing into google “How do I know he likes me” and hundreds of articles will help you identify the signs. We give our loved ones flowers, or an act of kindness like a hug, that signifies to them our feelings.
We are surrounded by signs in everyday life, and they can even change our behavior. Some signs give us directions, or warn us of danger, or ask us to follow certain behavioral guidelines in a library so you don’t make other people mad. Even when we know what we are supposed to do, the signs are an important reminder.
In one California neighborhood an experiment was conducted to try to lower energy use. Households were given an electric bill that included a “frowny face” or a “smiley face” depending on whether they were over or under the average energy use for their neighborhood—a little “sign” if they were doing well or not. This caused households with above average energy usage to reduce their usage, better than any other methods tried.
In the Old Testament, people wanted to see signs from prophets to prove they were actually sent by God. In Psalm 19, the Psalmist says that the heavens and the earth all proclaim the glory of God. To the psalmist, everything in the created world is a sign of God’s glory. In the New Testament, Jesus is asked to perform signs to prove He truly is the Son of God.
God speaks to us in ways we can understand. And as humans, we communicate through signs. And Jesus gave us signs unlike any other signs. If our human signs can be this powerful, certainly the signs Jesus left us would have that much more power in themselves. What if the signs God gave us point to a deeper reality, and what if they actually DO what they signify?