Three Irishmen, Paddy, Sean and Shamus, left the pub a wee bit late one night, and found themselves on the road which led past the old graveyard.

“Come have a look over here,” says Paddy, “it’s Michael O’Grady’s grave, God bless his soul. He lived to the ripe old age of 87.  Good blood, those O’Grady’s!”

“That’s nothing,” says Sean.  “Here’s one named Patrick O’Toole, it says here that he was 95 when he died.  Aye, those O’Tooles are a hardy bunch, they are!”

Just then, Shamus yells out, “Forget him, here’s a fella that lived to be 145 years old!”

“What was his name?” ask Paddy and Sean.

Shamus stumbles around a bit, awkwardly lights a match to see what else is written on the stone marker, and exclaims, “Miles, to Dublin!”

Signs are valuable, but only if we understand what they were intended to mean.  I am reminded of a time when some Jews came to Jesus looking for a sign:

“Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, ‘When it is evening you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red”; and in the morning, “It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.”  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.’ ” (Matt. 16:1-3)

What were the “signs of the times” that the Jewish leaders could not discern?  I think they were the signs — the miracles — Jesus performed. They said that they wanted a sign, but they had already been given many. And even when they were given the greatest sign of all — the resurrection of Jesus Christ — they would fail to understand its significance.

We have the signs of Christ written down to point us to the fact the he was indeed the Son of God (John 20:30-31).  Read the signs carefully.

Have a great day!

Alan Smith