The Jesus we see in His words is infinitely better than the one we ‘see’ in miracles.

“Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him. (John 7:3-5)”

Have you ever heard of S.G.S? Its a serious problem. S.G.S stands for ‘Surfer’s Girlfriend Syndrome.’ What happens is that your girlfriend is on the beach watching you surf, with a camera. So you’re trying to show pony for the camera. You surf badly as usual, but finally you pull that one move, that one amazing barrel or air, and you come to the beach exhilarated, keen to see the picture imagining how you’re going to show everyone and… she missed it! She missed the whole thing! S.G.S.

Or, as my wife once did, she lovingly recorded some random dude for ages thinking it was me. Ugh.

Jesus did amazing miracles. His hometown all saw Him do them, including His family. His brothers – (its unbiblical to call Mary the ‘Virgin Mary’ because she had other kids after Jesus) – His brothers decided to become Jesus’ publicity managers. Jesus was doing these miracles in a small backwater region called Galilee and that’s not how to win the world. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best model in Perth, it won’t mean much unless you show yourself in Paris, New York and Milan.

So they give Him ministry advice: ‘Jesus, the way to win the world is by miracles. Go show yourself in Judea and the whole world will follow you. You need to be a show pony. Go to Jerusalem and show your disciples your works.’ The puzzle is that the Bible tells us even His brothers didn’t believe in Him. How? They saw Him do miracles so how is it ‘not even His brothers believed in Him?’ The answer is that ‘believing’ because you see miracles is not real believing.

The only true ‘believing’ is the belief that comes from hearing Jesus’ words. Seeing does not lead to faith. Hearing leads to faith. Jesus’ whole life proves this. Jesus did end up going to Jerusalem and He did do some miracles there and they crucified Him anyway! Why? Because they didn’t believe in Him!

When we think we believe Jesus because we ‘see’ Him do a miracle, we are missing the real Jesus. We are putting our faith in a ‘Jesus’ who is a show pony, not the real Jesus. If you want to ‘see’ Jesus, you need to listen to Jesus. The real Jesus is not a show pony, the real Jesus is the talking Jesus. Don’t fall for S.G.S by focusing on the wrong Jesus. If you listen to Jesus’ words you will never get Him wrong.