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Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God's Plan

Semeion Press
September 26, 2008

The following sign marked the naming of our publishing company, which we formed in order to publish this book.

Event 1. I put together and print out for Nicola a document on "semeion" (printed out approximately 5:30pm)

Nicola had been telling me for days that we desperately needed a title for our publishing company. We couldn't go ahead with publishing the signs book without it, and she was feeling a tremendous press to publish it. In response to her urging, I had come up with an idea the previous day. My idea was to use either the Hebrew or Greek word for "sign." In particular, I was thinking of New Testament Greek, in which the word for "sign" was also the word for "miracle."

So on this day I tried to track down both the Hebrew and Greek words for "sign." I couldn't read the online English-Hebrew dictionaries, as they used the Hebrew alphabet. So I turned to New Testament Greek (Koine Greek). I found an English-Greek dictionary and found that the word for "sign" was "semeion." I also found a site where you could look up all the New Testament references to "semeion."

I thought this might really be the word we needed for the name of our publishing company. I liked it enough to put together a document for Nicola, so that she could evaluate the merits of the idea. As part of the document, I included the "semeion" references in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as they vaguely fit our usage of "sign"-some sort of observable indicator of a higher plan. The references in John and Acts just didn't seem as good, so I didn't include them. Then, right as I went to print it, I removed the Mark references, because I thought the document might be too long for Nicola. However, since they were in the document up until the last second, I've restored them below.

Here, with the Mark references restored, is the document I prepared for Nicola (it is not necessary to read the whole document; after all, Nicola didn't):

Note that I had put in boldface all of the references to "sign" and "miracle," which originally would have been "semeion" (or its plural "semeia").

Event 2. I encounter a table in the book Q: The Earliest Gospel by John Kloppenborg (approximately 7:30pm)

About two hours later, I was reading from a new book by John Kloppenborg, Q: The Earliest Gospel. In it, I encountered a table (on page 33) in which Kloppenborg was showing how Matthew and Luke had combined passages from the gospel of Mark and the hypothetical gospel Q (which is derived from parallel passages in Matthew and Luke). Kloppenborg used italics to indicate words where Q has influenced Matthew and Luke, and underscores to indicate where Mark has influenced Matthew and Luke. Here is the top half of Kloppenborg's table:

Matthew 12:38-42	Mark 8:11-12	Luke: 16, 29-32
Then some of the Scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." But he answered Them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet….	The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, testing him. And he groaned in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."	while others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven…. When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, 'This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

Note that here too the word "sign" had been emphasized multiple times. Nine times it is italicized, and three times it is italicized by itself.

I was immediately struck by the parallels with the document I had produced for Nicola. Kloppenborg's table not only emphasized the word "sign," as mine had, it even included some of the exact passages that mine had included.

Proximity (closeness in time of the events)

About two hours. The best-case scenario is that events are within a half hour of each other. The next best is within five hours of each other, as the events are here. And the events have to be within twelve hours of each other, or it's not a sign.

Independence

Are these events causually independent, or did one substantially influence the other? If the latter is true, it's not a sign. I believe the events are entirely independent. The only logical influence here would be from event 2 to event 1. In other words, I could have earlier flicked forward in the book on Q and seen Kloppenborg's table emphasizing the parallel passages in which he emphasized he word "sign." And this may have consciously or unconsciously inspired the table I drew up. However, that didn't happen. I hadn't flicked forward at all in the book (which is my usual practice; I sometimes don't even look at the table of contents before I start reading). The book had arrived in the mail two days before, after which I just started in on page 1.

Parallels (elements shared by both events)

• A man draws up a kind of table.
• It is composed of parallel passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke (in that order).
• In particular, they are passages about Jesus being asked for a sign and responding to the request.
• They specifically include: Matthew 12:38-39, Mark 8:11-12, and Luke 11:16, 29-30.
• In these passages, the word "sign" is included multiple times (event 1: 30 times; event 2: 11 times).
• The man repeatedly highlights (using bold or italics) the word "sign" in all three gospels
• He has drawn up the table to illustrate something about the original Greek composition of those passages, especially focused on particular original Greek words. (I was highlighting occurrences of the Greek word "Semeion"; Kloppenborg was showing how Matthew and Luke had combined similar Greek passages from Mark and Q.)

This list of parallels seems to go phenomenally beyond chance. In particular, it has the very features we want from a solid list of parallels:

• Some of these parallels are highly specific and unlikely (both events, for instance, included the exact same passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke).
• The parallels are numerous-there are seven (close to my average of eight).
• Together, the parallels describe an integrated situation: A man draws up a table, composed of parallel passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in which Jesus is asked for a sign. He highlights the repeated use of the word "sign," in order to illustrate something about the original Greek composition of these passages.
• The parallels go to the heart of both events. The preceding description, for instance, is a pretty good general description of what each table is, rather than a description of merely peripheral elements.

Subject situation (what the sign is about)

The subject situation is clearly my choice of the word "semeion" for the title of our publishing company. This is intuitively obvious, but it also fits the rules for identifying the subject situation:

• It is a situation in my life that fits the general pattern laid down by the parallels.
• It is a situation that is current, uncertain, unresolved, or at least needing confirmation-i.e., a situation in which I need counsel.
• It is contained in one of the events (in this case, the first).
• That event has the characteristics of an important event for me. In particular, it is a new idea that I have question about ("Is this new idea right?").

There is probably also a secondary subject situation here. The whole push to come up with a name was fueled by Nicola's sense of urgency in getting the book published. And another one of "the characteristics of an important event" (see point #4 above) is a strongly felt need, which is exactly what Nicola had. So the sign is probably also addressing her strongly felt need to move forward in publishing the signs book.

Interpretation (what the sign is saying about the subject situation)

The interpretation here is derived from assuming that the parallels carry an implied "there is something right or true about this." In other words, the parallels are confirming. We then apply this confirmation to the subject situation-which, again, was my idea that we should build the name of our publishing company around the word "semeion."

If we assume that the parallels carry that implied "there is something right or true about this," then they initially mean that there is something right about me drawing up that table of parallel passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke in which Jesus is asked for a sign.

But we have to go further than this. I drew up that table so that Nicola could evaluate my idea of using the word "semeion" in the name of our publishing company. That new idea, along with the question of whether it's right, is what I call my "specific concern."

So we really have to see the parallels as confirming not so much the table I drew up, but my reason for drawing it up, my specific concern-my idea about what to name our publishing company.

And the sign is probably also confirming the other reason I drew up the table-Nicola's sense of urgency to move forward and get the book published.

Here, then, is a final interpretation:

My idea that we should build the name of our publishing company around the word "semeion" was correct (we are choosing "Semeion Press"). Nicola's sense of urgency around publishing the signs book in a speedy manner (we needed the publishing company name in order to do that) is probably also correct.

Robert Perry Robert Perry offers individual sign consultations to those who feel they may have experienced a CMPE of their own. For more information click here.

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