The upper half of oracle bone 聖 shows an ear above a mouth — one who hears and speaks the divine. Fused with 母, the nursing figure, it forms a character the script never had: a body that listens to heaven and feeds the earth.

The oracle bone 示 depicts an altar — a vertical axis between earth and sky, a place where the invisible is made visible. John does not perform miracles; he points. He is the altar, not the offering.

The oracle bone 子 shows a swaddled infant, arms outstretched — the child in full. It means son, child, seed. Here the infant reaches toward John's goldfinch, unaware it is a symbol of his own Passion.