The Demand for a Sign

Today's Reflections

 

The Demand for a Sign 

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Mk 8:11-13

¹¹The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with [Jesus], seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. ¹²He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore.

A SIGN FROM HEAVEN. The Jews believe that the coming of the Messiah, God’s anointed one, will be accompanied by displays of power. When the Pharisees come to Jesus asking for a sign, they want him to predict events of the future rather than ask for proofs regarding his identity as a prophet of God. They expect Jesus to fit into their preconceptions and conform to their criteria for truth.

In the desert, Satan already tempted Jesus to put up a spectacle by throwing himself down from the parapet of the Temple, but Jesus refused. It is not the way of Jesus to proclaim himself as God’s anointed through spectacular prodigies.

Jesus comes to reveal God’s love and invites people to receive it. Love is always and necessarily beyond proof, and Jesus refuses to provide on demand the kind of evidence expected of him, especially because such demand originates from human distrust. Jesus heaves a frustrated sigh from the depth of his spirit, obviously disappointed at the Pharisees’ blindness to the many manifestations of God’s love everywhere.

Let us open our eyes

to the signs of God’s love all around us.