The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He 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.”
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore. (Mk 8:11-13)
Do you try to get the Lord to “pony up”? Do you expect the Lord to jump through hoops for you? Do you want to see all sorts of signs from God before you do anything for Him? The people in today’s gospel did and we read His response to them.
Jesus was amazed at the lack of faith of so many. They had been adrift for so long that they could no longer accept the reality that God was among His people. At this particular point in today’s gospel passage, Jesus had already been around for quite some time. He had healed the sick and raised the dead. He had cast out demons. He had performed all sorts of wonders among the people.
That did not seem to be good enough for many. Unless they were privy to seeing those wonders first hand, they were not going to believe in Him. That was why they pressed Him so. They wanted to see with their own two eyes what Jesus could do. The only problem was that they were disinclined to believe in Jesus even if they had seen mighty deeds.
It is sad to think that this kind of attitude still exists. There are people who do not want to believe, who will not believe. Yet, they insist on seeing. They tell others that they do not believe in God because they have never seen for themselves. In one manner or another, they insist that God perform great works for them. They want God to jump through their hoops.
They will never see enough. For, as soon as one demand would be met, there would be two or three others. When those were met, there would be several more.
God told us that He would be our God if we would be His people. One of the requirements of being His people is that we have faith in Him. Do you trust the Lord? or are you withholding trust until He performs some great sign for you?
FAITH ACTION: Like the man in Mark’s gospel (9:24) who came to the Lord and asked Him to heal his son, humbly come to the Lord in prayer saying, “I do believe. Help my unbelief.”