Mark 8:11-13

4. THE DEMAND FOR A SIGN 8:11-13

TEXT 8:11-13

And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. And he left them, and again entering into the boat departed to the other side.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 8:11-13

379.

What type of sign did the Pharisees want?

380.

What test or trial was this to Jesus?

381.

What emotion filled the Saviour's heart as He sighed deeply?

382.

Read Matthew 16:1-4 for a little more complete account of this.

383.

Show how unreasonable was this request for a sign.

384.

Was Jesus disappointed as He turned to get in the boat to go across the lake? Discuss.

COMMENT

TIMESummer A.D. 29.
PLACECapernaum.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTSMatthew 15:39 to Matthew 16:4.

OUTLINE1. The dispute and question, Mark 8:11. Mark 8:2. The disappointment and refusal, Mark 8:12. Mark 8:3. The departure, Mark 8:13.

ANALYSIS

I.

THE DISPUTE AND QUESTION, Mark 8:11.

1.

The Pharisees sought Him out.

2.

Disputed and sought a sign from heaven.

3.

This was only to justify themselves.

II.

THE DISAPPOINTMENT AND REFUSAL, Mark 8:12.

1.

Sighed deeply from the bottom of His heart.

2.

Why seek a sign when it is here.

3.

No sign such as you seek will be given.

III.

THE DEPARTURE, Mark 8:13.

1.

Left them.

2.

Once again sought seclusion to instruct His apostles.

3.

Sailed from Capernaum eastward.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I.

THE DISPUTE AND QUESTION.

Mark 8:11. The Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him.i.e. came out from their homes when they heard that he was there. By some it is assumed that he went beyond Dalmanutha to Capernaum, and that this interview took place there; but the intention of both evangelists apparently was to tell what happened almost as he had landed. Hence these were in all probability Pharisees of Dalmanutha. Matthew associates Sadducees with them.Seeking of him a sign from heaven. See similar requests in John 2:18; Matthew 12:38; John 6:30, all previous to this. What they asked for was something like the manna (so, expressly, in John 6:31), or thunder from a clear sky (1 Samuel 12:18), or fire from heaven, such as came to Elijah (1 Kings 18), or the signs of Joel 2:30-31. There was a popular impression that, although miracles upon the earth might be spurious and deceptive, signs from heaven could not be counterfeited, It was expected that they would accompany the coming of the Messiah, and therefore Jesus was repeatedly asked to fulfill this expectation. If he was the Christ, they thought he would certainly be able and willing, and even anxious, to give this proof of his claim.But they were tempting him, neverthelessi.e., as in Matthew 19:3 and Mark 12:13, they were trying to entangle him, to his own injury with the people. They knew well enough that he would not give them a sign from heaven; all the Pharisees in Galilee must have known the great refusal recorded in Matthew 12:39 and the more recent one of John 6. He would not give them the sign, but by repeatedly calling for it they might discredit his claims with the people, who expected it of the Messiah. Since they themselves hated him, they must take all measures to prevent Israel from supposing its hopes to be fulfilled in him; so they would play upon false hopes and studiously repress all spiritual expectations. This was his welcome when he landed again on the soil of Galilee. He had been absent long enough to allow calm thought about him, and had now returned after a few days of gracious working just across the lake. This was his receptionthe old wearisome demand of spiritual blindness: Give us a sign from heaven.

II.

THE DISAPPOINTMENT AND REFUSAL.

Mark 8:12. At human misery he sighed (chap. Mark 7:34); at human sin amounting to criminal inability to discern the truth he sighed deeply in his spirit.a touch of personal remembrance peculiar to Mark. This deep sigh, or groan, was the sign of the chafing of his spirit against spiritual barriers. To the physically deaf he could say Ephphatha, but not to these spiritually hardened and self-imprisoned Pharisees. What voice could reach them? When the rich young man departed sorrowful, he pointed his disciples to the brighter side, saying, With God all things are possible. But in the case of these proud and hardened men he could only sigh, for the gates of spiritual possibility seemed closed.Why doth this generation seek after a sign? This generation, the men of his time, who had the opportunity to know himwhy should they ask for a sign? If there was no spiritual recognition of him, the case was hopeless; signs would teach them nothing. He himself was the true Sign from heaven, the living Witness to the present God. If they did not see that he was in the Father and the Father in him, their blindness must remain. Therefore he told them, with his emphatic verily I say unto you, that no sign should be given them.In Matthew three additions are placed here, all exceedingly significant: (1) He contrasts their quickness in detecting signs of coming changes of weather with their slowness in discerning spiritual signs. (2) He traces their lack of perception of a present God to spiritual adultery. The prophets represent Israel as the wife of Jehovah, and often as the unfaithful and adulterous wife. This generation, says Jesus, is thus adulterous; it has broken faith with God, and has become carnal and unloving. Therefore it has lost all spiritual sense and consciousness of him, and, instead of discerning his holy presence in him whom he hath sent, must be asking for visible signs and portents to certify his nearness, But for the spiritual adultery there would be felt no need of signs. (3) There shall be no sign given but the sign of the prophet Jonah, of which he had before spoken (Matthew 12:39-40), and which he seems to have wished to keep in their sight as a suggestive lesson, which might possibly awaken some right questionings in their hearts.

III.

THE DEPARTURE.

Mark 8:13, Disheartened and repelled by this reception in his own country, he abruptly turned back, without going on, as it appears, to Capernaum, and re-embarked to return to the eastern shore, It is little to say that he must have gone in sadness. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. We should greatly misread his life if we interpreted such language almost entirely in the light of his latest sufferings. He felt the grief of rejection, not merely as a personal wrong, but more as the rejection of God and goodness and of saving love. Bringing the message of infinite mercy, he must have longed to be accepted; and it could not be other than a constant grief to him that he came to his own, and his own received him not.

Not more than a few hours at the most does he appear to have remained on the western shore, and now he is again afloat on the lake with his disciples, setting out on another journey alone with them, not to return until they have visited the region of Caesarea Philippi, (W. N. Clarke)

FACT QUESTIONS 8:11-13

425.

From where did the Pharisees (and Sadducees) come?how soon did they come?

426.

Explain just what kind of sign these Pharisees wanted.

427.

Did they actually expect a sign? Why ask?

428.

How was their spiritual blindness indicated?

429.

What two things caused Jesus to sigh?

430.

Show how the rich young ruler had more promise than these men.

431.

What was the true sign they failed to recognize?

432.

What three additional facts are given by Matthew?

433.

Show how this incident fulfills John 1:10.