And the Pharisees went out and began to dispute against him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, tempting him.
Jesus has just fed thousands with a few loaves, and the Pharisees walk up and start an argument, asking Him for a sign from heaven. Mark tells us why they came: to test Him — so what proof would ever satisfy a heart that has already decided?
Mark does not describe a search for truth. The word he uses means a dispute. One writer shows how the same hostility later falls on Jesus' followers.
In Mark 8:11 the Pharisees "dispute against" Christ. Later, coming down from the mountain, the Lord finds the scribes "disputing against" His disciples. Later, the Lord reminds us that, "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). Little wonder that men who dare to "dispute against" Christ oppose believers too.
Their aim was public. Earlier they attacked His teaching; now they went after His works.
Not long before, the Pharisees had criticised the Lord Jesus because they saw His disciples eat bread with unwashed hands (Mark 7). Now they came forward to oppose Him on other grounds. On the earlier occasion they tried to prove His teaching false. Now they tried to take away from the value of His miraculous works of mercy and power. So they used cunning questions to discredit the Lord in the eyes of the Galileans. He had given those people strong evidence that the kingdom of God was among them.
The demand is absurd. God's clearest evidence stood in front of them, and they asked for something smaller.
The most significant sign God ever gave man was in front of them, in the person of His Son. He eclipsed every other sign. But that is unbelief. It can walk into the presence of the full revelation of God. It can gaze at a light brighter than the sun at noon, and then and there ask God for a cheap candle.
The wording matters. One writer notes that God's signs in the sky belong to judgment, while His signs on earth were signs of mercy.
He had come in grace, and He had given ample evidence of it. In God's mind, signs from heaven were signs of judgment coming before that great and terrible day. God had given every sign of grace on earth, where people needed it, and where mercy brought it and produced it, to show there was deliverance in grace. No wonder the Lord groaned at this generation. They sought a sign, rejected all He had done and the evidence He had shown in grace, and asked for what would be signs of judgment. But God would not feed their unbelief, though He gave every ground for faith.
Mark says they came "to test him." One writer sets this beside other moments when people pressed Jesus to put Himself on display.
"Show us a sign from heaven" was another temptation to Him to exalt Himself (Matthew 16). The Pharisees were testing Him then, just as the devil tested Him when he wanted Him to throw Himself down from the top of the temple. His relatives did the same when they said, "Show yourself to the world" (John 7). But what did the perfect Servant say? He would give no sign but the sign of Jonah — a sign of humiliation. It was a sign that the world and the ruler of the world seemed to get the advantage over Him for a moment. It was not the sort of sign that would overawe the world and silence it into submission to Him.
He gave no display and no argument. He answered with sorrow, not anger — then He left.
Their malicious opposition stirred up no angry resentment in the Lord. A little opposition often does that in us. He met it with sorrow and pity instead, for we read, "He sighed deeply in His spirit." Signs are of no use, and proofs useless, to those who refuse to believe out of malice. Such people seal their own doom. We read that the Lord "left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side." It is solemn when men leave the Lord. Far more terrible is the state of those whom the Lord leaves.
Believers too can miss what God has already done, and then beg Him for more light.
Let us not treat this as the Pharisee's problem alone. In principle it concerns us too. How often has the true believer felt troubled and discouraged, thinking God has not spoken, or acted, or answered? But He has — only we have not had eyes to see. We may have kept begging Him for more light, when all we needed was a few windows in our house!
- Motive: They came arguing, not asking. The goal was to discredit Jesus in front of the crowds who had just seen His power.
- Blindness: A demand for proof made in the presence of God's own Son shows the problem was never lack of evidence.
- Direction: They wanted a sign from the sky. God's signs on earth were signs of mercy; signs from heaven belong to judgment.
- Temptation: Their demand pushed the same way Satan did: display Yourself. He refused, and took the road of humiliation.
- Result: He gave no sign. He sighed and sailed away. We too can miss what God has already said while begging Him to speak.
And groaning in his spirit, he says, Why does this generation seek a sign? Verily I say unto you, A sign shall in no wise be given to this generation.
At Dalmanutha the religious leaders asked Jesus for a sign from heaven. He answered first with a sigh, not with words. Why would He refuse a request that looked so reasonable? And why did it hurt Him so deeply?
The Pharisees were not short of evidence. They had no wish to see a sign, and no ability to recognise one.
When He arrived, certain Pharisees came with aggressive intent and asked for a sign from heaven. He had in fact just been giving very striking signs from heaven in the presence of thousands of witnesses. The Pharisees had no intention of following Him. So they had not been there to see the sign for themselves. Still, there was plenty of witness to it if they cared to listen. The fact was that they had no desire to see any sign that would confirm Him and His mission. They also had no ability to see and recognise the sign, even when it was plainly in front of them.
His refusal was not impatience. It came after a testimony they had already ignored.
But notice the Lord's spirit towards that perverse generation. He sighed deeply in His spirit, saying, "Why does this generation seek a sign? No sign will be given to it." Morally, the end had come. It was useless to give proofs to hearts that had decided not to believe. Perfect patience, love, deep pity, and sorrow at the unbelief of the leaders of the people were all in Him. They showed themselves all the more clearly as their hearts hardened.
There is also a reason in the nature of signs themselves. Writers note that God does not keep multiplying them indefinitely.
The truth is, the time for signs was nearly over. Plenty had been given. But it was never God's way to multiply signs beyond the occasion that brought them in. Signs may stir people at the start of a testimony from God. If they went on afterwards, they would frustrate the moral purpose He has in view — if they did not lose their very character as signs.
The sigh shows how their demand landed on Him.
He showed no anger and no desire for revenge. But we are allowed to know how keenly the evil purpose of those who "lay in wait for His soul" affected Him. His heart was wounded within Him. As Jehovah's righteous Servant He bore the griefs and carried the sorrows of His people in loving sympathy. But the plotting of those who had become His enemies added to this heavy burden of grief. Their secret thoughts stood open before His holy eyes.
Mark notes His feelings as well as His deeds. The two sighs are not the same.
His sympathies are much noticed by our writer, as He does His deeds of mercy. And so are His feelings. At the sight of sorrow He sighed — at the sight of sin He sighed deeply.
He does not pass on a message from someone else.
Notice how the Lord speaks with the dignity and authority of His own right, as He refuses to give in to what His opponents ask. This language is not that of a delegate, even one sent from on high. The Old Testament prophets opened with "Thus says the LORD." But the Lord Jesus replied in His own name to these Pharisees, who despised both His words and His works.
Matthew's account of the same scene adds one exception. Mark records none.
Matthew reports the exceptional sign of the prophet Jonah (Matt. 16:4). That was not a sign the Lord would show them on earth, however, but one that pictured His death and resurrection. Of course they did not understand this and were not concerned enough to ask. Mark does not even mention it.
The scene ends with a departure.
Their malicious opposition stirred no angry resentment in the Lord, as even a little opposition often does in us. He met it with feelings of sorrow and pity... Signs are of no use, and proofs useless, to those who, moved by malice, refuse to believe. Such people seal their own doom, for we read that the Lord "left them and… went to the other side." It is solemn when men leave the Lord. How far more terrible is the condition of those whom the Lord leaves.
- Demand — They asked for proof while surrounded by proof. What they lacked was not evidence but the desire and ability to see it.
- Grief — The demand met no anger in Him, only a sigh. At the sight of sorrow He sighed; at the sight of sin He sighed deeply.
- Refusal — Signs are useless to hearts that have decided not to believe. God never multiplies them past their purpose.
- Authority — He answers not with "Thus says the LORD" but in His own name, refusing them by His own right.
- Departure — He left them and went away. It is serious when people leave the Lord. It is far more terrible when He leaves them.