Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation

 

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."

And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?"  

Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch Him.  So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.  And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.  And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."  Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up.  And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."

 

- Mark 8:11-26 

 

Yesterday we read that, in those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."  Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.  They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.  So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.  Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.  And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.  

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."   My study Bible explains that a sign from heaven means a spectacular display of power.  The time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but the Pharisees have not recognized the signs already being performed because their hearts were hardened; they ignored the works happening all around them.  Let us note also that Jesus refuses to give a special sign on demand as proof of His authority for His ministry; His life is an expression of the Father's will, and His identity as Son.

And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?"   My study Bible says that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  In Scripture there are many uses of leaven as an image:  it is used both positively (as in Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as it is here.  In either case, leaven is a symbol of a force which is powerful enough (and frequently subtle enough) to permeate and affect everything around it (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).  

 

 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch Him.  So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.  And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.  And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."  Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up.  And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."  Matthew's Gospel tells us that the people of Bethsaida were unbelieving (see Matthew 11:21).  Therefore, my study Bible explains, Jesus leads this blind man out of the town in order to heal him, so that the people would not scoff at the miracle, which would bring greater condemnation upon themselves.  That this blind man was healed in stages ("I see men like trees, walking" . . . he was restored and saw everyone clearly) shows that he had only a small amount of faith; for, according to my study Bible, healing occurs according to one's faith (Mark 6:5-6).  Nevertheless, this little faith was enough, and it increased with the touch of Jesus.  Christ's command not to return to the town, my study Bible says, symbolizes that we must not return to our sins once we have been forgiven.

As we continually read in the Gospels, faith is an indispensable condition for Christ's healing.   Without it, there is seemingly no "connection" to Christ; there is no conduit for His healing power to work within a person.  It is as if we ourselves need to give permission, to say our own "Yes" to the acceptance of this power of God, in order for God to be able to work in us.  This condition is often tied to our freedom of will with which God has endowed us.  God loves us more than we can imagine, for love is the very nature of God (1 John 4:8).  Like the father of the Prodigal Son in the parable found at Luke 15:11-32, God awaits our return with great desire; so much so, that in the parable describing this love, the elderly man runs to meet his son from afar off, an act considered undignified -- even inappropriate -- in the culture in which Christ first told this parable.  But this is the love of God and God's desire for us simply to return that love.  But God, like the father in the parable, will not force us to return God's love.  God does not compel us to love God.  Thus, this is what we call our free will, and accept that this is part of God's freedom established for us.  So, one may consider the act of faith to be a consent to the working of God within us.  Somehow, for Christ to be able to perform miracles, faith must be present first.  It makes sense in the context of today's reading, in which Christ will not provide miracles on demand for those who challenge Him to prove His identity and divinity, the authority that comes from God for His ministry.  Just as God does not force or compel us to love God, God also does not force faith -- this communion through which we have relationship with God -- upon anyone.  Faith must come from a willing "yes" somewhere within us to God's love and action, to God's mercy and grace.  It simply does not work without our consent.  Sometimes, it seems to me, we are unaware of the depths within our own spirits, which may long for God and God's presence even when our conscious minds would shut God out.  Nonetheless, there are depths to us through which work love and faith, our own ties to the Mystery of God.  See, for example, Jesus' exclamation at the confession of Peter that He is the Christ:  "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17).  I would submit that it is doubtful that in Peter's confession of faith, Peter was consciously aware of having had a revelation or communication from the Father; nevertheless Christ tells us that it is so.  Clearly, there was a depth in Peter that responded to God the Father with an affirmative reception to this communication or revelation.  And so it might be with each one of us, where the depths within us accept faith in some mysterious way unknown and misunderstood even by us in a conscious sense.  But nonetheless, our acceptance is there accompanying faith.  So it works with the healing miracles and other signs performed by Christ:  there must be some level of faith present for God's power to be at work, not a challenge for a proof.  As my study Bible points out about this healing of the blind man, even a little faith will do to start.  We could consider it just a crack in the opening of the door at which Christ always knocks ("Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" - Revelation 3:20).  The Holy Spirit can get through our own walls in surprising ways; all it takes is a chink in the armor with which we surround ourselves.  The importance of faith is made very clear in the fact that, as in other circumstances (such as with those who ridicule at the healing of Jairus' daughter -- see Mark 5:40), Jesus seeks to separate the newly-healed man with his restored sight from the townspeople who scoff.  For those of us who come to faith all of these centuries later, these lessons still remain.  Let us not surround ourselves needlessly with people who scoff at our faith, or who would challenge the things we know through some mysterious process at work in our lives.  We are made of much more than simply conscious memory, "facts" at hand, efforts at proofs of things which exist far beyond our capacity to know in some objective or scientifically measured way.  We nonetheless have parts to ourselves with which God may communicate, and we may receive the things of God, knowing their mysterious effect in our lives, the capacity to heal, a guidance we can't explain in a conventional sense.  Let us be aware of how precious that faith really is, and make every effort to protect it just as Jesus does, following His instructions just as He guides the formerly blind.