Jesus has just fed four thousand men, plus women and children, with just a few loaves and fishes. Before He departs the region, those pesky Pharisees show up again to find fault with Him. It's important to note that the Pharisees never deny that any of Jesus' miracles actually happened. They can't; they've seen them with their own eyes and thousands of people have seen them with their own eyes. So instead they seek to discredit Him at every turn by insinuating He's an unrighteous man or that His powers come from the spiritual forces of darkness rather than from God. In today's passage the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign from heaven to prove He is who He says He is.
"The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test Him, they asked Him for a sign from heaven." (Mark 8:11) They want to see something specific come from above. They don't believe Jesus has power to call anything down from the heavens. They are saying to Him something like, "Giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf is not enough proof. Healing lepers and feeding thousands with just a few loaves and fishes is not enough proof. Even raising a little girl from the dead isn't enough proof. So what we want You to do is to call forth something from the heavens. If You are truly God in the flesh, at Your word lightning should fall from the sky. Or You could call forth a rainbow. Or You could tell the sun to stand still in the sky. Yes, we know You've performed earthly miracles, but maybe You've done them through the powers of wickedness. If You are who You say You are, prove it by demonstrating Your authority over the heavens, for they belong only to God. If You cannot call anything forth from the heavens, then You cannot be God's Son."
James Burton Coffman, whose commentaries I've found to be an excellent resource, says of this passage, "By commanding some other type of wonder than the miracles our Lord had so generously performed among them, they were arrogating to themselves the right to decide the kind of proof Christ should provide regarding His divine Messiahship. There was no chance that Jesus would yield to such arrogance. The mighty prophets of the Old Testament had outlined the wonders that would occur when the Messiah came, and Jesus followed that pattern perfectly. The Pharisees were demanding some other kind of proof, but in so doing they placed themselves at variance with their own Scriptures for which they pretended such great respect." Jesus is not going to put on a show for these men. It wouldn't accomplish anything even if He did because they have their minds made up. Furthermore, God spoke in ancient times through the prophets concerning the signs the Messiah would perform, and Jesus is sticking to the script. It would be disobedient of Him to do otherwise. Indeed, the Lord Jesus could call fire down from heaven, but I don't believe for one minute that this would have convinced the Pharisees, for they would have dismissively said, "Elijah did the same, and he never claimed to be the Son of God. Elijah was not the Messiah and neither are You."
In response to the Pharisees' desire for signs from heaven, "He sighed deeply and said, 'Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.' Then He left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side." (Mark 8:12-13) Jesus will provide many signs that prove who He is, but the specific sign the Pharisees want will not be given.
Jesus sighs deeply over the unbelief of the Pharisees. I have a feeling He might want to sigh deeply over what the disciples say next. "The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 'Be careful,' Jesus warned them. 'Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.' They discussed this with one another and said, 'It is because we have no bread.'" (Mark 8:14-16) Sometimes the disciples make me want to laugh out loud. They are often slow to catch on. The reason I find this funny is because I'm often slow to catch on too. There's something so genuinely human about their occasional inability to catch on to what Jesus is doing and saying. If the gospel were just a fable written by men, we can be certain that its authors would have painted the disciples in a much better light, but instead we find them making mistakes and displaying doubts and experiencing fears and moments of confusion....just like us.
"Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: 'Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to understand? And don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?' 'Twelve,' they replied. 'And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?' They answered, 'Seven.' He said to them, 'Do you still not understand?'" (Mark 8:17-21) Jesus is telling the men not to be influenced by the Pharisees and their disbelieving attitude. He likens the Pharisees' attitude to yeast because, "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." (Galatians 5:9) If one disciple begins to be swayed by the disbelief of the Pharisees, others may follow. This attitude is capable of working its way through all of the Twelve. When Jesus chastises them for concentrating on worldly matters (actual bread) and for missing the spiritual meaning of His instructions (the 'yeast' of the Pharisees) a lightbulb suddenly goes off in their heads. "Then they understood that He was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (Matthew 16:12)
Jesus asks the men, "Why are you worried about having only one loaf of bread on board? Am I not capable of providing for you? Haven't you already seen Me do it? Don't you remember?" I wonder how many times Jesus has had to say such a thing to me! Whenever a new problem comes along I'm often seized by anxiety, and if I'd only calm down and listen to His voice, I bet Jesus would be saying, "Why are you worried? Am I not capable of providing for you? Haven't you already seen Me do it? Don't you remember?"
Something about today's passage reminds me of a particular song, so I'm including a link to it below. It's a song that calls us to accept on faith, and by the proof He provided, that Jesus is who He says He is. I hope you enjoy it.
What If?
No comments:
Post a Comment