The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 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.” 13 Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore.
The Pharisees come forward and argue with Jesus. They are not asking him to teach or explain. They are “seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him” (v. 11). In Mark’s Gospel, that word “test” matters. Earlier, Mark uses the same idea when Jesus is tested in the wilderness (Mk 1:13). Here, the testing comes through a demand: prove yourself in the way we require.
Mark has just shown Jesus feeding a great crowd (Mk 8:1-10), and he places the Pharisees’ demand immediately afterward. They are not asking for another work like that. They demand “a sign from heaven”—a public, heaven-sent proof that would validate Jesus in the way they require. This is similar to what happens in John after the multiplication of loaves, when the crowd asks, “What sign can you do?” (Jn 6:30-31). In both places, the request implies that what Jesus has already done is not enough.
Jesus’ response begins with something Mark wants us to notice: “He sighed from the depth of his spirit” (v. 12). Mark does not explain the sigh. He simply shows that Jesus receives the demand as something weighty and deeply wrong. Then Jesus speaks a hard sentence: “Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation” (v. 12).
In Scripture, demanding proof from God can be a form of testing God rather than trusting him. Israel did this in the desert, quarreling and demanding signs while overlooking what God had already done (Ex 17:2; Nm 14:11). Moses sings of a “perverse and crooked generation” that turns from God (Dt 32:20). Mark’s wording echoes that pattern. The problem is not that God is unable to act. The problem is the posture of the heart that demands God act on human terms.
Jesus does not say that God never gives signs. Mark’s Gospel is full of Jesus’ deeds that reveal God’s power and mercy. But Jesus refuses to turn God’s work into a public spectacle meant to satisfy opponents. Matthew and Luke connect this kind of demand with “the sign of Jonah” (Mt 12:38-42; Lk 11:29-32), pointing to Jesus’ death and resurrection as God’s decisive act. Yet even there, the Scriptures warn that a hardened heart can still refuse what is plainly given.
Mark ends the scene quickly: “Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore” (v. 13). The refusal is not followed by debate. Jesus leaves. In Mark, the question is not whether Jesus can perform a sign on demand. The question is whether people will recognize what God is already doing in him.
Lord Jesus, give me a heart that listens and follows. Keep me from testing you with demands, and teach me to receive your works with faith. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Mk 8:11-13.
- Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, Mark, p. 79.
- New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), Mark, p. 613, para. 52.
- Navarre Bible: The Gospels and Acts, Mark, p. 191.
- Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018), Mark, pp. 996-997.
- The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century (2020), Mark, p. 1262.
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