agri.church

This Sunday I won’t have time to talk about this part of Mark 8 so I wanted to mention it here. Jesus has just fed 4000 people (the 2nd miraculous feeding of a massive crowd) and he is leaving to cross over to the region of Dalmanutha. When the Pharisees hear that he has arrived, they…

“came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.” Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.”

Why was Jesus so frustrated? I don’t think it was because the Pharisees’ struggled to believe. Jesus seems to have enormous patience with the those in the Gospels that are slow to get it (the disciples are a case in point). I think that Jesus is so frustrated because the Pharisees were making their belief conditional. “We’ll believe you, Jesus, if…”

Does this ring true to your experience? It does to mine. I’ve demanded lots over the course of my walk with God. Sometimes it has been a demand for the miraculous - sometimes for the mundane. “God, if you do _ then I’ll believe.” “If you tell me _ then I’ll obey.”

As we see later in this chapter Jesus’ call to follow him is anything but conditional - it’s not demanding or forging our own way. It’s following the Master.

Does this ring true to your experience?