The Demand for a Sign

S. Mark viii. 10–21

Our Lord had been travelling, if not actually in heathen territory, at least where He had been brought into contact with heathens. The eagerness with which He had been welcomed in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and of Decapolis, was in striking contrast to the reception that awaited Him on His return to Galilee. No sooner had He landed on the western shore of the lake, in Dalmanutha, which was probably the southern part not far from Magdala, than the Pharisees “came forth” to meet Him. Whether it merely means that they came from the neighbouring cities, such as Tiberias, where they dwelt, or whether it points to a place of waiting, where, it may be, they had watched the progress of His well-known boat approaching, they lost no time in entering into a controversy as soon as He arrived

S. Mark, “for whom the beginnings of things had a charm,” says that they “began to question with Him, seeking of Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him.” The last words leave it quite clear what their object was: they wished to put Him to the test, to incite Him to make an attempt in which they hoped He might fail.

They intimated that they were not satisfied with what they had seen. The miracles of healing might be nothing more than the result of superior medical skill; the dispossession of evil spirits, they had told Him before, they believed to have been effected by Beelzebub. If He wished to establish His Messianic claims above all doubt and suspicion, it behoved Him to give them a sign direct from heaven, where neither man nor devil could possibly be the moving cause. They would be quite satisfied if He would rain manna from above, or stay the sun in its course, or awake the thunder in a clear sky; any of these would put the question on quite another footing, and they would be the first to believe in Him. But He knew their hypocrisy, and that beneath all their pretended anxiety to be convinced, there lay a dogged determination to shut their eyes to every sign, and close their hearts against Him.

He might have reminded them in so many words that they had the very evidence they asked for; but it may be, having in His mind the preternatural star which had presided over His Birth, and the scene when the very heavens had opened to attest His mission at His Baptism, He told them in irony that all their boasted skill in watching the everchanging sky, and pretending to be able to forecast sunshine and rain, fair weather and foul, only aggravated their guilt in refusing to discern the signs of the times. No sign, He solemnly assured them, such as they asked should be given, not at least till it would be too late, for when “the sun should be darkened” in open day, they would have rejected Him for ever. No wonder that “He sighed deeply in His spirit.” It may have been in His human shrinking from that fearful hour, when He should hang upon the cross amid supernatural darkness; it must have been as well, out of the depths of an untold pity for hearts that He longed in vain to save. And so, knowing the utter uselessness of complying with their request, as far as they were concerned, and having no temptation to make an ostentatious display of miraculous power for His Own aggrandisement, He quitted their shores, no more to return to do any work amongst them.

From Dalmanutha He embarked, and the boat was turned in the direction of the north-east coast. During the voyage nothing was spoken; at least there is no record of any conversation, and the thought of what had occurred may well have filled the heart of Jesus with sadness and gloom. But as soon as they landed, the disciples were troubled by the discovery that, in the hurry and confusion of their sudden departure, they had forgotten to supply themselves with necessary provisions; and while they were discussing what was best to be done, Jesus broke His silence by bidding them “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod.” His mind was full of His late interview, in which they had exhibited such a complete misapprehension of His mission, and dreading the possibility of its spreading to His disciples, He uttered the warning with a more than usual caution. Their reply proved that though they did not misapprehend Him, as the Pharisees had done, they were yet slow of understanding, and with little perception of spiritual truths. The mention of leaven suggested at once the conclusion that He had overheard their discussion, and they associated it with their need of bread. “He tells us,” they seem to say, “that if we buy bread from a Pharisee or a Sadducee, the bread would defile us, as it would if we bought it from a Samaritan.” And at once He exposed their mistake by recalling the miracles which He had worked in their presence for the supply of food by supernatural power. How could they be perplexed by such a difficulty as this? Then, after eliciting from them the fact that they had forgotten nothing of the external circumstances — the numbers of the people and of the loaves, and the basketsful of fragments that remained over, and even the kind of baskets * which had been used on each occasion — He asked in sorrow of heart, how it was that they had failed so completely to understand the meaning of His acts? If they had learned nothing more from them, they ought at least to have gathered this, that in His Presence there need be no anxious care about bread. S. Mark says no more, but S. Matthew tells us that their understandings were opened, and that they discovered that by “the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees,” He spoke of their doctrine.

Note: The Jews paid great attention to the forecast of weather. They watched the smoke, e.g., at the Feast of Tabernacles. If it turned northward, they expected much rain the following year; if southward, little. Cf. Talm. Bab. Yoma, 21 b.

Note: Cf. p. 36, n. 2.

Note: He did not return to carry on His work. In ch. ix. 30 we find Him there, but only as it were in private;” He would not that any one should know” of His visit.

Note: The combination of “Take heed, beware,” is very expressive.

Note: There were frequent disputes about the use of leaven, whether e.g. heathen leaven, or Cuthaean, were permissible; and Lightfoot says,” The disciples thought that Christ cautioned them concerning the leaven of the Pharisees; but withal they suspected some silent reproof for not bringing bread along with them.”

Note: Cf. pp. 137 n. 2, 167 n. 3.