Meditation for 17 March 2010
From The Rev. Peter A. Munson
Mark 8:11-13

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. 12And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ 13And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

Wanting a Sign, Missing the Signs

If three different people told you, in three different conversations, about a wonderful book that they had just read, and they all mentioned the very same book, would you pay attention?  If you go to a workshop and learn about a new concept that can help you in your life, and then someone sends you an email that’s about the same idea, and then you discover the following Sunday at church that one of the scripture readings addresses the same issue, would you pay attention?

By the time we get to the eighth chapter of Mark, Jesus had: 1) healed a man with an unclean spirit, 2) healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, 3) cleansed a leper, 4) healed a paralytic – (all these before we leave Chapter 2!) – 5)healed a man with a withered hand, 6) calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee, 7) healed the Gerasene demoniac, healed the woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years, 9) brought Jairus’ 12-year-old daughter back to life, 10) fed 5,000 men (plus women and children) with five loaves of bread and two fish, 11) walked on the water, 12) healed many sick people in Gennesaret, 13) healed the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter (from long distance), 14) cured a deaf man, and 15) fed 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread.

Even if the Pharisees hadn’t been there for all 15 of these signs, they’d probably been around for a few of them, and had undoubtedly heard about the rest, for good news travels.  AND THEN – AFTER THESE FIFTEEN THINGS HAD HAPPENED – THEY WENT UP TO JESUS AND ASKED HIM FOR A SIGN FROM HEAVEN!

Say what?  How many signs did they need?

The real issue is revealed in verse 11 above, when Mark tells us that they “came and began to argue with him…”  Another sign wasn’t going to do it, when there had already been fifteen signs.  They just couldn’t stomach Jesus, and wanted to pick a fight.  So what did he do?  He left them standing there, trying to pick a fight, and he got into a boat and crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  He didn’t want to waste his time with such contentious, nasty, unbelieving folks.  And what was the next thing he did?  That’s right. He cured a blind man in Bethsaida. (Mark 8:22-26)

Sometimes you and I want a sign from God.  “Lord, just give me some kind of a sign, and I’ll be reassured.”  And someone calls us, just when we needed to hear from that person.  Or we get a lovely note in the mail.  Or that new job comes through for us.  Or the choir sings our favorite song at church.  Or we attend a class or a workshop or a church service, and we feel as if what is being said is being said directly to us and what we are going through in that moment.

Are we paying attention?  Or are we like the Pharisees, missing the many signs from God, and wanting to pick a fight with God, telling God how He’s not been there for us.

God is showing up all the time.  One of the bigger issues in our lives is whether or not we are showing up to God.