Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs! - Mark 8:11-21
Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs! - Mark 8:11-21
By Pastor Lee Hemen
April 25, 2010 AM
UFO Hunters, Ghost Hunters, Destination Truth, and River Monsters are just a few of the new reality shows to hit TV. All of them deal with the paranormal, unreal, or supernatural. Why folks are so interested in these things is beyond me, but the truth is we always have been. People flock to see the weird, wacky, and the unusual. They did it in the past with sideshows, traveling circuses, mystics and palm readers. We have an unquenchable bent towards the unexplainable.
However, here in Mark’s gospel, we find the religious leaders of Jesus’ day wanting to see “a sign” from Jesus. Like a trained pet, they come demanding from him a sign so that they might see for themselves who Jesus was. But was this their true reason for demanding a sign from Jesus? I do not believe so. Let’s find out this morning as we take a closer look at signs, signs, everywhere signs – shall we?
READ: Mark 8:11-21
In our world today, we can often treat Jesus in the same manner as he was being treated by the Pharisees in this section of Mark. We can unreasonably demand from Jesus that he perform some kind of miracle for others or us. By doing so, we are guilty of trying to make Jesus into some kind of sideshow freak that should perform for us at our whim. We want to be careful because…
I. We can be guilty of testing Jesus by asking for a “sign”! (Vv. 11-13)
1. Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign? This is how the Pharisees had lived their whole lives, following the laid out “signs” from God, his law. Now comes along this man, named Jesus, who begins to shake everything up they had held to be true for so long. We find that “The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.” (Mark 8:11) The word used for “question” here means to debate. They came to argue with Jesus. They had something else in mind all along. In fact, we learn that they wanted to “test” him, as in entice him into making a mistake concerning the Mosaic Law. They were demanding from Him “a sign from heaven,” one with divine authority. A “sign” was not so much a demonstration of power as evidence that a person’s prophetic utterance or action was authentic. The Pharisees did not demand a spectacular miracle, but that Jesus would give them unmistakable proof that he and his mission were authorized by God. They believed quite the opposite and wanted a proof only they would agree to. Back in Mark 3:22 we found out that “the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.’” Like an exasperated schoolteacher, Jesus “sighed deeply” and replies, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth; no sign will be given to it.” They, in fact, already had one right in front of them. Matthew adds “except the sign of Jonah,” which referred to Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Mark teaches us that there is a difference in asking for a miracle by faith and demanding a sign in unbelief. The latter is an illegitimate demand and if we do so, when we truly do not believe Jesus can or will do it, we can be guilty of testing Jesus by asking for a “sign.”
EXAMPLE: Faith, by biblical definition, is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1). It is first “being sure”—unrestricted, unreserved, unconditional assent. It is the unrestricted certainty of that in which we believe. For instance, I know that it is sunny outside by looking at the windows. I know it is true because I can see it for myself. However, if I were to ask if it was raining outside, one of you would have to go out and look and come back and tell me that either it was or was not raining outside. Then I would have to take your word for it. That’s faith. It is a conviction based on “what we do not see.” Faith does not rest on observed, firsthand evidence but on the basis of someone else’s explanation. A believer, in the strictest sense of the word, accepts as real and true, the testimony of someone else. When we have seen something for ourselves, we no longer believe; we know. Therefore, belief has to do with things not seen. Christians do not need “signs” from Jesus in their lives to believe he is there, exists, or acts on our prayers. We know he does because others have told us he does. That is the essence of faith. When we ask for a “sign”, we can be guilty of trying to “test” Jesus just as the Pharisees were.
Little things can become very big things in a hurry. Puppies with big feet, pygmy pigs, or baby calves can all start out small, fuzzy, and kind of cute but end up being big problems that eat you out of house and home! Sin can be like that as well. It can begin with the best intentions, self-justifications, infatuations, and end up in a lot of lamentations! This is what Jesus warned his disciples against here, if they would only listen. We learn that in asking for a “sign”…
II. We can be allowing sin to infect our faith! (Vv. 14-21)
1. If God was here, he'd tell you to your face, man, you're some kind of sinner! The disciples were just like the crowd in a sense. They looked at what they had instead of relying on God. Notice that Mark states, “The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.” Jesus tries to pull them back into spiritual thinking by warning them, “Be careful! Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod!” Yeast was often used in Jewish teaching to denote corrupt spiritual worldly thinking. They were in danger of being gradually sucked back into the world’s way of faith. All the dense disciples heard from Jesus’ explanation was the word “yeast” and immediately thought again of their stomachs! Jesus rebukes them for their failure to understand his presence in their midst. He asks them five successive penetrating questions to develop their understanding of what had just occurred: “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 hear? And don't you remember?” (Mark 8:17-18) WOW! Jesus moves them from the moment, to the method, and focuses them on the means! He then reminds them of the two feedings and how much was left over after each one. He finally asks them, “Do you still not understand?” Literally, “Have you not put it all together yet?” Jesus wanted them to be aware of the fact that if they did not begin to comprehend who he was and what he came to do, they would be infected with the lackluster corrupt faith of the world, just as the crowd was by the kind of faith the Pharisees or Herod offered. I believe people in the world have become cynical of God because they do not see Christians living by faith. Far too many believers today demand from Jesus a personal sign everyday and expect him to perform for them instead of living by faith. When we continually ask Jesus for a “sign” in our lives, we can be allowing sin to infect our faith!
EXAMPLE: It has always been amazing to me to listen to what people say after a sermon or a seminar I have given. Different folks take away differing things from them every time. There is nothing wrong with this, unless we have already formed an opinion, refuse to listen, and do not care to be change by what we have heard. I can remember teaching a certain passage of Scripture during a seminar and having a lady afterwards come up and challenge me over something, I had not said. I looked at my notes, showed her the PowerPoint slides, and we even went over the verses in question, but she had already formed her own opinion on the issue and was “not about to change.” It was one of those proverbial, “it was good enough for Paul and Silas” moments. Later, I learned that she believed the way she did because she was trying to justify her lifestyle, instead of relying on what Scripture truly said. She had allowed sin to infect her faith. Both Herod and the Pharisees had done so as well. In fact, they had infected what the crowds felt and believed about God. Now, the disciples were in a dangerous place. They could either follow their stomachs, continue to “test” Jesus themselves by their lack of faith, or trust in who he was and what he was doing in their midst. What about you this morning, are you allowing yourself to test Jesus by continually asking him for “signs?” Has a little bit of worldly yeast begun to influence your faith?
Conclusion:
We learned today that we can be guilty of testing Jesus by asking for a “sign” and we can be allowing sin to infect our faith by doing so!
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission...
By Pastor Lee Hemen
April 25, 2010 AM
UFO Hunters, Ghost Hunters, Destination Truth, and River Monsters are just a few of the new reality shows to hit TV. All of them deal with the paranormal, unreal, or supernatural. Why folks are so interested in these things is beyond me, but the truth is we always have been. People flock to see the weird, wacky, and the unusual. They did it in the past with sideshows, traveling circuses, mystics and palm readers. We have an unquenchable bent towards the unexplainable.
However, here in Mark’s gospel, we find the religious leaders of Jesus’ day wanting to see “a sign” from Jesus. Like a trained pet, they come demanding from him a sign so that they might see for themselves who Jesus was. But was this their true reason for demanding a sign from Jesus? I do not believe so. Let’s find out this morning as we take a closer look at signs, signs, everywhere signs – shall we?
READ: Mark 8:11-21
In our world today, we can often treat Jesus in the same manner as he was being treated by the Pharisees in this section of Mark. We can unreasonably demand from Jesus that he perform some kind of miracle for others or us. By doing so, we are guilty of trying to make Jesus into some kind of sideshow freak that should perform for us at our whim. We want to be careful because…
I. We can be guilty of testing Jesus by asking for a “sign”! (Vv. 11-13)
1. Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign? This is how the Pharisees had lived their whole lives, following the laid out “signs” from God, his law. Now comes along this man, named Jesus, who begins to shake everything up they had held to be true for so long. We find that “The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.” (Mark 8:11) The word used for “question” here means to debate. They came to argue with Jesus. They had something else in mind all along. In fact, we learn that they wanted to “test” him, as in entice him into making a mistake concerning the Mosaic Law. They were demanding from Him “a sign from heaven,” one with divine authority. A “sign” was not so much a demonstration of power as evidence that a person’s prophetic utterance or action was authentic. The Pharisees did not demand a spectacular miracle, but that Jesus would give them unmistakable proof that he and his mission were authorized by God. They believed quite the opposite and wanted a proof only they would agree to. Back in Mark 3:22 we found out that “the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.’” Like an exasperated schoolteacher, Jesus “sighed deeply” and replies, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth; no sign will be given to it.” They, in fact, already had one right in front of them. Matthew adds “except the sign of Jonah,” which referred to Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Mark teaches us that there is a difference in asking for a miracle by faith and demanding a sign in unbelief. The latter is an illegitimate demand and if we do so, when we truly do not believe Jesus can or will do it, we can be guilty of testing Jesus by asking for a “sign.”
EXAMPLE: Faith, by biblical definition, is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1). It is first “being sure”—unrestricted, unreserved, unconditional assent. It is the unrestricted certainty of that in which we believe. For instance, I know that it is sunny outside by looking at the windows. I know it is true because I can see it for myself. However, if I were to ask if it was raining outside, one of you would have to go out and look and come back and tell me that either it was or was not raining outside. Then I would have to take your word for it. That’s faith. It is a conviction based on “what we do not see.” Faith does not rest on observed, firsthand evidence but on the basis of someone else’s explanation. A believer, in the strictest sense of the word, accepts as real and true, the testimony of someone else. When we have seen something for ourselves, we no longer believe; we know. Therefore, belief has to do with things not seen. Christians do not need “signs” from Jesus in their lives to believe he is there, exists, or acts on our prayers. We know he does because others have told us he does. That is the essence of faith. When we ask for a “sign”, we can be guilty of trying to “test” Jesus just as the Pharisees were.
Little things can become very big things in a hurry. Puppies with big feet, pygmy pigs, or baby calves can all start out small, fuzzy, and kind of cute but end up being big problems that eat you out of house and home! Sin can be like that as well. It can begin with the best intentions, self-justifications, infatuations, and end up in a lot of lamentations! This is what Jesus warned his disciples against here, if they would only listen. We learn that in asking for a “sign”…
II. We can be allowing sin to infect our faith! (Vv. 14-21)
1. If God was here, he'd tell you to your face, man, you're some kind of sinner! The disciples were just like the crowd in a sense. They looked at what they had instead of relying on God. Notice that Mark states, “The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.” Jesus tries to pull them back into spiritual thinking by warning them, “Be careful! Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod!” Yeast was often used in Jewish teaching to denote corrupt spiritual worldly thinking. They were in danger of being gradually sucked back into the world’s way of faith. All the dense disciples heard from Jesus’ explanation was the word “yeast” and immediately thought again of their stomachs! Jesus rebukes them for their failure to understand his presence in their midst. He asks them five successive penetrating questions to develop their understanding of what had just occurred: “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 hear? And don't you remember?” (Mark 8:17-18) WOW! Jesus moves them from the moment, to the method, and focuses them on the means! He then reminds them of the two feedings and how much was left over after each one. He finally asks them, “Do you still not understand?” Literally, “Have you not put it all together yet?” Jesus wanted them to be aware of the fact that if they did not begin to comprehend who he was and what he came to do, they would be infected with the lackluster corrupt faith of the world, just as the crowd was by the kind of faith the Pharisees or Herod offered. I believe people in the world have become cynical of God because they do not see Christians living by faith. Far too many believers today demand from Jesus a personal sign everyday and expect him to perform for them instead of living by faith. When we continually ask Jesus for a “sign” in our lives, we can be allowing sin to infect our faith!
EXAMPLE: It has always been amazing to me to listen to what people say after a sermon or a seminar I have given. Different folks take away differing things from them every time. There is nothing wrong with this, unless we have already formed an opinion, refuse to listen, and do not care to be change by what we have heard. I can remember teaching a certain passage of Scripture during a seminar and having a lady afterwards come up and challenge me over something, I had not said. I looked at my notes, showed her the PowerPoint slides, and we even went over the verses in question, but she had already formed her own opinion on the issue and was “not about to change.” It was one of those proverbial, “it was good enough for Paul and Silas” moments. Later, I learned that she believed the way she did because she was trying to justify her lifestyle, instead of relying on what Scripture truly said. She had allowed sin to infect her faith. Both Herod and the Pharisees had done so as well. In fact, they had infected what the crowds felt and believed about God. Now, the disciples were in a dangerous place. They could either follow their stomachs, continue to “test” Jesus themselves by their lack of faith, or trust in who he was and what he was doing in their midst. What about you this morning, are you allowing yourself to test Jesus by continually asking him for “signs?” Has a little bit of worldly yeast begun to influence your faith?
Conclusion:
We learned today that we can be guilty of testing Jesus by asking for a “sign” and we can be allowing sin to infect our faith by doing so!
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission...
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