Coffee With God

Reflection: Mark 8:11-13

Mark presents a moment of frustration in the life of Jesus. He is frustrated at the stiff-necked attitude of the religious leaders and takes a deep sigh. Wisdom of the elders tell us that a sigh or deep breath is an excellent way of stress-relief. Today’s gospel teaches the value of patience especially in moments of frustrations and stress. The Lord raises the question: “Why does this generation seek a sign?”. They knew that Jesus had the power to perform miracles. Mark is clear about the intentions of the religious leaders – “Hoping to embarrass him.” The Pharisees wanted a show, a miracle. Ultimately it is the same temptation that the devil offers Jesus in the desert, asking him to do something —The devil would ask Jesus to turn the stones into bread, so that he could satisfy his hunger or to Jump down from the pinnacle of the temple to make a spectacular show of his might so that people would instantly believe him. If our understanding of the temptations of Jesus as just those three in the desert, we are mistaken. The forty days of Jesus in the desert is a representation of the entire time, the Lord spent in this world, where temptations were a constant reality. The confrontation with the pharisees in today’s gospel is just one of such instances. As in the temptation story, here the Pharisees take up the role of the devil and ask for a sign from heaven. Jesus does not care to give an answer to the devil in the desert, and that is exactly what he does here in his response to the Pharisees. “No sign will be given to this generation!” In asking Jesus for a sign, however, the Pharisees confuse God’s way of acting with the way of a magician. Pope Francis explains that “God does not act as a magician. God’s way is the way of patience”. “Every time we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we sing a hymn to God’s patience. The Lord carries us on his shoulders, with great patience”. In the previous chapters, Mark had narrated numerous miracles of Jesus – the healing of Peter’s mother in-law, and then the multitudes, the leper, the deaf and dump, the blind, feeding the multitudes – miracles were aplenty. But the pharisees failed to see them. Are we searching for spectacular signs in the sky or in our neighbourhood so that our faith could be strengthened? In fact, the mighty hand of God is at work with in us and all around us, yet we fail to see them.