Thursday 18 November 2021

Psalm 38:1-8

Background

During a week of readings with a theme of 'Signs of the Kingdom', it seems somewhat perverse to include a reading that has Jesus asking, “Why does this generation ask for a sign?" (v. 12)

So let’s have a close look at these three verses.

Jesus lived at a time and in a place where people were looking for some amazing miracle. They looked to see God in the abnormal rather than the everyday, and only then would they believe that the Messiah was among them. It was this kind of sign that the Pharisees were asking for and it led to a rather wearied sigh (v.  12) from Jesus. They were asking him for a “sign from heaven” (v. 11) and their timing is extraordinary! Hasn’t Jesus just fed 4,000 people? Haven’t they heard that he previously enabled 5,000 to eat? What about the healings and driving out of demons? What more evidence did they need?

Mark 8:10, the verse before today's passage  starts, says Jesus and his disciples were in Dalmanutha. Scholars are not in agreement about where Dalmanutha is and some suggest it is actually Magdala, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. If so, Jesus has had another long journey between the events of verses 10 and 11. So, perhaps the Pharisees who now meet Jesus with their question, were unaware of his previous miracles outside the Galilean territory, or genuinely seeking to find out where Jesus got his authority from to do his reported miracles. One could argue that the Pharisees’ approach was reasonable, for a number of local prophets at the time were claiming to be the Messiah – they needed to make sure Jesus was the ‘real deal’.

Well, Jesus is plainly unimpressed that his questioners could not yet see what was in front of them. “Why does this generation ask for a sign?”(v. 12). Jesus appears to be exasperated that they cannot see in him, in his everyday words and actions, that the signs of the kingdom of God are present. What will cut through their scepticism?

 He then got back in the boat and returned to the eastern side of the lake. In doing so, Jesus, the embodiment of the signs of the kingdom, left the Pharisees on the ‘other’ side.

To Ponder: 

• Sceptics abound in our world today, often fed by social media and 'fake news'. The slowness of the world to accept the reality of climate change is one such example. In a journey of faith, as well as a journey of life, what is your experience of the 'penny dropping' or eyes being opened to a greater truth? Is it always about evidence?
• Consider StF 398 'There’s a spirit in the air' which four times repeats the words: “Praise the love that Christ revealed, living, working, in our world”.

Prayer

May we open our eyes this day to see the signsof Christ’s spirit amongst us.