The Pharisees ask for a sign

St Mark Chapter VIII : Verses 10-21

[10] And immediately going up into a ship with his disciples, he came into the parts of Dalmanutha.

[11] And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, asking him a sign from heaven, tempting him. 

[12] And sighing deeply in spirit, he saith: Why doth this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, a sign shall not be given to this generation. 

[13] And leaving them, he went up again into the ship, and passed to the other side of the water. 

[14] And they forgot to take bread; and they had but one loaf with them in the ship. 

[15] And he charged them, saying: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
[16] And they reasoned among themselves, saying: Because we have no bread. 

[17] Which Jesus knowing, saith to them: Why do you reason, because you have no bread? do you not yet know nor understand? have you still your heart blinded? 

[18] Having eyes, see you not? and having ears, hear you not? neither do you remember. 

[19] When I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? They say to him, Twelve. 

[20] When also the seven loaves among four thousand, how many baskets of fragments took you up? And they say to him, Seven.
[21] And he said to them: How do you not yet understand? 

[10] Et statim ascendens navim cum discipulis suis, venit in partes Dalmanutha. [11] Et exierunt pharisaei, et coeperunt conquirere cum eo, quaerentes ab illo signum de caelo, tentantes eum. [12] Et ingemiscens spiritu, ait : Quid generatio ista signum quaerit? Amen dico vobis, si dabitur generationi isti signum. [13] Et dimittens eos, ascendit iterum navim et abiit trans fretum. [14] Et obliti sunt panes sumere : et nisi unum panem non habebant secum in navi. [15] Et praecipiebat eis, dicens : Videte, et cavete a fermento pharisaeorum, et fermento Herodis. [16] Et cogitabant ad alterutrum, dicentes : quia panes non habemus. [17] Quo cognito, ait illis Jesus : Quid cogitatis, quia panes non habetis? nondum cognoscetis nec intelligitis? adhuc caecatum habetis cor vestrum? [18] oculos habentes non videtis? et aures habentes non auditis? nec recordamini, [19] quando quinque panes fregi in quinque millia : quot cophinos fragmentorum plenos sustulistis? Dicunt ei : Duodecim. [20] Quando et septem panes in quatuor millia : quot sportas fragmentorum tulistis? Et dicunt ei : Septem.

[21] Et dicebat eis : Quomodo nondum intelligitis?

Notes

10. Dalmanutha. St Matthew gives “Magedan” (xv. 39). These may be two names of one place, or two proximate places. Most commentators agree that the reference is to the Migdal or Magdalel of the Old Testament, one of the ancient strong cities (Jos. xix. 38), the El-Medjel of modern times. It is on the western side of the lake, about three miles north of Tiberias.
11. Pharisees. Likewise the Sadducees, And there came to him the Pharisees and Sadducees tempting : and they asked him , etc. (St Matt, xvi. 1). These sects were now uniting in their hostility to Christ.
    came forth : probably from Bethsaida or Capharnaum, where they seemed to have taken up their temporary abode. From the watch-towers of Magdala they may have seen Jesus and His disciples approaching.
    began to question. They had evidently agreed together to ask for a sign from heaven, some miraculous portent in the heavens, as a proof that His claims were legitimate. This proposition would have originated with the Pharisees, since the Sadducees did not believe in portents.
a sign from heaven. Asked as a condition of their allegiance. Thus Satan had promised, All these will I give thee , if falling down thou wilt adore me (St Matt. iv. 9). And the multitude who mocked Jesus in His agony likewise asked for a sign, Let him now come down from the cross , and we will believe him (St Matt, xxvii. 42).
    tempting him. This word is colourless ; literally it signifies to try, to test, and may be used in a good or bad sense. The Pharisees, however, were tempting our Lord with the foregone conclusion, to condemn Him and lower His prestige in the eyes of the people.
12. sighing deeply. Probably our Lord was grieved at —

(a) their incredulity and jealousy.

(b) their rejection of His claims.

(c) the guilt they thus incurred.

    Why doth this generation ask a sign ? Not only those present, but all the Jews as a race. On other occasions He had been asked to work some miracle as a sign of His divine authority, e.g. after the first cleansing of the Temple, Jesus was asked What sign dost thou show unto us, seeing thou dost these things ? (St John ii. 18).
    Amen, I say to you. Our Lord’s usual solemn preface to any important declaration.
    If a sign shall be given to this generation. A Hebrew idiom equivalent to a strong denial. No sign was to be given other than those signs of the times, which they could all see. Jesus referred to such signs as —

(a) The sceptre had passed from Juda.

(b) The seventy weeks of Daniel were accomplished.

(c) The Incarnation had taken place.

(d) Jesus had been born at Bethlehem.

(e) He had been called out of Egypt.

(f) The Innocents had suffered martyrdom.

(g) St John the Baptist had come in the spirit and power of Elias.

(h) The blind, deaf, dumb, etc. were healed, and the dead were raised to life.

13. leaving them. Jesus left Galilee, never to return as a teacher. He went there once later, but secretly : they passed through Galilee and he would not that any man should know it (ix. 29).
14. forgot to take bread. Their departure had probably been hurried. These words may refer to their having forgotten to take food either —

(a) When they took ship after the miracle of feeding the 4000.

(b) When they landed on the western side.

(c) When they re-crossed to the eastern side, after our Lord’s answer to the Pharisees.

    but one loaf. A detail related with characteristic minuteness by St Mark only (literally “ a barley cake ”).
15. leaven. Yeast used for raising the dough. The word is symbolical of “ principles ” which underlie any given teaching, and is oftener used with reference to evil or false principles.
    beware of the leaven of the Pharisees , — i.e. of their false principles, which led them to pay great attention to ceremonial observances and to place them before the laws of God. Thus they refused to eat with unwashed hands, but had no scruples about plotting against our Lord’s life.
    the leaven of Herod. St Matthew has of the Pharisees and Sadducees (xvi. 6). Our Lord refers to the spirit of hypocrisy and worldliness which animated the Herodians and Sadducees.
16. they reasoned among themselves. They questioned one another, and taking the words literally, imagined that our Lord was either reproaching them for having neglected to take provisions, or that He forbade them to use bread, which had been leavened according to the Pharisees’ traditions and prescriptions.
17. Jesus knowing. As He knew the thoughts of all men.
    do you not yet know or understand ? This is another rebuke for their dulness of comprehension, and also for their solicitude about temporal matters. Though in that part of Galilee to which they were going it was difficult to obtain food, still the disciples ought to have trusted to their Master, and to have believed that, if necessary, He would have worked a miracle in their favour. The disciples lacked spiritual insight and confidence in Christ. Jesus reminded them of His miracles in order to animate their faith. St Matthew adds : Why do you not understand that it was not concerning bread I said to you, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that he said not that they should beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees (xvi. 11-12)

Additional Notes

    Evidently the Pharisees would have taken the initiative since the Sadducees rejected “ signs and portents ” : here they apparently put aside their differences as regards creeds and were united by a common hatred of Jesus. They evidently implied that such a sign would be beyond suspicion as to its origin, and that consequently, they would then accept Him as the Messias. The Pharisees would also naturally call to mind the signs worked by prophets of old. Thus in the Old Testament we read that —

(a) Moses obtained three days of “horrible darkness” as a punishment upon the Egyptians. He likewise procured the Israelites manna from Heaven.

(b) Josue stayed the sun and moon.

(c) Samuel brought down a violent thunder and hail storm in time of harvest. “A bolt from the blue.”

(d) Elias called down fire on the sacrifice and also on the two bands of men sent to take him.

(e) Isaias brought back the shadow on the king’s dial.

11. tempting him: literally “trying Him,” as the word primarily means. Custom has now given to this word a bad meaning, but originally it was neutral and simply meant “ to test, to prove,” without reference to the motive of the trial. In holy Scripture we find the word used in different senses, thus : —

(a) “God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered : Here I am ” (Gen. xxii. 1). God’s object in tempting man is clearly, not that He may know their dispositions, since He is omniscient, but that He may exercise and strengthen men’s virtues and render them evident to their fellows.

Christ also tried Philip's faith when He said, “ Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said to try him (tentans eum, Vulgate ), for he himself knew what he would do ” (St John vi. 5, 6).

(b) Men “ tempt ” God when—

(1) they ask for visible proofs of His power or presence,

(2) when they doubt His goodness,

(3) when they rashly expose themselves to danger, and

(4) when they defy His judgments.

    Thus, God speaking to the Israelites concerning “ the provocation in the wilderness,” refers to the time “ when your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works” (Ps. xciv. 9). Man may sometimes, without sin, ask God for a sign of His will, as Gideon did when he asked that the fleece might be wet and the ground around dry.

    Satan tempts man. — In this case there is always solicitation to evil. Our Lord teaches us to pray against Satan’s “insidious suggestions,” “Lead us not into temptation.”

    On Leaven. This word was generally considered by the Rabbis as symbolical of corrupt or false principles. This view probably arose from the fact that the Jews were forbidden to partake of leavened bread or even to have it in their houses during the Paschal season. As leaven permeates the dough, so principles influence doctrines.

(1) Examples of “ leaven ” used in a bad sense : —

“ Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that you maybe a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ our pasch, is sacrificed ” (1 Cor. v. 6, 7). “ A little leaven corrupteth the whole lump ” (Gal. v. 9).

(2) Example of “ leaven” used in a good sense: — ♦

    “Another parable he spoke to them : The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which 

a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened ” (St Matt. xili. 33).

    In warning His Apostles against the “ leaven of the Pharisees,” Jesus was not referring to all their doctrines, to those which were based on the law of Moses, since He Himself taught His disciples to respect their teaching on these points. “ The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do : but according to their works do ye not : for they say, and do not ” (St Matt. xxiii. 2, 3). Our Lord refers to their hypocritical spirit and their formalism, and to those traditions by which they rendered void the law of God.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.