A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus had just performed the Miracle of the Loaves, feeding a large crowd, when the Pharisees approach him. It’s not difficult to imagine Jesus getting out of the boat to talk with the Pharisees. It would also be understandable to see Jesus displaying frustration at the Pharisees, especially after performing the miracle with the loves and the fishes. Instead, Mark tells us, Jesus sighs and gets into the boat again to go to the other shore. The boat would seem to symbolize the Church here, where Jesus travels in it elsewhere to preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We know from other Gospel passages that when Jesus wanted to pass through Samaria he was not welcomed and went by another way.
Help me understand, God, that there comes a certain restlessness of spirit from asking for signs from heaven that no number of signs will satisfy. Just as Jesus sighed from the depth of his spirit, do you sigh at me when I ask for something you have provided already but I fail to recognize? I don’t need to think long to realize that in whatever place I pass through that seems dry and deserted, you are there to sustain, as Jesus did with the loaves and the fishes. However grand my human aims and aspirations might be, you far surpass them in ways I sometimes fail to see; for that, Lord, how can I not give you thanks and praise? Help me know you are near.
God, thank you for hearing me! Be present with me today, not as a way to test you but because I know I need your grace to sustain me. Keep me in your care!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.