Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 8:12

"And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation." — Mark 8:12 (ASV)

Jesus responded to their request by sighing deeply, showing his grief and disappointment when faced with the unbelief of those who, because of their spiritual privileges, ought to have been more responsive to him. There is a note of impatience in his question of why the Jewish people were constantly asking for a sign. In truth, God would not give them any sign. Jesus’ statement represents in Greek a shortened form of the Hebrew self-imprecation: “If I do such a thing, may I die.”

For Mark and for Paul (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2–18:6), the sign God gives is the ambiguity of the humiliated and crucified Lord . Faith can never find its grounds in spectacular signs. This teaching of Jesus was doubtless what the church in Rome needed to hear, especially if they had been too engrossed in an exalted-Lord Christology.