The Demand for Proof
February, 17, 2025 - Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 8:11-13
In the Gospel of Mark, the Pharisees are portrayed negatively. They grumbled about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, criticized His disciples for not fasting and for eating with unclean hands, and spied on Him to see if He would heal on the Sabbath—deciding to kill Him when He did. In today’s passage, after witnessing numerous miracles and hearing of even more, they come again: not to seek truth but to argue and put Jesus to the test, demanding a sign from heaven.
The attitude of the Pharisees echoes Israel’s journey through the desert. In today’s Gospel, Jesus sighs deeply and refuses to give them a sign. Similarly, in the Book of Numbers, God, exasperated with Israel’s persistent unbelief, asks Moses: “How long will these people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, despite all the signs that I have done among them?” (Num 14:11). Their demand for another sign reveals not a desire for understanding, but a refusal to believe. Moreover, by putting Jesus to the test, they assume the role of Satan, who, at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, tempted Jesus in the wilderness.
A Jewish rabbi once remarked that there are no absolute proofs of God’s existence—only His witnesses. On the other hand, St. Thomas Aquinas is well known for his five philosophical arguments for God’s existence. Yet, despite countless witnesses and intellectual arguments, many still do not believe and even claim that God does not exist. Would granting the Pharisees a sign from heaven have changed their hearts? Should God compel us to believe?
The Pharisees claimed to uphold the Law of Moses, yet their rigid interpretation blinded them to its fulfillment in Christ. Likewise, in today’s world, an overreliance on empirical evidence leads many to struggle with faith, dismissing what cannot be measured or tested. And yet, the entire Old Testament points to Christ, and the universe itself proclaims the glory of God. Why, then, do so many fail to see it?
Perhaps the answer is simpler than we think. Faith in God requires a radical reorientation of life. From the moment we say “I believe,” we accept the consequences of that decision. No longer do we determine what is good or evil, virtuous or sinful—God does. We cease to be the masters of our fate and allow Him to be the Lord of our lives. And perhaps, that is the challenge many resist.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote in The Brothers Karamazov: “If God did not exist, everything would be permitted.” A world without God longs for unlimited freedom—no responsibility, no obligations, only the pursuit of desire. In such a mindset, no sign from heaven would ever be enough. Thus, Jesus, recognizing the hardened hearts of the Pharisees, leaves them to their unbelief and focuses on those willing to follow Him.
Are we among them?