What made Jesus sigh?

Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation." – Mark 8.11-12

Mark seems to have a knack of giving us an insight into the heart of Jesus. Several times we are told how he felt or what moved His spirit.

He Jesus once again faced the opposition of the Pharisees. They were always out to get Him, to trip Him up, or to make Him fail.

Despite seeing miracle after miracle and so many mighty works they still came to Jesus asking Him for a sign to prove that He really was Messiah. They wanted another to test to see if Jesus was who He said He was.

In response to their incessant demands Jesus ‘sighed deeply in His spirit.’ This is that deep groaning, dispirited, almost painful sigh that we all know when we are spiritually and emotionally moved by discouragement and disappoint.

Jesus wanted these men to come to Him by faith. It broke His heart that they kept demanding another sign. Looking for sign after sign is an indication of weak faith. Just having Jesus was not enough – they wanted something more.

People don’t change that much. People still find themselves in situation where Jesus alone is not enough. Instead of acting by faith we can just keep looking for one more sign or one more proof that we are supposed to serve Him or be a witness or take a stand.

We don’t need a sign – all we have to do is trust and obey.