Mark 8:12 Commentary and Bible Study

‘And he sighed deeply.’ He was grieved, the Greek says; ‘sighed’ is the suggestion of our translators and it is reasonable. He sighed deeply in his spirit. Of course he did! Hadn’t he given them so many signs? Weren’t the miracles mighty signs? Wasn’t his teaching a sign? Nobody taught or expounded as he did. His message itself was a sign. Not the message of the scribes and the Pharisees: ‘Work, deserve, carry out to the letter the ceremonies, the sacrifices. God is pleased with such actions.’ The Pharisees put endless burdens on the people. They believed in the so-called oral law that had developed since the time of the Babylonian captivity, in which the Jewish teachers had added all sorts of regulations and details to the laws of Moses, and endless washings and performances. Why, every time you went out, you had to wash everything, because you were considered ceremonially unclean. What mattered to the Pharisees was ceremonial cleanliness. What a strange, strange concept! Not real righteousness, not behaviour, not battling against sin, but this mysterious, ceremonial, cleanness, or righteousness. All the regulations of the oral law originating with non-inspired Jewish teachers: they burdened the people with that. But Christ was bringing forgiveness, the removal of sin, and new life and communion with God. Wasn't this a sign? Wasn't his character a sign? The only man there who didn't do it for money. The Sadducees – they were mostly the priests; the high priest was always a Sadducee – they were so very rich. They did it for money. The Pharisees were fairly rich – the more popular party. The Pharisees were more popular among the people. The Sadducees controlled the temple and the worship; the Pharisees controlled the synagogues, and they tussled for authority and position and esteem. They believed quite different things, but also had some things in common. Knowing God? Well, you couldn't know him. You couldn't have a relationship with him. You must just fulfil the ceremonial law or the sacrifices, and he would somehow be pleased with that, and you would be accepted. Then by virtue of your Jewish nationality, you would be acceptable to God. They had that in common: works religion, externals, how things appear. Christ called them hypocrites. In this very passage in Matthew's Gospel he uses the word ‘hypocrites’. That’s a Greek word. We have it in the English language, and it comes from a Greek word meaning, an actor. A hypocrite is one who acts a part, one who is a sham, a phony, a pretender. The scribes and Pharisees were acting a part. Their piety was all pretence. They were adulterers; they were sinful people. They hid that and they pretended to be things they were not. But Christ came as one who was genuine, sincere. He presented himself as a poor man, never took any reward for his healings and his labours, and preached forgiveness of sin, new life. It is by grace; an act of God will save you. It would all become clear as time went on: Christ will die on Calvary and take himself the punishment due to all those who trust in him. He will give you communion with God, so that you walk with him and pray to him and know him. As a believer you sense that you are his, and love him. You know his tenderness towards you, and his wisdom and guidance. Christ was himself the sign. No wonder he sighed deeply, and he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side, the north-west side of the lake. That was a judicial departure. He declared they would receive no sign, then he left them in that region to their sin and went away from them. He sighed deeply in this sense: the original indicates not only grief but indignation; the righteous indignation of the Lord was stirred against their wilful unbelief.