Lenten Mercy Meditation: "With that he left them..."

Prager: syndicated radio talk show host, columnist, author, public speaker

"Then the Pharisees came out and engaged him in discussion. To test him they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply to himself and said, "Why does this generation ask for a sign? I tell you this: no sign shall be given to this generation." With that he left them, re-embarked, and went off to the other side of the lake." (Mark 8: 11-13)

What's going on here in these few lines? Are the Pharisees really asking for a sign, even though in the previous verses Jesus had just fed thousands of people with the little bread and fish. (Mark 8: 1-10)

Or are they essentially asking for Jesus' credentials to teach what he's teaching, after all, they disagree with so much of what he has to say? And if that's the case, then what they're really looking for is an argument. Jesus response?...

He sighed deeply. Then Jesus moved away from them by sailing across the lake. Today he might say, "I have to get as far away as possible from all of this." 

The Church is terribly distracted and weakened by so much in-house argument. Pope Francis calls out cardinals and bishops where he detects it in the highest levels of Church life. There are Catholic organizations and publications that seem to have argument as their unwritten mission statement - each with its own vociferous agenda. Some clerics use the pulpit for all kinds of joy-stealing argument, instead of the proclamation of Jesus' Gospel as spiritual way.

Let's get free of this. I would never want to tire Jesus by so much religious arguing that he would feel the need to disembark and sail away.