Gospel (Mk 8,11-13) - At that time, the Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, asking him for a sign from heaven to test him. But he sighed deeply and said: «Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." He left them, got back on the boat and left for the other shore.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

The evangelist Mark continues to make us follow Jesus who has returned to the territory of the people of Israel. And, paradoxically, this time it is the Pharisees who go to meet him. But unlike the poor and weak who flock to receive help and healing, the Pharisees "began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him". The certainty of possessing the truth made their eyes blind and their hearts closed: they see the miracles that Jesus performs, they listen to his words of mercy, they witness the enthusiasm he arouses among the people, but their eyes cannot read in depth what Jesus is doing. Even though they have eyes they do not see, even though they have ears they do not hear. The "signs" that Jesus performed converged towards the "sign" par excellence which was Jesus himself. But it was precisely what the Pharisees did not see, or did not want to see. Jesus, the evangelist notes, upon hearing their request "sighed deeply", as if embittered by such hardness of heart. It is precisely the hardness of the heart that prevents us from reading in depth, spiritually, what is happening before their eyes. They did not accept that such a good man could be the Messiah. That preaching and those miracles that brought the weak and the poor closer to Jesus, however, distanced the Pharisees who did not want to see the newness of the Gospel. When we close ourselves in on our own horizons, when we do not listen to the Word of God as something new for our life, it is easy to be like those Pharisees who remain blind even in the face of the light. This evangelical passage calls into question a narrow-minded and stingy religiosity. Mark writes that Jesus, annoyed and displeased by the attitude of those Pharisees, "left them, got back into the boat and left for the other shore". This is what he asks of us: not to linger in sterile debates and move on to the other side, that of the poor and the suburbs. They are eager to receive the gospel.