Today the Gospel does not seem to tell us much about Jesus or about ourselves. “Why does this generation seek a sign?” (Mk 8:12). Saint John Paul II, commenting on this episode in the life of Jesus Christ, says: “Jesus invites us to discern the words and deeds which bear witness to (are a “sign of”) the imminent coming of the Father’s kingdom.” It seems that the Jews who question Jesus lack the ability or the will to discern that sign which is in fact all the actions, deeds and words of the Lord.

Even today, we ask Jesus for signs: to make his presence known in the world or to tell us in an obvious way how we should act. The Pope makes us see that Jesus Christ’s refusal to give a sign to the Jews – and therefore to us too – is due to his wanting to “overturn the worldly logic aimed at seeking signs that would confirm the human desire for self-affirmation and power.” The Jews did not want just any sign, but one that would indicate that Jesus was the kind of Messiah they were waiting for. They were not waiting for the one who came to save them, but the one who came to reassure their vision of how things should be done.

In short, when the Jews of Jesus's time, as well as Christians today, ask for a sign—in one way or another—what we do is ask God to act in our way, the way we believe to be most correct, and which in fact supports our way of thinking. And God, who knows and can do more (and that is why we ask in the Lord's Prayer that "his" will be done), has His ways, even if it is not easy for us to understand them. But He, who allows himself to be found by all who seek Him, will also, if we ask for discernment, make us understand how He works and how we can distinguish His signs today.