“Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Mark 8: 11-13
Our Lord Jesus Christ inaugurated a sacramental Church. And we know that a sacrament is an outward sign of inward grace. So it is not that Jesus is against signs, but against the type of signs that the Pharisees were seeking, spectacular, flashy, showmanship signs. The type of signs the devil tempted Jesus to perform in the desert.
Jesus used signs as symbols of conversion and transformation. The feeding of the four thousand, which St Mark relates, earlier in this Chapter, was not meant as a show of magic, but as a deeper symbol of care, compassion and mercy.
We also should not seek spectacular signs in our lives, but inward signs of transformation of our lives through our participation in the symbols of the Church’s sacraments, especially Reconciliation and Eucharist