He Left Them - Mark 8:12-13

Mark 8:12-13 ESV
And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

Remember who this is when you read that Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit. He is the Son of God. He is the one upon whom the Holy Spirit descended and remained. Surely this was a time when the Spirit is grieved. God is facing the rejection He had foreseen.

He left them. Their rejection became His rejection and He leaves. Figuratively, He leaves to offer salvation to others. It is this salvation we claim and celebrate. The sign they asked for was given before all men.

Isaiah 53:3-4
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.

Matthew 12:39-40
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

John 12:37-38
Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”