Astonishing!  After two miraculously produced meals for over 9,000 people, religious leaders demanded a miraculous sign to prove who He was!  What sort of sign did they want?  Healings, exorcisms, crowd-picnics from nowhere?  Jesus had already done all of these, and far more.  But that is the problem with blindness - it cannot see ... even if the evidence is right under its nose.  Spiritual blindness is usually surrounded by the evidence which is denied.  

The religious leaders had a problem.  Until Jesus came to teach the truth about God and demonstrate His grace (John 1:17), the Pharisees were the recognised experts in God's law; even though nobody could keep it.  But the combination of truth and grace won the hearts of the people who regarded the Pharisees as the religious thought-police – cold legalists without any pastoral concern or encouragement.  Jesus rightly criticised them (Matthew 23:13-15), which further angered them.  They came to cross-examine Jesus, to find some inconsistency so that they could expose Him as a fraud (Matthew 22:15).  They had hoped to find the secret of His miracles to prove that they were not miraculous at all.  

But Jesus refuses to play games.  He knows that rejection of truth hardens the heart.  He had come to those who would welcome Him; and it was very important that the embryo leaders of the early church should learn that God does not play games, especially as the time to learn from Jesus was getting short. Indeed, Jesus had already told them to move on and avoid getting bogged down by the hard hearted (Mark 6:11). So Jesus refused to comply with their ploy, and left them on the shore as He sailed across the Lake.

Although indifference is common today, it is not difficult to find some who are willing to ask questions.  What should concern us is what they do with the answers!   It is tempting to stay with a small circle of friends - even if they all reject the truth or want to play games with us.   But, why not look out around for those who are starting to be hungry for Jesus?  You will find them when you speak positively about your wonderful Saviour ... see their interest and listen for their responses ... and then find another opportunity to continue the conversation!