NOTES for Mar 8:18
The Son of Man addresses a series of bitter questions to the people gathered around Him. Indeed, they had witnessed Jesus' astonishing miracles and had themselves wanted to make Him king; they had heard His preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom and understood that "no one ever spoke like this Man." What has happened now? Have their eyes closed? Have their ears been shut? Has their memory failed? Has their reason fallen asleep? Has their heart turned to stone?
When we repeat these questions after Jesus, we can very easily fall into the sin of judgment. He asks these questions with pain in His heart because He loves these people, while we only exalt ourselves over them. To keep this from happening, it is useful to turn all these questions toward ourselves. After all, we too are witnesses of God's miracles in our lives; we too know about His mercy. So where is our answering love, where is our faith, where is a righteous life?