accepting and sharing the Word

"When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week,

he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,

out of whom he had driven seven demons.

She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.

When they heard that he was alive

and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

After this he appeared in another form

to two of them walking along on their way to the country.

They returned and told the others;

but they did not believe them either.

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them

and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart

because they had not believed those

who saw him after he had been raised.

He said to them, 'Go into the whole world

and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.'"

(Mk 16:9-15)

This Gospel reading, for Saturday in the Octave of Easter, is interesting. True, we have been reading Gospel passages about Jesus appearing to his disciples after the Resurrection all week. However, this is the first one where two specific instances of some of the disciples not believing the accounts of others to whom Christ has appeared are recounted together - followed by Christ rebuking the Eleven for not believing the others who reported having seen him. 

It's interesting that the Eleven refused to believe the stories related by Mary Magdalene, and two other disciples mentioned. Why wouldn't they believe them? Was it because she was a woman, because she had at one point been possessed by demons, or in the case of the other two other disciples, because they were not part of the Eleven? Was it simply pride - were they bothered that Jesus was appearing to people outside of their "exclusive" group? 

In any case, Jesus "rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart" - and then exhorts them to "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature." Is there a relationship here? I think so, and I think it's an important one for us to think about, too. 

First of all, how often does the word of God come to us in a form we don't understand, or that maybe makes us a little uncomfortable? I know I've experienced this before. There are times when God has, in a sense, knocked on my door - but in a form that I wasn't comfortable with, because it didn't mesh with my own idea of what, or who, a messenger of God should look like. I can be just as unbelieving and hard of heart as the Eleven were. It seems they thought that because they were Christ's chosen apostles, they had some kind of license on the appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection - that they had some license on how Jesus chose to reveal himself to others. 

This is a good reminder for me of the humility I don't have enough of, knowing that God's thoughts and reasons are far beyond my own - and that I don't have a license on how he reveals himself to others, or to me. I must be ready to accept those who bear the Word to me, regardless of who they are, what they look like, where they are from, or even what they believe - God chooses his messengers for his own reasons. 

Indiscriminate acceptance of the messenger - I think that's the first point. 

If we, like the Eleven, need to accept those who bring the presence of God to us, even in ways we don't anticipate, we also must stand ready to "proclaim the Gospel to every creature." And, just as those who bring God to us may not be what we expect, so too may those to whom we must proclaim the Gospel not be what we expect. Yet Christ asks us to proclaim the Gospel to anyone, regardless of who they are, what they look like, where they are from, or what they believe. As Jesus reminded the apostles that they didn't have license over how he chose to reveal himself, he also reminded them that they were called to bring his words, his truth, his love to the entire world, without exception. We don't get to choose who God asks us to share his life and truth with. 

Indiscriminate sharing of the Gospel - I think that's the second point. 

May we never fail to strive for our best in both.