They did not believe them either

SATURDAY 18 APRIL (Mk 16,9-15)

The right thing to ask is: why does the Evangelist Mark, who collects Peter’s preaching, present the Apostles as people who do not believe in the announcement that is made to them by those who have seen the risen Jesus? Why is the narration of their non-faith the essence of his stories about the resurrection of Jesus? The first answer is given to us by the prophet Isaiah. The mystery of Christ which is of death and resurrection is infinitely beyond any created mind. A clay mind does not understand the wonders wrought by the Lord: “See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him –  so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance beyond that of mortals – So shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it. Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Is 52,13-53,1). The mystery is understood through the gift of the wisdom and light of the Holy Spirit. According to his nature, man perceives the things of God.

We can draw a second answer in the Book of Job. If we can’t even understand the wonders of creation, can we grasp the mystery of the Lord Jesus with our minds? It becomes truly impossible: “Hearken to this, O Job! Stand and consider the wondrous works of God! Do you know how God lays his commands upon them, and makes the light shine forth from his clouds? Do you know how the clouds are banked, the wondrous work of him who is perfect in knowledge? You, whom the streams of water fail when a calm from the south comes over the land, Do you spread out with him the firmament of the skies, hard as a brazen mirror? Teach us then what we shall say to him; we cannot, for the darkness, make our plea. Will he be told about it when I speak, or when a man says he is being destroyed? Nay, rather, it is as the light which men see not while it is obscured among the clouds, till the wind comes by and sweeps the clouds away. From the North the splendor comes, surrounding God’s awesome majesty! The Almighty! we cannot discover him, pre-eminent in power and judgment; his great justice owes no one an accounting. Therefore men revere him, though none can see him, however wise their hearts” (Job 37,14-24). The light of the Holy Spirit is always necessary.

A third answer comes from the Gospel according to Luke. The Apostles see the risen Jesus, they are in joy, but they are still not able to believe: “While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures (Lk 24,41-45). Mark wants to teach every man that the mystery of Christ is beyond their mind, their heart, their foolish and senseless philosophies, sciences and anthropologies. In the mystery we believe through the gift of the Holy Spirit. He wraps us with his light and we believe.

When he 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.

If the Apostle of Christ Jesus, the minister of the Word, every one of his disciples, want us to believe in the mystery of Christ the Lord, that is of death and resurrection, they must be full of grace and of the Holy Spirit, of all heavenly wisdom and intelligence and also of the Spirit of conviction and conversion. It is the Spirit that opens the mind to knowledge.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, make every disciple full of grace and of the Holy Spirit.