A reading from the gospel according to Mark 16:9-15

9 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.
10 She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.
11 When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country.
13 They returned and told the others; but they did not believe them either.
14 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.
15 He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

Reflection: Jesus does not give up on us.

In the eyes of many people, Mary Magdalene personifies a person of low reputation. Like the twelve apostles, she has an unpleasant background but a person’s background or status in life is not important to Jesus. This is because Jesus has the power to transform. That is why when Jesus healed her, she became one of the most loyal disciples of the Lord. Indeed, he or she who has been forgiven much, love much (Luke 7:47). In the gospel reading above, she was given the privilege to be the first announcer of the good news of the resurrection.

Yet when Mary Magdalene shared to the apostles what she saw and heard at the tomb, no one believed her. Perhaps her background came back to apostle’s mind or maybe they thought she was hallucinating. People do not forget easily and many times they look at the messenger rather than the message.

The apostles were incredulous of the resurrection story even with the experience of their two companions on the road to Emmaus. Yet Jesus is very patient with them. He does not easily give up on His own people. So He appeared to all of them and rebuked them for their doubts. Now He has given them the mission to proclaim the good news everywhere.

For those who doubt, the Lord gives them enough time to make up their mind. He keeps on knocking at the door of their heart (Revelation 3:20). Sometimes due to the hardness of their heart, the knocking maybe harder and that’s the time their heart breaks. They experience some sort of suffering and they meets the Lord. For many of us believers, we repeatedly ignore His call for repentance and the same thing happens. For some reasons, we listen to the Lord only when we are in dire need of help. Good thing He is very patient and ever loving but He will never give up on us.