Just simply believing was and is so difficult. These past days in the liturgies since Easter, we have listened to the Gospel stories of needing proofs. We can recall our own personal verbal or mental phrases we use when told something new. “No way!” “get out of here!” “You’re pulling my leg!” “Are you kidding me?” “Don’t mess with me.” The very famous one spoken by a sport’s announcer, “I cann’t believe what I just saw!” Believing is such an insult to our expectations and our minds.

In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, we hear a compassionate meeting between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. In John’s first-appearance narrative, Jesus also meets her in a more intimate and lengthy encounter. In both, Mary becomes the first evangelist or announcer who does believe what she just saw and runs to tell some others. The first hearers do not believe what they just heard. 

Jesus then appears to two persons walking back and away. They are moved to return and tell. They tell the new Good News, but ah, no takers. So Jesus takes matters into His own Hands and shows up for dinner with the Eleven. Here is the hard-part of believing. Jesus asks them, not only to be convinced by what they do hear and see, but, (here’s the rub) go out and tell others and invite them to believe! They will find out that believing is frightening.

So the invitation for us is whether seeing is believing or is believing a way of seeing. The problem with seeing and hearing is that we will always need more information, more appearances please! These information-centered days makes knowing easier, but we Googalize just to make sure. Being sure then becomes the new way of believing.

These post-Easter days we are invited to a way of seeing the appearances of God’s love through the eyes and ears of belief - not so easy. We “Gospelize” and walk and live in this most counter-cultural manner. Trusting does free us to live with and beyond vulnerability. We go out through our insecurities to live the proclamation that He has risen into our lives and invites us to be seen and heard in the ways of His appearing through us. It does take some doubting to be believing. We do believe what we hear and see, but we do it within the confines of our fragility.  Jesus, keep pulling my leg to help me walk in faith.