Hard to Believe!

As a boy growing up in the 60s, like a whole bunch of us in that era, I was fascinated with the space program. Anything NASA was doing captured my attention and imagination. Of course, I wanted to be an astronaut, or an FBI agent. But mostly an astronaut.

So on July 20, 1969, while my family was visiting friends in Oberlin, Ohio, everyone paused the playing and chit-chat to take in the momentous event of the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module’s descent to the surface of the moon. Other than “Wow!” and “Incredible!” and “Unbelievable!”, we all watched in silent amazement as history was being made right before our eyes.

Neil Armstrong opened the hatch, made his way down the stairs attached to the LEM’s leg, and experienced for the first time what it felt like for a human foot to sink into the surface of the moon.

I can still recall—either from the actual memory or from hearing the words repeated through the years—as Armstrong proclaimed,

“That’s one small step for man…[static]…one giant leap for mankind.”

It was hard to believe that in a matter of a few years since President Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon, we actually did it. Men were on the surface of the moon!

It was so hard to believe, in fact, that stories began circulating that it didn’t really occur. The whole thing was created on a Hollywood sound stage, financed by the US government, to make the world think we beat the Russians in the race to the moon. Some espousing this narrative, turns out, insisted it was all a hoax because, after all, the earth is flat—so there’s no way such a mission could’ve happened the way television reported.

Fortunately, I didn’t hear of these dissenting stories until long after my eleventh year. I’m sure I would have dismissed them out of hand, but if half the kids in my school class believed NASA and half believed the Flat Earth Society, who knows how that might have messed up my brain—not to mention my fascination with space and space exploration. And what if my teacher was a Flat Earther? Who knows!

This all popped into mind as I read about and then spoke on the account of the resurrection this past Easter weekend.  

Think about it.

All four gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—record the event, each from their unique vantage point. But all communicate the same basic facts. Jesus died and was buried in the garden tomb. A large stone covered the entry way and was sealed by Roman officials. On Sunday morning, women went to the tomb to anoint the corpse with burial spices, found the stone rolled away, encountered an angel with the message that Jesus had arisen from the dead, saw the empty shelf, and left to tell the news to the disciples.

There are other details, to be sure, and each gospel writer shares a few that help to fill in the account.

But another common thread that runs through each writer’s account is the matter of unbelief—on the part of Jesus’s closest followers, of all people!

Matthew records that when Jesus appeared to the eleven (the twelve minus Judas!), “they worshiped him, but some doubted.” (28:17)

Luke records the initial response of the eleven when the women reported what happened at the tomb and the message that Jesus had risen.

“Their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” (24:11)

Later, Luke writes, Jesus himself appeared to his disciples, showed them his hands and feet—scarred from the nail wounds—“but…they still did not believe for joy and marveled….” (24:40-41)

And Thomas’s response is legendary, isn’t it? John records that for us. “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe!”

Mark is the bluntest at pointing out the disciple’s reluctance to believe. Three times, he writes, “they did not believe.” (16:11, 13, 14)

Why?

Why did those closest to Jesus—who even heard him tell ahead of time that he would die in Jerusalem, but rise again—why did they have such a hard time believing?

When he confronted them about it, Jesus nailed the problem:

“He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart….”

– Mark 16:14

Hardness of heart. Someone who is unwilling to be taught or understand—for whatever reason—has a “hard heart.” That was their problem, according to Jesus.

As I read through Mark’s account in preparing to speak from it on Easter Sunday, I was struck with three hardening agents that contributed to the disciples’ unwillingness to be taught or understand. They’re still with us today and show up in lots of places—even the news that man walked on the moon!

Experience

When told something that contradicts personal experience, we’re all prone to dismiss it out of hand, right?

What’s your experience with death? It’s real, isn’t it. I’ve been with many individuals, including my own mom and dad, when they breathed their last. Within moments, the reality of death is unmistakable. No breathing. No movement. No pulse. Nothing.

And that settles things, too. I feel that personally every time I drive away from the cemetery after a graveside service. We’ve said our final goodbye to the shell of the loved one. Moments after the prayer of committal, once everyone has left, the cemetery personnel will lower the casket into the vault, put the lid on it, fill in the hole with dirt. Done. A few weeks later, the headstone will be placed with our loved one’s name etched in stone. Settled.

Our experience with death and burial on this earth is that it’s all final…done…settled.

Jesus died and was buried. Done. Settled. Our experience says so.

Too Good to Be True

We’re also disinclined to believe something “too good to be true,” right?

Seriously, when you receive the bulk mail envelope with big, bold letters saying you “won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes!!!” what do you do? Right. The circular file. Why? Well, for one thing, the first time you received such great news, you read the much, much smaller type that says something like, “If you entered you may already have” just above the “WON THE….” You also toss it because we’re all conditioned to disbelieve something that’s “too good to be true.”

So, too, on Easter Sunday morning.

After all, those ardent followers of Jesus had full hopes that he was the Messiah who would deliver Israel from the tyranny of Rome and re-establish the nation to prominence. That when he ushered in his Kingdom, they would be rewarded with positions of responsibility and respect. But on Friday afternoon, all those hopes lay in blood-soaked earth beneath a Roman cross.

To believe their Messiah was alive would resurrect those dead hopes and dreams! This was all too good to be true…and simply sets them up for crushing disappointment yet again.

There’s yet another hardening agent.

Consider the source.

We’re all grappling with that one these days, right? Whom do you believe about masks, COVID, treatments, the border crises, climate change, etc., etc. ad nauseum?

So imagine you’re one of those “prominent” disciples of Jesus—you know, the inner circle Peter, James, John or the rest of the hand-picked eleven.

IF Jesus rose again, would the news really be reported first to some women?? No offense, ladies, but in the 1^st century Roman culture, women weren’t exactly afforded a place of much regard. Their testimony didn’t even count much in court!

But what’s happened with Jesus resurrection, right? And to whom did Jesus appear? Not only a woman, but Mary Magdalene—a formerly demon-possessed woman! Can her word be trusted? What if she’s had a relapse or something?!?

And to whom did Jesus next appear?

A couple of obscure Jesus-followers as they went home to Emmaus from Jerusalem after the traumatic weekend. Of those two, only one is named—Cleopas—and of him we know almost nothing!

Would Jesus really appear to a couple of no-name disciples before appearing to his own mother? Or John, the beloved disciple? Or the inner-circle? Or the eleven?

Yes, actually, he would. And he did.

Which, by the way, is typical of the way God works. In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul points out,

…God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

– 1 Corinthians 1:27–29 (ESV)

So with that in mind, it should’ve been expected that Jesus would appear first to the least likely!

What to do, though, with the account? The heart-hardening agents can lead to persistent rejection as this message of good news is repeated, even a couple thousand years later. Ah, but it mustn’t! It’s a matter of eternal importance!

Jesus who died, lives to save!

“He who believes and is baptized will be saved,” Jesus said, “but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

– Mark 16:16