Is seeing believing? I used to understand it to be so. Is understanding believing? I used to see it that way. Belief can come to life through seeing and understanding. But more often than not, one can see and understand and still not believe, for the mind has a deceiving way of doubting what is seen, though what is seen is easy to comprehend, and these should give birth to faith, but that are not always so. The same is true for hearing. I can hear the truth many times, but my mind decides that what is heard is not believable, though the evidence is easy to see and understand.
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and the other women with them saw the empty tomb and angels who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead (4-10). They heard. They saw. And they were reminded of the many times Jesus told them this would happen. How did their mind respond?
Matthew records that they were “afraid yet filled with joy.” (Matthew 28:8). Mark adds that they were trembling and bewildered and fled from the tomb because they were afraid (Mark 16:8). John records their telling the disciples, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:2). And Mary Magdalene wept at the empty tomb (John 20:4).
The Eleven apostles were no different. They heard, but did not believe (11; Mark 16:11). Only Peter and John went to the tomb to investigate what the women told them. (12; John 20:3, 8-9). What they saw fit the descriptions of the women. Yet, even though they were personally taught by Jesus, “they did not understand from Scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” Hopefully, upon repetition, the heart will counsel the mind into believing the garden full of flowers and bees that it sees, hears, smells, and comprehends is indeed full of life.
