THE MANDATE TO BE A PUBLIC WITNESS!

April 30, 2011 

Saturday in the Octave of Easter

By Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

Mark 16: 9 - 15

9          Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.

10        She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

11        But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

12        After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.

13        And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

14        Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.

15        And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED SATURDAY TO ALL!!!

In this time where trickery and pretension abound to victimize the unscrupulous, we are often reminded to be careful in dealing with people especially those we don’t know much about. We have heard stories of our “kababayan” who were misled to bring or carry something going abroad without knowing that what they brought were illegal substances. They would only found out when they were caught in some international airport that detected the illegal substances in their luggage. And so they learned the painful lesson of making sure of checking the CREDIBILITY of anyone asking for favors. In the many congressional and senate proceedings on the investigation of certain corruption in government, the destruction of the credibility of WITNESSES takes the primary defense of the defendants. When the credibility of the witness is clouded by doubt and uncertainty, the testimony of the witness becomes questionable and unreliable.

The Gospel today presented the inability of the disciples to believe in the testimony of Mary Magdalene about the resurrection of Jesus. The disciples could have questioned the credibility of Mary. It is a fact in the Gospel accounts that Jesus did not appear first to his male disciples. Jesus appeared first to a woman. And she was not just any ordinary woman without any personal issues to deal with. She was known to live by a morally questionable “profession.” Even the Gospel today described her to be possessed by seven demons and which Jesus had cast out. Moreover, women at the time of Jesus were not given the right and credibility as a witness in court. Women were considered inferior and under the authority of men and treated as “second class” citizen in the Jewish community. From this status of women in the Jewish community and the personal background of Mary, the disciples could not have taken Mary’s testimony seriously.

But Jesus had taken a different cultural route in dealing with a woman. He appeared first to a woman, Mary Magdalene. He even asked Mary to bring the Good News that he is ALIVE to his male disciples. Jesus mandated Mary to bear WITNESS to them his resurrection. Jesus gives the privilege to a woman to first witness the FULLNESS of LIFE that he achieved for us by his resurrection. This clearly shows how Jesus recognizes the EQUAL DIGNITY and RIGHTS of women with men in participating in the mandate to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world. In fact, the Gospel tells us how Jesus reprimanded the disciples for their unbelief and hardness of heart. This episode somehow leads us to assess on how we deal with women. Do we treat them as second to men? Do we regard them less than men in matters of bearing witness to Christ?

Moreover, what are we like in our relationship with Jesus- Mary who eagerly gives testimony to her experience of Jesus or the disciples’ hardness of heart in being open to realities done by God which go beyond physical evidence? The Lord once declared to Thomas and the other disciples how BLESSED are those who BELIEVED in him though had not SEEN him. Can we count ourselves to be among these blessed ones by our FAITH in Jesus though we have not seen him? If yes, then we have also to count ourselves, man or woman, to share with the great mandate and commission of Jesus to his disciples to PREACH the GOSPEL to the whole CREATION! Our CREDIBILITY to do so does not depend on who we are, or what our gender is, but on the BIDDING of the Lord to us! It is the Lord who commanded us to do so, just as he commanded Mary Magdalene. By virtue of our reception of the sacrament of CONFIRMATION, we vow to be a PUBLIC WITNESSES of the Risen Christ to the world empowered by the GIFTS of the Holy Spirit.