Saturday in the Octave of Easter

Lectionary: 266

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. He said to them, “Go into the whole world 
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”


There's a line in Meryl Streep's movie, Music of the Heart, which I could not find online, and cannot quote from memory, but it went like this. Roberta Guaspari teaches the violin to poor children in New York City. She is fiercely dedicated and very demanding, and she often screams at her young students. Eventually, parents and other teachers complain and the principal asks her to tone it down or she'll be fired. 
She tries hard to do this, practically strangling herself not to say what she habitually says. This goes on for a while and finally one of the students tells her, "Mrs. Guaspari, go ahead and scream at us. We're used to it; everybody else does. We know you care about us." 
I think of that movie as I hear today's gospel and that Jesus "rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart." 
That should sound very familiar to anyone who has read the Gospel according to Saint Mark. Although this passage was conspicuously tacked onto the end of the Gospel, it certainly picks up one dominant theme. 
How beautiful is the sound of his voice, even when he must rebuke us. If anyone has the authority to chew me out, it's the one who gave the last drop of his blood for my salvation. I can never doubt his love for me; I can never suppose there is a trace of ego in his word to me. The Lord has completely emptied himself as he "handed over his spirit," and then surrendered his water and blood. 

Shagbark Hickory by Lake MSF

We should notice too, precisely why he rebuked them, "because they had not believed (the women) who saw him after he had been raised." 
Since the earliest days of the Jewish religion and into the Christian era, women have been treated shabbily in our community. The author of First Timothy in the New Testament makes an unfortunate remark about Eve, as if she were responsible for Adam's sin. Apparently the author has missed the irony of Adam's blaming first God, and then Eve, for what he did. (“The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.”)
It's fitting then that women should be the first to announced the Resurrection, and they should be heard. The Risen Lord is steamed at the men's hardness of heart. Let's get this, People! 
First, when the Lord rebukes us we should hear the intensity and purity of his love. The sound of his voice is sheer delight to us, even when it's stern and demanding. 
Secondly, it's time we put behind us the consequence of Adam's sin, the superiority of men over women. It was not supposed to be that way.