Mark 16:14–15 with St. Gregory the Great
“Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.’”
St. Gregory the Great, in commenting on this passage from Mark, asks some important questions: why did some of the disciples at first deny the resurrection when they were told about it (by Mary Magdalene and others)? And, why does the command to preach the gospel to the whole creation come directly after Christ’s rebuke? The one (preaching the gospel) does not seem to follow from the other (unbelief). To the first question, Gregory answers that we should not criticize the weakness of the apostles too quickly, but realize that their doubts have yielded great benefits to us, because Christ “showed them in their doubt many proofs of his resurrection.” When we see these proofs and put ourselves in shoes of the apostles “we are strengthened as a result of their doubt,” says Gregory. In particular, of the story of St. Thomas, who asked to put his hand into the Lord’s side (cf. Jn. 20:25), St. Gregory comments “while doubting, he touched the scars of the wound, and cut out of our hearts the wound of doubt.”
But what of the second question? Why does Jesus rebuke his followers for hardness of heart, but then immediately afterwards commission them to preach? Jesus scolds them, Gregory explained, “in order to fix his parting words more firmly in the hearts of his hearers.” In other words, the disciples received the correction of Jesus so that he could strengthen them, not just in their own personal faith life, but for the proclamation of the gospel.
We might sometimes be tempted to think that we need to have everything figured out, that we need to be completely faithful and sure of ourselves before we can open our mouths and speak of Jesus to others. But Gregory reminds us that part of the process of healing our vision so that we can truly see the resurrection is to act: to share our faith and to preach it “to the whole creation,” as Mark says. Preaching to the whole creation does not mean that we preach to rocks and to trees, says Gregory, but to every single person everywhere, because on this universal preaching the meaning and beauty of the whole creation rests.
