Acts 4:13-21 / Mark 16:9-15
One of the most difficult attitudes to address is when a person is in denial.
Whether it is an illness, or a loss, or a discovery, or even a windfall, when a person is in denial, it is very difficult to convince the person to think and see otherwise.
Simply because the person absolute refuses to change his thinking and has blocked out any possibility and any other options.
But when there is a collective denial and when it happens to a group of people who are in authority or who are influential, then it becomes a mega denial even when facts around them are saying otherwise.
This was what we heard in the 1st reading when the rulers, the elders and scribes simply denied the reality of the resurrection even in the face of a miracle and they knew they cannot deny it. Yet they still stuck to their denial and simply refused to think otherwise.
In the gospel, Jesus gave a piece of His mind to His disciples as He reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy.
In a sense they were no different from the rulers and elders and scribes of the 1st reading. But what makes it even more startling was that they were disciples of Jesus.
And as Jesus sent them out to proclaim the Good News, the disciples can be sure that they will face the same denials about the resurrection, and they will even have to face it with their lives.
On our part, we have to examine ourselves on our incredulity and obstinacy.
We also need to ask ourselves if we have denied the goodness and the kindness of others.
In effect, denial is a form of evil and it can have drastic consequences.