Mark 16:9-20 - Believing is Seeing

LOOK WHAT I SEE
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 At that time, Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, and he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

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. And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.

The Resurrection accounts in the Gospels do not sit well with the modern reader. In our materialist  age where only seeing is believing and if something cannot be proved scientifically, it is hard for the modern person to accept that Jesus rose from the dead. Because, you see, He appeared in different forms so He wasn't easily recognizable. This makes it possible for atheist to say: That was not Christ resurrected; it was someone else. You were mistaken.

Why would God do this? Why would He not make it a "scientific fact" in the modern sense that He did indeed raise from the dead? The missing element is Faith. Christ berated the disciples for not believing, even after He foretold that He would raise from the dead and when "circumstantial evidence" pointed towards the Resurrection (i.e., the empty tomb,) many chose to believe that the Body was moved or stolen.  Yet, He is risen; He is risen, indeed!

O Lord, help me to approach life with faith. Faith comes first and then you reveal Yourself and Your presence is made known.  Help me, this day to put Faith ahead of everything and of even of what I see for it is by Faith that You are made known. Amen