<p>16:14 <i>And later he was manifested to the eleven themselves as they were eating; and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those that had seen him after he had risen</i>- The Lord &ldquo;upbraided&rdquo; the disciples for their immaturity and unbelief concerning His cross and resurrection. The Greek word is always used in a very severe context of &lsquo;reviling&rsquo; (Mt. 5:11; 11:20; 27:44; Rom. 15:3; 1 Tim. 4:10); it&rsquo;s a tough and abusive word. It appears out of place when applied to the Lord. Yet what it indicates is that the Lord was so angry with them for not believing the witness of the women. Discounting people&rsquo;s experience of Jesus merely on account of their gender or background was <i>so</i> angering to the Lord. And He&rsquo;s the same today.</p><p>A read through the Gospels reveals the deep frustration and anger of the Lord Jesus because of the blindness of the disciples. Mark's record brings this out especially. The following comments by the Lord, almost under His breath, were all made within a matter of days of each other: &quot;Peter said, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also <i>yet</i> without understanding? Do not ye <i>yet</i> understand?... do ye not <i>yet</i> understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand? Perceive ye not <i>yet</i>... having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not?... how is it that ye do not understand?... O faithless generation, <i>how long</i> shall I be with you? <i>how long </i>shall I suffer you? (with reference to the disciples' faithlessness)... the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answereth (i.e. responded) <i>again</i>, and saith unto them, Children ...and they were astonished out of measure... Jesus went before them: and they were amazed... and he took <i>again</i> the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen... Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask&quot; (Mt. 15:17; 16:9; Mk. 8:18,21; 9:19; 10:1,24-32). Notice the stress on &quot;how long&quot; and &quot;yet&quot;. The Lord clearly was disappointed at the slow rate of development. Their blindness was an agony to Him. Especially does this come out in His attitude to the disciples after His resurrection. The exalted Son of God, <i>the Son of God</i>, poured out His anger on those eleven men. You get the sense of them cowering before the presence of a super-human intellect, beneath a force of personality that could concuss men when turned against them. He <i>upbraided </i>them for their lack of perception, their lack of understanding (Mk. 16:14; Lk. 24:25). As I read the record of this, there's part of me that feels so sorry for them. Thoughts of sympathy skate through my mind: <i>they weren't a bad crowd... only ordinary men... just poor little human beings down here on earth... only men... only human beings... limited by their own nature</i>. But this wasn't how the Lord saw it at all. He was angry with them. The picture of the Son of God, the exalted Son of man with eyes as a flame of fire, upbraiding His friends, those he had died for... because they hadn't understood something which he knew and they knew had been within their power to. The picture is awesome.&nbsp;</p><p>The experience of emotion on reflection at the Lord's sufferings can be yet another area where our spirituality isn't genuine. The scene of those 11 grown men mourning and weeping at the loss of their Lord makes me think 'They&nbsp;were a soft hearted lot really, behold how they loved him...'. But then the Lord appears to them and upbraids them for being <i>hard </i>hearted and indifferent to His words (Mk. 16:10,14). His upbraiding of them must have really hurt- for they must have been sure that they were anything but hard hearted towards Him.</p><p>The even greater commission to go into all the world with the Gospel followed straight on from Christ upbraiding the eleven &quot;with their unbelief and hardness of heart&quot; (Mk. 16:14,15). That 'upbraiding' must have left them wallowing in their weakness. It would have been quite something. The Son of God upbraiding His friends. But straight on from that: &quot;Go ye... go ye into all the world&quot; (Mt. cp. Mk. shows &ldquo;go ye&rdquo; was said twice). And He told them to preach that those who believed not would be damned- after having just told them that they were men who believed not. Mark&rsquo;s record stresses three times in the lead up to this that they &ldquo;believed not&rdquo;; and then, he records how they were told to go and preach condemnation on those who believed not (Mk. 16:11,13,14,16). They were humbled men who did that. The idea of taking the Gospel world-wide was in fact alluding to Is. 66:17-20. Here those who are spared the &lsquo;Gehenna&rsquo; of the last day judgment will have a sign placed on them, as upon Cain, and they will then be sent &ldquo;unto the nations&hellip;and they shall declare my glory among the gentiles&rdquo;. The rejection process glorifies God&rsquo;s righteous Name, and this world-wide exhibition of the rejected will actually bring men &ldquo;out of all nations&rdquo; (:20) to God, just as Israel&rsquo;s condemnation was an &ldquo;instruction&rdquo; unto the surrounding nations. The connection shows that in our obedience to the great commission, we go forth as condemned men who in our case, like the disciples, have known the wonder of grace.</p>