Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and told the others. But they did not believe.
The two disciples saw Jesus on the road to Emmaus and told the others. But they did not believe.
Only when Jesus came himself did they believe. He rebuked them for their hardness of heart because they did not believe the others who had seen him.
Do we do that too? Do we refuse to be open to God speaking to us through others?
Perhaps we know the speaker too well. Perhaps we are dismissive of their message because we know their faults.
Perhaps we have our head down and are too focused on our own issues…or even on our own cell phone.
Or perhaps we think that we have all the answers. Neither a homily nor a simple word from our friend can break through to our heart because we think we know everything already.
Docility toward messages from others is likely not our default attitude.
But our faith tells us that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are within us…and within others. In our heads, we know that God can and does speak to us through others, but our hearts are often not open to this.
God is reaching out to us. But we must be open to it. We must be willing to see it. We must be willing to hear it. We must be willing to allow God to shatter our preconceived notions and to tell us a truth that might be different from what we thought we knew.
Prayer is critical. When we open ourselves to God in prayer, we become more likely to open ourselves to God during the rest of our day.
God is reaching out to us. God seeks us. We do not find God so much as we allow ourselves to be found. Will we allow ourselves to be found? Will we allow ourselves to hear God? Even when God speaks through another? Are we listening?