Go out to the whole world, proclaim the good news
Mark’s account of the post-resurrection apparitions is very brief. He summarizes what we have been hearing from other gospels. He simply mentions the people to whom Jesus appeared after the resurrection: Mary Magdalene, the men on the way to Emmaus and the Eleven. His list of apparition is not even exhaustive: he does not mention the apparition at the Sea of Tiberius which we heard yesterday, nor the second apparition to the Eleven which we shall hear about tomorrow. For him what seems to be important is that Jesus rose, appeared to some witnesses, and gave a message; a mission to them: “Go out to the whole world, proclaim the good news to all creation”.
That mission is what we hear Peter and John fulfilling in the first reading. The Sanhedrin is amazed at their self-assurance, considering that they are uneducated lay men. They are further amazed at the defiance of the apostles, who ignore their command to their faces. What they don’t seem to know is that these men are not acting by their own power, but with the Spirit of the risen Lord.
Obviously, the mission of the apostles to go out the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation, could not be fulfilled by them alone, and it was not. They did their part and died doing it. Even now the whole world has not known the good news. It is the mission for all of us believers, to do our part all our life.
Like the apostles, we cannot carry out this mission with our unaided efforts. Before the reception of the Spirit, they were afraid. It is only after they received the Spirit that they had the courage to go out. We too need the Spirit of the risen Lord.
