Hard hearts and unbelief

In Mark 16, we read that Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus after his resurrection. According to Mark, Mary Magdalene was the first to carry the good news of Christ’s resurrection; shortly thereafter, two others – whose names were not given – also reported to others that they had seen the risen Jesus:

She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. 

Something else struck me, though, as I continued to read this passage.

Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.

The connection Jesus drew between “unbelief” and “hardness of heart” was something I hadn’t really keyed in on before. But when I look back to days when faith in God was either unimportant or distasteful to me, I recognize that my unbelief was indeed closely linked to hardness of heart. I was unreceptive to God’s grace, which was always freely offered. A change in my heart was required in order for me to be open to faith.

Fortunately, we have a God who is loving and patient and kind. This is evident in Ezekiel 36, when God promises to change our hardened hearts:

I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the
nations, which you have profaned in their midst Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.