I went through various dictionaries to check the meaning of hard hearted. I got words such as ' cold, unsympathetic, unfeeling, callous, evil minded, indifferent to the suffering of others, unforgiving and stony .'
As I thought of hard heartedness, two Biblical characters came to mind : The rich man in Hades, and Thomas. The rich man knew Lazarus on Earth, but was cruel and unsympathetic towards him. They had both died. The rich man went to Hades where he was in much distress as he burned in fire. Contrarily, Lazarus went to Abraham's bosom, where he found peace and rest from all his earthly sorrows. The rich man sought relief from Lazarus, and when it was declined, he asked for a favour - that Abraham should send Lazarus to Earth to warn his brothers , so they do not suffer the same fate as he -
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Luke 16:29-31
One definition of hard hearted that popped up was affectless or being indifferent to the suffering of others. Abraham in other words was saying that some people on Earth, including the brothers of the rich man can be callous, evil minded, unfeeling, cold hearted and affectless. They will simply not care about anyone's suffering, nor be bothered about any warnings about God's ways and judgement. In short, they are hard hearted.
Thomas was an apostle of Jesus, he had seen all the miracles Jesus had performed. He heard Jesus talk about His pending death and resurrection. However, days after the death of Jesus, he was told by the other disciples that Jesus was alive and had appeared to them. Thomas said to them - “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Jesus once again appeared to the disciples and Thomas got the opportunity to feel the palms of Jesus. He then believed, but Jesus said to him - “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:19-29
Thomas was hard hearted! You might disagree and say " no, he wasn't hard hearted. He was an apostle of Jesus and believed in Him. He simply could not fathom how a dead man could rise again." Do not forget that Thomas was with Jesus when he raised Lazarus from the dead. He had previously seen great acts of God performed through Jesus, and yet still his heart did not totally believe in God's supernatural ability.
Thomas leads us to hard heartedness that comes through lack of faith and unbelief. It is easier to point at Pharaoh and the way he treated the Israelites and exclaim - "such hard heartedness!" However , most of us, including me, are guilty of the same.
In Mark 8, Jesus had just performed a miracle where he multiplied bread. The next minute, his disciples were fretting over having no bread. Jesus asked them -
“Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Mark 8:17
Why did Jesus talk about hardened hearts in the above?
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