Gordon's WebLog

In the gospels we read that on the day of his resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples and showed them the marks of his love, those marks engraved on his hands and feet and in his side.

Then, while reminding them of what he had said before he died, he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, telling them "This is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sis will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem."

He opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures (Lukc c 24 v 45).

I wonder. Why didn't Jesus do this earlier? Why didn't Jesus open their minds to understand the scriptures and then explain it to them before he died?

Surely it would have made it easier for them - easier for them to believe in him, easier for them to follow him, easier for them to accept the miracle of his resurrection. Surely everything could have gone so much better during the days of his ministry if his disciples had understood the scriptures at that time.

But they didn't understand. Instead, throughout the gospels we see the disciples stumbling along, and we see Jesus rebuking them and teaching them over and over again what the right way is.

So, why did Jesus wait to open their minds so that they could understand the scriptures and thereby understand him?

I think that the answer lies in the fact that the disciples had to experience the reality of his death and resurrection before they could really understand the Bible. Their hearts and minds could not be opened, they could not possibly understand, until they were prepared for it by all they had heard, seen, and felt with Jesus.

An executive, during a trip to America visited the Grand Canyon. He purchased guide books which he showed to his family on his return. His family studied the guide books until they almost knew them off by heart. However, they did not really know the Grand Canyon; they were not prepared for the wonder of it, they did not understand how it had been formed over millions of years, for they had never actually experienced the awesome grandeur of the place for themselves.

I think that many people today are in the same situation, they know the scriptures, but they do not understand them. They do not understand them because they are passive concerning the Word of God, they fail to link their experiences to it and allow the experiences and the prophecies in it to link to them. They haven't entered into the wholeness of the message. Rather, some parts they have accepted, and other parts they have rejected or ignored without ever considering the connections between the parts.

Indeed - a lot of us are like the disciples before Easter Sunday. We shrink away from much of what Jesus says - we don't want to hear about carrying the burdens of others, we don't want to hear about suffering for love, we don't want to hear about giving up family and home for the sake of the gospel, nor do we want to hear about how good people, people like Jesus, have to die before they can become fully alive.

This message from scripture is not good news to us, just as it was not good news to the disciples. We can't see how or why it might be important for us. Rather, for us, as for the disciples, good news, welcome news consists of hearing about the glory to be given the faithful, of hearing how the righteous will be given power, the humble given the earth, and the poor in Spirit the kingdom of heaven.

But - my friends - without the one there cannot be the other. We can't have the earth unless we carry the burdens of others. We can't have the Kingdom of heaven without the willingness to put God before our own desires, our own families. We can't have power without the willingness to suffer, and we can't have glory without the willingness to die.

Until we understand that, until our minds are opened to see the links between what we are now and what we will be later, between what we experience now and what we will experience later, until we see the links between death and resurrection, the scriptures are a closed book.

This is why Jesus did not open the minds of the disciples so that they could understand the scriptures before his resurrection.

Until Jesus rose the disciples did not have the experience they needed to have open minds. Until He rose the link between death and resurrection existed in their minds only as an unpleasant idea - it certainly was not there as a glorious reality.

Friends - Jesus' life, death and resurrection is the link between our experience and the message of the scriptures. He is the link that can open our minds, so that we might understand the scriptures, and indeed so that we might understand our own lives.

On the first Easter Sunday Jesus did not give his disciples special knowledge so that they could understand the scriptures. What he did was to open their minds, he reminded them of what they had experienced with him, and of what they were even then experiencing with him, and he pointed to the scriptures which spoke of that experience. He made the connections for them:

He said - "This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms. This is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations".

My friends, we understand the scriptures and their message when we know both Jesus' death and his resurrection - both in our faith about him and in our faith with him inside our lives.

A Jesuit Priest once related this children's fairy story.

A couple was in a gift shop looking for something to give their daughter for her birthday. Suddenly the mother spotted a beautiful teacup.

"Look at this lovely cup", she said to her husband. He picked it up and said, "You're right! This is one of the loveliest teacups I have ever seen."

At that point something remarkable happened - something that could only happen in a children's fairy story. The teacup said "Thank you for the compliment, but I wasn't always beautiful."

Instead of being surprised that the cup could talk, the couple asked it, "What do you mean when you say you weren't always beautiful?"

"Well", said the teacup, "once I was just an ugly, soggy lump of clay. But one day some man with dirty wet hands threw me on a wheel. Then he started turning me around and around until I got so dizzy I couldn't see straight. 'Stop! Stop!', I cried.

"But the man with the wet hands said, 'Not Yet!' Then he started to poke me and punch me until I hurt all over. 'Stop! Stop!', I cried. But the man said 'Not Yet'.

"Finally he did stop. But then he did something much worse. He put me into a furnace. I got hotter and hotter until I couldn't stand it. 'Stop! Stop!', I cried. But the man said 'Not Yet'.

"Finally when I thought I was going to burn up the man took me out of the furnace. Then a lady began to paint me. The fumes got so bad that they made me feel sick.

"Stop, stop!', I cried. 'Not Yet!' said the lady.

"Finally she did stop. But then she gave me back to the man again and he put me back into that awful furnace. This time it was hotter than before. 'Stop! Stop!', I cried. But the man said 'Not Yet'.

"Finally he took me out of the furnace and let me cool. When I was completely cool a pretty lady put me on this shelf next to this mirror.

"When I looked at myself in the mirror, I was amazed. I could not believe what I saw. I was no longer ugly, soggy and dirty. I was beautiful, firm and clean. I cried for joy. It was then I realized that all the pain was worthwhile. Without it I would still be an ugly, soggy lump of wet clay. It was then that all the pain took on meaning for me - it had passed - but the beauty it brought has remained."

"Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand" says Jesus.

We are now children of God. What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Jesus waited before he opened the minds of his disciples because he could do nothing else, for the story was not complete until his resurrection occurred. The disciples could not understand the scriptures until they witnessed the fact that he rose from the dead.

We too, like the first disciples, cannot understand the scriptures until our minds have been opened by our experience with him, and by our faith in his resurrection.

Without believing in Jesus and the fact that he both died and rose for us we are like the people who studied the Grand Canyon, we can know a lot about him, but never understand him or experience all that he has in store for us.

A final illustration - one told about a recent convert to the Christian faith who was asked by one of his unbelieving friends about Jesus.

The friend said to him: "I hear you have become a Christian." "Yes", said the convert.

"Then you must know a great deal about Christ", said the friend, "tell me, what country was he born in?" "I don't know", replied the convert.

"Well then, what was his age when he died?" asked the friend. "I don't know", replied the convert.

"Well, can you tell me how many sermons he preached? Or how he was born, or how he did miracles, or how he was raised from the dead?" asked the friend. "I don't know" responded the convert.

"You certainly know very little for a man who claims to be a Christian", said the friend. "You are right," replied the convert, "I am ashamed of how little I know - but this much I do know. Three years ago I was a drunkard. I was in debt. My family was falling to pieces. My wife and children would dread my return home each evening. I was desperate. I gave my heart to God. Now I have given up booze, we are out of debt, and my wife and I are in love once more. All this Christ has done for me. This much I know".

We can know the biography of Jesus that is found in the scriptures, - we can explore the laws that are written down, and debate the reasons for why this or that happened, - we can gain all kinds of knowledge about scripture, but none of it will give us the understanding that God wants us to have.

If we would understand what the scriptures are really all about, then we must not only open them, we must allow Jesus to open our minds - by placing our trust in him, in the one to whom the scriptures point.

Then, like the visitor to the Grand Canyon, like the clay in the hands of the potter, like the convert to the faith whose life changed,

we will truly understand, and we will praise God for it, and for the life he has given us.

He opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures.