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.

When we look at the cross it is easy for us to become preoccupied with the details of the agony and the bloodshed, the mocking crowd and the darkened skies. And whilst we should never forget what was done to Jesus the significance of the cross lies, not in what men did to Christ, but what Christ did for men.

But was it really necessary for Christ to go through all that torment ? Was it really necessary for him to suffer abandonment by his friends ? Was it really necessary for the people to turn against him, shrieking for his blood ? Was it really necessary for him to be rejected by the religious leaders of the day ? Was it really necessary for him to be betrayed by one of his very own disciples ? Was it really necessary for him to die in such an ignominious way ?

Yes, it most certainly was necessary. And I say that, not on my own authority, but on the authority of the revealed word of God as found in the bible. Yes, it was necessary for Christ to suffer all those terrible things, for only by suffering could he enter into his glory.

1) The cross was necessary to reveal God's evaluation of human life.

In Christ's day life was held very cheaply. Unwanted children simply disappeared, a slave could be killed by his master and no questions were asked. Despots like Emperor Nero lit their gardens with human torches.

But life is NOT cheap. In God's eye life is supremely valuable. The death of Christ demonstrates this, for God was even willing for his own son to die to save it.

2) The cross was necessary to reveal the very essence of God's character.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins" says the write of John's gospel, and Paul tells us that "God commendeth himself to us in that, whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us".

The cross reveals God, not as a vengeful God, nor as a despotic ruler, but as a God who was willing to die for his children, as a loving shepherd taking the trail of suffering and death to find the lost sheep.

3) The cross was necessary to reveal God's estimate of sin.

Only when we look at the love displayed on the cross can we begin to imagine how truly terrible sin is in God's eye. Sin that takes a sinless Jesus strips him, beats him, mocks him, pierces his hands and feet with nails, and then sits at the soot of the cross mocking him in his death agonies. THAT is how terrible sin is.

YES, it is certain that Jesus could have avoided the confrontation with the chief priests, he could easily have run away from the imminent trail and crucifixion, but could we ever worship a God who was such a coward ? Could we ever entrust to a God like that our love and adoration ? NO, I say again NO.

We are only able to worship our God, we are only able to give to him our adoration, our praise, our lives, BECAUSE he showed how much he loved us by dieing for us.

There, on a cruel cross of wood, pierced by great nails through his hands and feet, the son of God died in agony to show how much God loved us. "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that, whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life".

We can entrust our lives to the safekeeping of God simply because we know that, whatever befalls us, Jesus has trodden this earth before us. He has experienced all the trials and tribulations that we suffer. He knows how we feel, for he has experienced all the emotions that we experience. He understands our fears, for he went through all the horrors of loneliness that we suffer.

The cross was NOT an accident of history, it was NOT an afterthought on the part of God. It was God's plan right from the dawn of history. When mankind slipped into sin God was ready, his plan was already made. The cross was conceived and formulated in the heart and mind of a loving God. It was to be a symbol of our resistance and rebellion, but it was also to be a symbol of God's love and care.

We will never fully understand the mystery of the cross, but we will not go far wrong if we remember that GOD did it. The cross was the result of the treachery of Judas, of the blindness and jealousy of the high priests, of the human fears of the Roman governor, yest it was GOD'S work.

It is only when we see God, in his mercy, taking our place that we see ourselves as we are, in all our poverty and nakedness, our sinfulness and wickedness.

The cross stands with open arms to welcome every sinful soul. It is the door through which the father welcomes the prodigal back into the family and home.

On the cross love goes beyond all human reason. On the cross love convinces beyond all argument. On the cross love brings home the truth to us until, all doubts and questions silenced, we only want to worship and adore.

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to many of his friends. Some in Jerusalem, others further afield. However some were so disheartened at the recent events that they left the city to return to their homes.

Two of these people lived in Emmaus. Sadly they returned home, not realizing that the greatest event in history had just happened, and the friends were walking away from it - turning their backs on it.

Mark c 16

Go prepared - They brought sweet spices, were willing to spend as well as go (v1)

Go early - They were in earnest, and went just as soon as the Sabbath was past (v2)

Go on - Even if there were a stone in the way, and it was “great”, they went right on to the insurmountable obstacle (v3)

Go in - Obstacle gone, they go in, and instead of a sad service they receive a joyous command (v5)

Go tell others - How many Christians have found this true: a sad service to perform, big difficulties in the way, going on to them and finding them rolled away, and instead of a sad duty, a joyous experience with a risen Lord (v7,10)

Because he is all-wise and all-knowing, God’s answers will always be the right ones.

Because he is all-powerful, he is in control of things.

Because he is truth, his promises can always be trusted.

Because he is love, he is full of compassion and responds to our prayers with mercy and grace.

Because he is eternal, he sees all things at a glance, he takes note of all the variables, and he answers when the time is right and the circumstances are right.