Bless Thou the words of my lips and the meditations of our heart that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
The text of today's sermon is taken from the gospel reading.
We heard in that reading, 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.
I've thought a bit about this and I've wondered, Why didn't Jesus do this earlier? Why didn't Jesus open their minds to understand the scriptures and then explain it all 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 Jesus' ministry if his disciples had understood the scriptures at that time.
But they didn't understand. Instead, throughout the gospels we see the disciples bumbling and stumbling, 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 believe that the answer lies in the fact that the disciples had to experience the reality of Jesus' 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 of what they had heard, seen, and felt with Jesus...
The story is told of the explorer who some years ago had just returned to his country from the Amazon.
The people at home were eager to learn all about the vast and mighty river and the country surrounding it. But how he wondered, could he ever describe it to them - how could he ever put into words the feelings that flooded into his heart when he saw the exotic flowers and heard the night sounds of the jungle. How could he communicate to them the smells the filled the air and the sense of danger and excitement that would come whenever he and his fellows explorers encountered strange animals or paddled through treacherous rapids??
So the explorer did what all good explorers do - he said to the people, "go and find out for yourselves what it is like", and to help them he drew a map of the river pointing out the various features of its course and describing some of the dangers and some of the routes that could be used to avoid those dangers.
The people took the map and they framed and hung on the wall of the local science museum so that everyone could look at it. Some made copies of it. After a period of time many of those who made copies for themselves considered themselves experts on the river - and indeed they knew its every turn and bend, they knew how broad it was and how deep, where the rapids where and where the falls. They knew the river and they instructed others in what it was like whenever those people indicated an interest in it.
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 themselves 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 material 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, how the humble will be 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 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 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 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 told, or I should say retold this children's story when preaching on the message of today's scripture. It goes like this:
A grandfather and a grandmother are in a gift shop looking for something to give their granddaughter for her birthday. Suddenly the grandmother spots a beautiful teacup.
"Look at this lovely cup", she says to her husband. He picks it up and says, "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 book. The teacup says to the grandparents, "Thank you for the compliment, but I wasn't always beautiful."
Instead of being surprised that the cup can talk, the grandfather and grandmother ask it, "What do you mean when you say you weren't always beautiful?"
"Well", says 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 some short 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."
This is the message of all the scripture: Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.
This too is the message of scripture: During the days of Jesus' life he offered up prayers and petitions to God with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and once made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
And this too: You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. This is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out and that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.
And this: 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. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
Jesus waited before he opened the minds of his disciples because he could do no other, 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 Amazon, we can know a lot about Him, but never understand Him or experience all that He has in store for us.
But with Him, believing in Him, even if we cannot read the holy book, even if we cannot study the sacred page, we can understand what God has said there.
A final story - 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 explorer of the Amazon, 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. AMEN
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