JESUS OPENS OUR MINDS TO UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES

III EASTER SUNDAY - Luke 24:35-48

The gospels present a poor picture of the Apostles and the disciples in general. They followed Jesus with the wrong expectations, and they could not understand a lot of the Jesus’ teaching, even though Jesus tried to explain his mission to them. It was completely out of their understanding that Jesus was going to be killed, and that Jesus himself walked into their enemies’ trap.  After the resurrection, they went on behaving in the same manner, unable to understand Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus reproached them that they could not understand the Scriptures. 

Like any Jew, they knew the Scriptures. They heard them being read every Saturday in the Synagogue. Most probably they knew by heart some of the most important passages, but like most of the Jewish people they had very wrong expectations about the Messiah. They dreamt of a powerful Messiah, who would become a universal king, ruling the whole world. They dreamt of a messianic kingdom in the image of the Roman Empire, in which the Roman peace would be substituted by the messianic peace. As members of the Jewish people, they dreamt of being rulers of the world. However, Jesus presented himself as a humble servant, ready to wash his disciples’ feet. The Prophets had spoken of the suffering servant of the Lord (Yahweh), who carried upon his shoulders the sins of the world and who offered his life as a sacrifice of peace and reconciliation (Is 53:5,10). 

Paul speaks speaks of a veil covering the faces of the Jewish people preventing them from seeing and understanding the mystery of salvation, which Jesus Christ carried out to fulfilment. But then Christ came to remove that veil, so that all those who believe in Jesus Christ can understand the Scriptures with God’s own mind.

“Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” (2 Co 3:14-16)

Christ is the key for understanding the writings of the Old Covenant, and we must interpret them through him.  Jesus opened the minds of his disciples for them to understand the Scriptures.

“This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled.’ He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.” (Lk 24)

We are not different from the Apostles, and we are affected by the same problem: our inability to understand the Scriptures. Many times we read them with our own human understanding and project on them our desires and dreams. We want the Scriptures to speak for us, that’s to be our spokesperson, instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus with a listening heart. Taught by Jesus, and full of love for him, we will be able to proclaim that he is alive and that “in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations”.