Luke 24:44--47
He said to them, 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, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then He opened their minds so they
could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "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 Hes name to all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
NIV
In the name of the One Who was raised because of our Justification, amen.
Again and again Jesus told the disciples that He would die and rise
again. He was always pointing them to the prophecies of the Old
Testament. Then after He rose again He appeared first to the Women and
told them to go tell the men that it is as it was written in the
Scriptures. Finally, because they would not believe what was written, He
appeared to them in person and scolded them.
One of the three great pillars of the Lutheran faith, which is the
universal orthodox faith, is that our faith rests only on the scriptures
(sola Scriptura). There is no other basis or measure for faith. We see
that this is what Jesus was stressing with His disciples. But we see
something else at work here too. The disciples could not understand the
Holy Scriptures until Jesus opened their minds. It is no different for
us.
Our sinful minds simply don't get it. We can read the plain and evident
Scriptures and still miss the obvious. This is one of the results of
sin. We must have the Holy Spirit in order to understand the Scriptures.
But the Holy Spirit also comes in connection with the Scriptures--and
never separate from the Word of God whether spoken, written, in pictures,
or in the action of the liturgy. Yes, it is catch 22; we get the Holy
Spirit through the word, we understand the word through Holy Spirit.
But, the beauty of it is this, as we begin to understand and search,
always praying that the Spirit would enlighten us, we do not gain
understanding 1+1+1... but more like 1x2x3... This is because the
understanding of one thing sheds light on the understanding of another,
which in turn sheds light back on the first thing and then back on the
other again. It doesn't matter that much where you begin because with
constant study it gets to the point where all of Scripture is
interrelated and seen as a whole. The idea that the Old Testament
doesn't have much Gospel gets lost because we see so clearly the pictures
(called types) of Christ in everything.
What all this boils down to is the fact that we should ask our heavenly
Father to send the Holy Spirit to us and then spend time in the word. We
are also assured that He will give us every good gift we ask for. Ask,
seek, and knock. Amen.
Prayer:
Dear creator Spirit, You are as glorious as you are mysterious, You
create faith and give understanding through Your Holy Word; come to us
and fill our minds with understanding and our hearts with greater faith;
give us the ability to see what is truth and what is error so that we may
remain in the true faith to the glory of Your Holy Name, amen.