“Jesus Opens Minds” Luke
24:36-49
Intro.: Among the most dangerous labels a person
could receive these days is to be identified as “a conservative
Christian.” It seems that many are far
more sympathetic to African War Lords and Al Queda
Terrorists than they are to faithful, confessing Christians. They mock us with statements like: How stupid can you be to accept the
scriptures as the totally trustworthy and true Word of God! How ignorant are you to actually believe
that there are universal moral absolutes!
And how hateful and intolerant that you dare to claim the risen Christ
as the only way of salvation! Such ideas
are viewed by the unbelieving world as dangerous and divisive. One of the charges that you will often hear
people throwing at confessing Christians is that we are closed-minded.
Now, while it’s not my intention to incite
animosity, I do want to point out that such accusations could not be further
from the truth. In fact today’s Gospel
teaches us that those who do not know the risen Christ are the ones whose minds
are really closed – closed to God. Jesus
is the only one who can open minds to the possibility of what God can do, and
the certainties of what He has done.
Jesus opens minds to receive peace and to understand the
scriptures. It is my hope that through
today’s Gospel the Lord will enable and empower all of us through the Holy
Spirit to give those who deny Christ and falsely accuse us a piece of our minds
- our open minds.
I.
To Receive Peace. (vv.36-43)
A. Since the fall of Adam and Eve humanity has
been plagued by fear; fear of the world around them and fear of God. The goal of the devil and the world, working
through our fallen nature, is to close our minds to God by programming fear
into us and filling us with doubts.
The events recorded in our Gospel begin
with two of the disciples telling the story of how they had seen Jesus, alive,
on the Road to Emmaus. But in the shadow
of all that had happened in recent days the faith of that little band of
followers was nearly destroyed. Where
they once heard Jesus speak of peace and forgiveness, now all they could muster
was fear and guilt; even fear of Jesus whom they had abandoned, denied, and
rejected.
In the same way so much of what goes on
around us, and happens to us leaves us fearful and timid. We cower before a hostile world, grow
shamefully silent when our faith is challenged, and hide ourselves away. When it comes to approaching God, we know too
well our evil thoughts, wicked desires, and sinful words and works. We allow Satan to drive us into fearful
hiding away from the Lord. Our decisions
and what we do and say are sinful because we live by fear, and not by faith.
And where there is fear doubt is not far
behind. Repeatedly Jesus had told His
disciples what was going to happen to Him, and what it meant for them. But huddled together behind locked doors,
feeding off of one another’s fears, and recalling all they had done and what
had been done to Jesus, they just couldn’t believe it. In the midst of so much, such a good thing
just seemed impossible. Could that man
who died so horribly on the cross really be the Christ? Could His Word be trusted? Was the plan of salvation He proclaimed to
them just too good to be true? And where
was God in all of this? If He really
cared, how could He have let this happen to Jesus and to them? To them fear seemed safe and doubt would not
disappoint them.
I know that you all want to appear bold and
immovable in your faith, but don’t you still have moments of weakness and
struggles with doubt? I know that I face
many things that make me fearful. Don’t
we experience a great number of circumstances seem impossible? What good are all the promises of the Bible,
when the harsh realities of life are bearing down on us like a freight
train? Where is God when the pressures
seem to be crushing us like a steam roller?
Allowed to continue, such fears and doubts
will result in our minds and hearts becoming closed to God. This is what happened to the fearful and
doubting disciples in the room that night.
Despite Christ’s definite promise of a resurrection victory their minds
were closed to the possibility. Our
Gospel reports that they were “startled
and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost”
Rather than believing the testimony of their fellow disciples, and
trusting Christ to fulfill His promise, they were taken captive by an
unbiblical lie. They were convinced that
Jesus had returned as a ghost. Their
minds were closed to the possibilities of God’s power and grace.
Many of us daily suffer from the same
effects of fear and doubt. We live in
the midst of a fearful and unbelieving world and allow our minds to become closed
to the promises of God in Christ. We see
the troubles surrounding us and convince ourselves that some things are
impossible. We struggle with our losing
battle against sin and close our minds and hearts to God’s mercy. Living by fear rather than by faith we
refuse to believe that the risen Christ is always with us, even to the very end
of the age. We treat him like a ghost
who haunts us rather than as the risen Savior who blesses us with life and
salvation. But thanks be
to God…
B. Jesus opens our minds to receive His peace; a
heavenly peace of soul which surpasses all human understanding.
With a familiar voice He offers us
words of peace. In our Gospel He came to
the disciples, and appeared to them through locked doors to calm their fears by
speaking to them. He said: “Peace be with you!” and encouraged them not to be afraid nor
let doubts arise in their minds any longer.
He invited them to look at His hands and feet to see the holy wounds by
which He had saved them. He told them to
touch the very body which He had offered on the cross as an atoning sacrifice
for their sins, and proclaimed to them: “It is I, myself?” He was not a ghost to fear, but the very one
who always had and always would love them.
He proved to them that He truly rose to win
the victory over death and the grave for them.
In His body He was showing them that because He is alive, they and we
shall live also. Satan and his dreaded
weapons of sin and death have no more power over us.
Still today, Jesus comes to us and
preaches heavenly peace into our souls.
He assures us that He is alive, and that we who were once dead in our
sins are now alive with Him. He comes to
us saying: Do not be afraid, and do not
let doubts continue to arise in your minds.
He even invites us with the disciples to touch his living body in the
Sacrament of the Altar, and in touching and receiving it by faith to receive
forgiveness, life and salvation. Jesus
comes to us with His perfect love to drive out all our fear. He comes to overcome our doubts and open our
minds and hearts, not only to the possibility of God’s grace and mercy, but to
their certainty. Because He has risen,
as He said, we know that He is our Savior, that His promises are true, and that
we have life in His name. Through Christ
our minds have been opened…
II. To Understand The Scriptures. (vv.44-46)
Speaking to us through the apostle God
teaches us that the things that are written about him in the Bible cannot be
understood or accepted by those whose minds have not been opened by
Christ.
A. Jesus is the one who opens our minds to
understand the meaning of all that God has done for us through His life, death
and resurrection. Again St. Paul writes: “We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely give
us….” (1 Cor.
2:12)
In our Gospel Jesus came to His disciples
whose minds had been closed by their fears and doubts and taught them that His
promises can always be trusted. He told
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.” He reminded them that this was all
according to God’s plan: that the Christ
would suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day.
He taught them and us that because of what
He has done; living in perfect obedience, dying upon the cross to receive our
punishment, and rising again in glory, we have forgiveness of sins. He opens our minds to understand what God has
given us, and opens our hearts to receive God’s grace.
B. Not only that but Jesus opens our minds to
see Him as the key who unlocks all of scripture.
Did you know that the meaning of ancient
Egyptian hieroglyphics was a mystery for centuries? It was not until Napolean’s
troops discovered a slab of black stone in 1799 near the seaside town of
For many the Bible remains as mysterious
and confusing as hieroglyphics are to most of us, because they do not yet have
the living Rosetta stone, the Rock of Salvation, Jesus Christ,. He is the key to open our minds to understand
the scriptures. The apostle writes: “We speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom
that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time
began. None of the rulers of this age
understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory, as it is written: ‘No eye has
seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those
who love him,’ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit…” (1 Cor. 2:7-10) Jesus told His disciples before, and now in
today’s Gospel following His resurrection tells them again, that all of the
scriptures are about Him.
Just as He did to His disciples in that
room the first Easter evening, He comes to us and opens up our minds to
understand all that scriptures have to say to us. All of them are written so that we may
believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing we may have
life in His name.
From Genesis to Revelation they all tell
us about Him and the salvation He offers us.
He is the fulfillment of God’s Law and God’s Promise. He is the key to understanding the secret
wisdom of God, and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; that God was
reconciling the world to Himself, through Christ, not counting our sins against
us. Jesus is the One who opens our
hearts and minds to find peace with God and to understand what the scriptures
have to say to us about God’s grace and our salvation. And He is the one who prepares us then…
III. To Give Others A Piece Of Our
Mind. (vv.47-49)
A. In our Gospel Jesus came to the disciples
who had retreated into their little room as fearful victims of abuse and false
accusation and commissioned them to instead go out and give the world a piece
of their mind. He sent them to be His
witnesses to all nations beginning in
In the same way, with minds that have
been opened to God’s grace we are not content to keep the peace we have in
Christ and the understanding we have been given to ourselves. Free from fear and doubt we are ready to go. We are ready to go and be His witnesses to
those whose minds are yet closed to God, to those who live under the shadow of
fear and doubt.
We are ready to go and tell all the world what Christ has done; that He has kept the law
for us, that He laid down His life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and
that He has risen in glory to give eternal life to all who believe. With open minds we will leave here today and
through us repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to
all nations. Because…
B. He sends us the promised Holy Spirit to
empower us.
In our Gospel He told His disciples to wait
for the Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit through whom they would be clothed
with power from on high. And sure enough, 50 days later they received
what He had promised. In the power of
the Holy Spirit they then proclaimed the glory of Christ’s resurrection, so
that many minds and hearts were opened and thousands were added to their number
to receive the gift of salvation in Christ.
That same promise is given to us by Christ
and fulfilled for us right here today, because we receive the empowering gift
of the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament.
Here in Baptism we receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Here in the spoken and
written Word the Holy Spirit comes to open our minds, to fill our hearts with
faith, and to strengthen our witness.
Here in the Sacrament of the Altar Christ enters us with His Spirit to
clothe us with His righteousness and power.
We are fully equipped to be His witnesses so that…
We can give others a piece of our mind so
that they may find peace for theirs. We
are so blessed, because not only have our minds been opened to God, but by His
grace we now have the mind of Christ.
This is the mind we have been given to share with others. We are privileged to give them a little
piece of that mind so that their minds may be opened to God, to His peace and
to understanding the mysteries of His grace.
And now the peace of God…. Amen.