Word to the Wise
Thursday, April 20, 2017 - Octave of Easter - Thurs
[Acts 3:11-26 and Luke 24:35-48]"Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." [Luke]
It is generally accepted by scripture scholars that the Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are by the same author. So, the Acts of the Apostles could be considered volume 2 of the Gospel According to Luke. It is also generally accepted that the evangelists began their portraits of Jesus not with his birth but with his death! It was only when Christians became curious about Jesus' life and ministry prior to his death that the traditions were gathered and put into the story. The oldest of the gospels, Mark, seems to have been written about 30 years more or less after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The most recent, John, was put into writing at least 60 years or more later.
I mention all of this so that we can see why Luke and the other evangelists wrote their works. They are continuing what Jesus tells the disciples in today's gospel scripture, a continuation of the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. "Thus it is written...." really puts us in the same position as they were in. What they had was what we call the Old Testament. The first scripture today, from the Acts of the Apostles, quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy 18:19! We have both the Old (Hebrew) Testament and the New Testament. This is why it is so important that we read the whole Bible. We are witnesses to these things. We need to know what is written about Jesus if we are going to be witnesses to him. If he is the fulfillment of what was written before him, then the Old Testament demands our attention. If we are witnesses to what he did and how he died and rose from the dead, then the New Testament demands our attention. Then we, too, can say, "Thus it is written...." AMEN
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