Word to the Wise
Thursday, April 5, 2018 - Octave of Easter - Thurs
[Acts 3:11-26 and Luke 24:35-48]THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018. THURSDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER [Acts 3:11-26 and Luke 24:35-48] [Jesus] said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “This 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 disciples on the road to Emmaus have returned to Jerusalem with their account of meeting Jesus on the road. While they are telling their story to the disciples, Jesus appears and challenges them to see that he is not a ghost and that he is still incarnate as a human, but one who has risen from the dead. He also “opens their minds to understand the Scriptures.” This had occurred to the disciples on the road as well. Thus there are two forms of witness in the two stories. The first form of witness takes place with the appearances of Jesus to the disciples. They recount this to others and the story is passed on, as we can see in the accounts preserved in the Acts of the Apostles. The second form of witness is in the Scriptures. For the disciples, the ultimate authority in religious matters would have been the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms. Jesus enables them to see that he is the fulfillment of all that was written about God’s promise to deliver the people of the covenant. In our day, we carry on this witness by coming together, telling the story and “breaking bread” at Eucharist. We put “flesh and bones” on Jesus by following his command to wash one another’s feet and seeing him in the faces of the poor. In addition, we have not only the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms, but we have the witness of the New Testament and those who wrote the story of Jesus. Jesus tells us at the end of today’s gospel scripture, “You are witnesses of these things.” That’s our baptismal commitment. We have much to do. AMEN
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