Word to the Wise
Thursday, April 13, 2023 - Octave of Easter - Thurs
[Acts 3:11-26 and Luke 24:35-48]"The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses." [Acts] "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, "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]
The evangelist Luke is considered to be the author both of the gospel that bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles [cf. Acts 1:1-26]. The similarity of the speech by Peter in the passage from Acts in the first scripture for today and the speech by Jesus to the disciples after his resurrection in today's gospel scripture is not coincidental. Luke wrote from his own experience as a disciple of St. Paul as well as from other sources, notably the Gospel According to Mark, but also from other accounts. As with all the New Testament books, there is a theological agenda at work along with an understanding of history and facts that cannot be treated as journalism but rather as preaching and faith.
The two scriptures today are both the work of Luke. In the gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples after the incident on the road to Emmaus. He demonstrates that he is really bodily risen from the dead by eating fish in front of them and showing his nail wounds. But then Luke moves to the interpretation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus with the expression of opening their minds to understand the scriptures, which also occurred to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The speech by Peter reflects the same "big picture" of the meaning of Jesus' mission and the mission of the disciples. The command to be "witnesses of these things" is present.
Out of all of this is the importance of understanding the scriptures and bearing witness to what is revealed there. That remains our task today. AMEN