The First Fruits of Thought
Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, Luke 24:45
Opened – Oh, how I wish I had been there. These two men, walking from one village to another, encounter the greatest teacher of all time. As they follow the dusty road, he begins to explain the Scriptures to them. He opens their minds. The Greek verb dianoigo has the nuance of opening something for the first time (see Luke 2:23). These Jewish men, trained in the Scriptures all their lives, understood for the first time what it really meant. For years they knew the words, but they were completely ignorant of the meaning. Now Jesus reveals to them what was previously hidden. Suddenly they see.
Aren’t we just like that? We know the history. We know the stories. We think we have the theological arguments in place. We follow the rules. But our minds are closed. Until we have an encounter with the living Lord, until Jesus comes to us and explains the hidden message of His suffering and death, we just carry around a book filled with religious words. Without the illumination of the Spirit, we just don’t get it. We can have all the right propositions, all the right religious rules, even the right theology, but our minds are still closed. It takes a walk with Jesus to give us spiritual enlightenment.
The Bible is the strangest book in the world. It contains God’s essential message to Man. It is crucial for life, here and beyond. But it is a closed book to those who are not touched by the Spirit. You can read and read and read, but without God’s involvement, you will come up empty. This is the only book in the world that is open to all and closed to everyone. “Let him who has ears hear” describes each of us. We all have ears, but our physical apparatus is of no value in this process unless it is accompanied by a spiritual component. Then we actually hear the text.
Don’t imagine that you can simply read a passage in Scripture and understand it. God’s message to men and women requires the agency of the Spirit and the receptivity of a humble heart. When you pick up this book, you need to remember the two men on the road to Emmaus. They knew all the words and yet were completely in the dark. They needed Jesus to open their minds for the first time. So do we.
