He Opened Their Minds to Understand - Easter Sunday, 2025

 Luke’s account of the resurrection records the disciples’ struggle to understand the reality of the resurrection. When the women reported what they had experienced at the empty tomb, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).

The gospel writer continued to describe that struggle in the story of the two disciples walking to the village of Emmaus—a story unique to Luke’s gospel (Luke 24:13-35). As the two journeyed from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Jesus joined them but they did not recognize him. When he inquired about their conversation, they reported everything that had happened during that Passover festival—their hopes that Jesus was the Messiah, his arrest by the religious leaders, his trial before Pilate, his crucifixion and death, even the women’s account of their experience at the empty tomb. Jesus responded by teaching them how their scriptures spoke of everything they described. “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). Jesus’s words “how slow of heart to believe” (Luke 24:25) point to their struggle.

As they came to the village, they invited Jesus to join them in the evening meal. During the meal, Jesus became the host as he took the bread, broke it, and gave it to them—as he had done during the Passover meal. In the breaking of the bread, their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus (Luke 24:31, 34). When they recognized him, Jesus disappeared from their sight. They reflected on the experience and how they recognized the truth of what he had taught them from their scriptures: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).

The two immediately returned to Jerusalem and reported their experience to the other disciples. Those disciples affirmed that Jesus was indeed risen from the dead. He had appeared to Peter. As the group talked among themselves, Jesus appeared in their midst. Still, they struggled to believe, doubting their own eyes. Jesus addressed their struggle by inviting them to touch the wounds in his hands and feet, by eating a piece of fish. He then again taught them what the scriptures said—the same things he had taught them before his death—the things they could not grasp. The gospel writer noted, “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

This statement reflects a profound spiritual truth: we cannot understand the ways of God apart from the Spirit’s work in our lives (John 14:25-26; 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:7-16).

Our thinking has been shaped by the world’s ways of thinking and by the world’s values. This way of thinking blocks our ability to understand the ways of God. Paul taught this truth in his letter to the Romans: “Stop letting the world squeeze you into its mold. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2, personal translation). Note that the world has already shaped our thinking. We have to move beyond it in order to understand the ways of God Jesus taught. As Jesus proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, he called people to “repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:14-15). The word he used—translated as “repent”—means “think with a different mind.”

Paul spoke of this different way of thinking as “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). This way of thinking is shaped by the character of God and the ways of God, taught to us by the Spirit.

This spiritual truth—we cannot understand the ways of God apart from the Spirit’s work in our lives—includes a second truth: we cooperate with the Spirit and the Spirit’s work when we place ourselves in a position to receive what the Spirit would teach us.

The two disciples practiced hospitality by inviting Jesus to spend the evening and eat with them. In that meal, their eyes were open. Jesus appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem as they gathered together, discussing the news of Jesus’s resurrection. In that appearance, Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

So how do we place ourselves in a position for the Spirit to teach us? Luke’s account gives us hints. We live together in spiritual community, sharing and discussing our experiences of God in our lives. We study the scriptures together in spiritual community—as well as personally—seeking insight into the character of God and the ways of God. We support one another as we seek to put those teachings into practice in our lives (Acts 2:42, 44-47). We intentionally walk in relationship with God, opening ourselves to God and the Spirit in prayer—what Jesus called “abiding” (John 15:1-11).

As we engage in these spiritual practices—and others, we are intentional about giving the Spirit the opportunity to open our hearts and minds to understand the truths of God and the ways of God. In doing so, we experience the Risen Christ in our lives today.

May it be so for each of us!

Lenten Riff for Holy Week, 2025

 It was almost time for the Passover celebration—the Wednesday before the Passover meal at sundown on Thursday. Jesus was keenly aware of what this Passover meant for him. He would be arrested by the religious leaders, tried by the Sanhedrin, delivered to Pilate and the Roman court where he would be condemned and sentenced to die by crucifixion.

Jesus had spent the early part of the week focused on the Jewish nation and the Temple. On Sunday, he had entered Jerusalem in a parade that proclaimed him to be the long-awaited Messiah. On Monday (according to Mark’s gospel—Mark 11:12-19), he had taken charge of the Temple compound by driving out those who were buying and selling sacrificial animals. Jesus returned to the Temple on Tuesday (Mark 11:20, 27) where once again he took charge. In doing so, he defied the authority of the Sadducees—the priestly class—who were responsible for the Temple (Mark 11:27-12:12). His actions fueled their seething animosity. They joined ranks with their religious and political enemies—the Pharisees and Herodians—in seeking a way to get rid of him (Mark 12:12-13). Jesus spent Tuesday teaching in the courtyard and fielding off the attempts by his adversaries to trap him (Mark 12:13-44).

On Wednesday and Thursday, Jesus turned his attention to his disciples. He once again sought to prepare them for what he knew was coming. Throughout their six-week journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus had been telling them what would happen to him in Jerusalem. He would be betrayed, arrested, brought to trial, and condemned to death. As a result, he would be crucified (Mark 8:31; 9:30-32; 10:32-34). Frustratingly, the disciples could not hear—much less accept—what he was saying. So, on Wednesday and Thursday of that Passover week, he once again sought to help them hear what they did not want to hear. An unplanned event on Wednesday provided an opportunity for him to do so.

Jesus was at a dinner in the home of Simon the leper (Mark 14:3-9) when he was approached by an unnamed woman. As she stood over Jesus, the woman broke open an alabaster jar of expensive ointment and anointed Jesus’s head. Her actions stirred angry reactions from some of the dinner guests—was it some of the disciples? They scolded the woman—reprimanded her—declaring the ointment was wasted and could have been better used by selling it and giving the proceeds to the poor.

As he often did in such situations, Jesus came to the defense of the woman. He reframed what the woman had done from a waste of money to “a good service” (Mark 14:6). He saw in her actions the anointing of his body for burial (Mark 14:8). He went on to say the woman would always be remembered for what she had done.

We don’t know if the disciples understood Jesus’s reference to his death. After all, they did not want to hear that he would die. Death did not fit into their narrative of him as the Messiah. It seems, though, that Judas understood as he left the dinner and “went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them” (Mark 14:10).

It was Wednesday before the Passover—Wednesday of our Holy Week—when Judas made his pact with the religious leaders to betray Jesus into their hands. “So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him” (Mark 14:11). That opportunity would come after the Passover meal when Jesus and the disciples went to their familiar retreat in Gethsemane in order to pray.

Once again, the disciples become an opportunity to see ourselves during this Lenten journey. Their resistance to what Jesus sought to teach them raises questions for us to consider as we come to the end our Lenten journey: what of Jesus’s teachings do we not want to hear? What “narrative” do we cling to that blocks our willingness and ability to hear what he teaches? What will it take for us to hear what we don’t want to hear?

Lenten Prayer: Lord, give us ears to hear.

Lenten Riff for Week 5, 2025

 It’s an unusual story—one found only in the gospel of Mark (Mark 8:22-26). It is a healing story that required a second touch. Of all the healing stories found in the gospels, this is the only one in which a second touch was required for the healing to be complete.

At Bethsaida, people brought a blind man to Jesus so Jesus could heal him. When Jesus anointed the man’s eyes and touched them, he asked the man: “Can you see anything?” (Mark 8:23). The man replied, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking” (Mark 8:24). Jesus then touched the man’s eyes again. After this second touch, the man “saw everything clearly” (Mark 8:26).

The fact that Mark’s gospel alone relates the story indicates the story had significance for the gospel writer. The author placed the story in the middle of his gospel—halfway through it—so that it divided the gospel into two sections. Those two sections correspond to the two-staged healing of the blind man. Before Jesus’s touch, he was blind. After the first touch, he could see, but not clearly. After the second touch, the man could then see clearly.

In my mind, the blind man is a metaphor for the disciples. In the first half of the gospel, they were blind. They did not recognize who Jesus was (Mark 4:41) nor could they understand what he taught them (Mark 8:17-21). Immediately after the miracle, they recognized Jesus was the Messiah (Mark 8:27-30). They were now able to see, but they did not yet see clearly. They could not accept what Jesus taught them about the suffering the Messiah was to experience (Mark 8:31-33). A second touch would be required for them to see clearly. That second touch would come in the resurrection.

This metaphor-story points to a central truth about discipleship—a truth reflected in our Lenten journey. Discipleship is about learning to see clearly. It is about learning the ways of God Jesus taught. A key part of that learning process is letting go of and moving beyond the way the world trained us to think. This “letting go” dimension of learning is reflected in Mark’s healing story.

In the story, Jesus led the blind man out of the village in order to heal him (Mark 8:23). Taking the story as a metaphor (rather than literally), the village represents the culture in which the man lived—what we call “the world.” In order to learn what Jesus would teach him—that is, for him to “see”—the man had to get outside of how his culture had trained him to think. He had to move beyond the world’s way of thinking and living. Learning the ways of God Jesus taught leads us beyond how the world trained us to think and beyond the thinking that governs how the world operates. Note that once the man could see clearly—that is, once he understood the ways of God Jesus taught—Jesus commanded him to not go back to the world’s way of thinking: “Do not even go into the village” (Mark 8:26).

The gospel of Mark portrays discipleship was a journey in which we move from how the world trained us to think and live into thinking that is shaped by the teachings of Jesus. The Lenten journey reminds us of this ever-recurring learning process in which we move from being blind to seeing, but not clearly, to seeing clearly.

Prayer for the Lenten journey: Open our eyes, Lord Jesus, that we may see. Touch our eyes again and again until we see clearly.

Week 4 of the Lenten Journey, 2025

 One of the most difficult aspects of learning is the challenge of unlearning—moving beyond how we have been trained to think, letting go of what we already believe. We cannot embrace a new, different way of thinking as long as we cling to an old way of thinking.

We see this reality in the twelve as they journeyed with Jesus toward Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. Along the way, Jesus repeatedly told them what he would experience in Jerusalem—betrayal, arrest, trial, mockery, flogging, crucifixion, and death … but on the third day he would be raised from the dead (Mark 8:31; 9:30-32; 10:32-34). The twelve could not hear, much less accept, what he was saying. Instead of questioning and exploring what he was saying, they argued among themselves as to which of them was the greatest (Mark 9:33-34). Viewing one another as competitors, they jockeyed for hoped-for positions of status and power (Mark 10:35-41). Their old way of thinking blocked their ability to learn the new way of thinking—the ways of the kingdom—that Jesus was attempting to teach them.

In order to teach them a different way of thinking, Jesus had to confront the way the world had trained them to think—the thinking that fueled their arguing and jockeying for position.

“You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. but it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-25).

Jesus’s teaching draws a clear contrast between the ways of the kingdom and the ways of the world—specifically, between how power is used in the kingdom and how power is used in the world.

In the world—among the Gentiles—power is used over, down against others, for personal benefit at the other’s expense. It is used in self-serving ways with no regard for others. Jesus adamantly said this way of using power is not the way of the kingdom—“it is not so among you!” In the kingdom, power is used to serve. It is used alongside another, on their behalf, seeking their wholeness and wellbeing, even when it comes at cost to oneself. In the kingdom, power is used the way a servant uses power. This servant use of power is not only what Jesus taught; it is how he lived—“the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

The disciples could not grasp this different way of thinking. Their old way of thinking blocked their ability to learn what Jesus was teaching them.

Ironically, how we think generally lies outside of our awareness. It functions as our automatic pilot, unconsciously governing what we do. We generally cannot recognize how we have been trained to think until we are confronted with thinking that challenges it—as in the teachings of Jesus.

Learning—understanding, accepting, and embracing a new way of thinking—requires us to recognize and consciously choose to move beyond our old way of thinking. To get there, we have to move beyond our defensive reactions to and knee-jerk rejection of that which is different from how we think. We have to be willing to reflect, to examine, to explore that which challenges our thinking. Learning requires a teachable spirit that trusts the Spirit to guide and teach.

As we continue to walk this Lenten journey, may the Spirit cultivate in us a teachable spirit—one that is willing to learn the ways of the kingdom even though those ways challenge how the world trained us to think.

Prayer for the Lenten journey: “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth” (Psalm 86:11).