Jesus Opened Their Minds
Tim Davis
“Then Jesus opened [the disciple’s] minds to understand the Scriptures” (Lk. 24:45).
So how exactly did Jesus open his disciple’s minds? In other words, what did they not know beforehand that they now know? Thankfully, Luke tells us in the surrounding verses.
Jesus opened their minds to the fact that…
“Everything written about [Jesus] in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Lk. 24:44). Not only this, Jesus opened their minds to see that, “The Messiah should suffer…” (Lk. 24:46).
Wait a second. The Law of Moses, that’s the first five books of the Bible, right? What part of those books are about Jesus? Where is Jesus getting this idea from that the first five books of the Bible (and apparently the Prophets and Psalms) are about him?
LAW, PROPHETS AND PSALMS?
First, let’s clarify what Jesus means by the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.
To jump straight to the point, Jesus is refering to what we call, the Old Testament. However, there’s one major difference.
The books are organized differently.
Here’s what I mean. Open to you Bible’s table of contents and look at the list of Old Testament books. Jesus was familiar with those books. However, what you see in your table of contents is an organizational structure that was assigned after the time of Jesus. First century Jews were more familiar with a different ordering scheme called…
Tanak.
The consonants—T, N, K—each represent a major division. Thus, Jesus’ “Bible” was organized according to a three-part structure. T stands for Torah. N stands for Nevi’im. And K stands for Ketuvim.
Here’s where things get fun.
When Jesus says, “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms”… he’s referring to this three-part division.
· Law of Moses/Torah
· Prophets/Nevi’im
· Psalms/Ketuvim.
To clarify one last point, Ketuvim—the third part—means “writings”. And this section consisted of many writings including the psalms. However, the collection of the Psalms is the (or one of the…) first “books” in this section. Therefore, Jesus’ reference to the “Psalms” is a shorthand reference to this entire third section as a whole.
Here’s why all this matters.
Jesus claims that each section of the Tanak (Old Testament) points to him. In other words, it’s not as though there are a few prophetic predictions and then the rest of it is just ancient Israelite history. No. All of it flows toward Jesus.
So how does it all lead to him?
JESUS UNDERSTOOD HYPERLINKS
Jesus understood what we’re calling “Biblical Hyperlinks”.
For example, Jesus knew Deuteronomy is linked to Joshua, and that Exodus 25-40 is linked to 1 Kings 5-8, and that Ruth is linked to Proverbs, and that Isaiah picks up Exodus imagery to illustrate Israel’s future hopes.
Jesus knew all of this and more.
The Old Testament—or, the Tanak—is one big interconnected library. And this library is far more than an odd collection of ancient texts—this library tells a story. And Jesus understood his identity and mission as the fulfillment of this story.
A SUFFERING MESSIAH?
Now back to Luke 24. What do we make of Jesus’ claims about a suffering Messiah?
Jesus gives us one piece of the puzzle, or Mosaic, if you like. Prior to his death, he tells a parable about wicked tenants (Lk. 20:9-18). A man owned a vineyard and he hired tenants to take care of it. When the owner sent servants to the vineyard to gather fruit, the tenants beat the servants. Finally, the owner sent his son. This time, the tenants killed the son. Then looking directly at the religious leaders, he quotes Psalm 118:22,
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
What does this have to do with anything?
Well, Psalm 118 celebrates God’s saving acts but recognizes the role of rejection in his master plan. Jesus applies this point of this psalm to himself. Jesus is the one who will be rejected yet vindicated.
THE MOSAIC LEADS TO JESUS
The Old Testament (Tanak) is one large Mosaic.
Every piece contributes uniquely to the final picture. If you want to enjoy reading the Bible allow Jesus to open your mind to understand the Scriptures in the same way he did for his disciples. Let him show you how it all leads to him.