Open Minds, Eyes, and Hearts
Friends, I had a completely different blog posting ready to go today, but yesterday our pastor mentioned something during his Easter sermon that resonated with me. It wasn’t even his main point, but it smacked me in the face with such force that I went home, pondered it, read a bit, and decided to rewrite this week’s blog posting from scratch.
We were getting toward the end of his sermon, and the pastor was talking about Jesus appearing to the disciples and how, with everything that had just happened, and the chaos, fear, and disillusionment that erupted from it, Jesus was offering peace to his frightened followers.
It was then that the pastor made his transitional comment about Luke 24:45 saying Jesus opened the disciples’ minds to understand the scriptures. I have no idea what he said after that because I was stuck right there for the duration.
Open the Disciples Minds
What did Jesus do or say that opened their minds? Was this some active, supernatural event, or was it passive? Sometimes we say things like, “Oh, John made me so mad yesterday.” John didn’t even touch me, but I responded emotionally to something he did. So, the truth is, John didn’t “make” me anything.
I don’t think that’s the case here. Something Jesus did actively brought clarity and understanding to the disciples. This is a verb, active, indicative, third person, singular. What that means is Jesus did this!
Then he 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 the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
– Luke 24:44-45, ESV
The Psalmist uses similar language, proactively asking for this same clarity.
Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.
– Psalm 119:18, NIV-1978
Open Minds in Emmaus
The same thing seems to have happened to the two men on the road to Emmaus.
When [Jesus] was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
– Luke 10:29, ESV
Has your heart ever burned within you because you knew there was something you needed and wanted to understand? You knew there was more to grasp, more to see. Maybe that’s what happened to me with this morning’s sermon.
Open Minds in Philippi
Much later in the lives of the disciples, we see this same thing happening with Paul and Silas when they were in Philippi. There they met a woman, Lydia, from Thyatira.
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
– Acts 16:13-14, ESV
Again, this reads to me as a supernatural intervention where the Lord did something that caused, or allowed Lydia to hear and understand Paul and Silas.
Open Minds in Ephesus
The apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus that he was praying for them and one of the things he prayed was that they eyes of their hearts might be enlightened.1 With an enlightened heart, they could know the hope to which they were called, and resurrection power.2
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.
– Ephesians 1:16-19, ESV
Despite speaking of “riches” here, you’ll note that Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians has nothing to do with material wealth, and everything to do with their hearts, minds, and spiritual perception. And note, also, that he is not asking God to give them something they lack, but to open their understanding regarding what they already have. This happens through the Spirit, in this case, called “the Spirit of wisdom.”
Open Our Hearts and Minds
As I pondered and wrestled with this idea It occurred to me that I don’t pray fervently enough that the Spirit of wisdom would open the eyes of my heart. I want to see, hear, taste, touch, understand everything that Jesus has for me to see, hear, taste, touch, and understand. I want to understand the scriptures such that my heart burns within me, and I also want powerful obedience to apply that understanding and to live it. I do not want to be that man Jesus described as “Seeing, they see not, and hearing, they hear not.3
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
– 1 John 5:20, ESV
1. Ephesians 1:15-21
2. Ephesians 1:19
3. Matthew 13:13
