Wonder

I'm living this week in a state of wonder. Researcher and author Brené Brown says that this is where we may go when things are beyond us.  

Easter…spring…the season of wonders. Wonder inspires learning, a great place to be. 

Part of the reason I'm in a state of wonder is because of you, because of your wonderings from worship last week. Walking the Road to Emmaus with you and your wonderings, placed me on the path of wonder. 

One of the things I'm wondering about is what we read in Luke 24: 25-27:  

Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?” Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.

What are the Books of Moses, I wonder?

When we left off last week, Jesus disappeared after sharing a meal with a pair of disciples.  The story In Luke 24 continues,

33-34 They didn’t waste a minute. They were up and on their way back to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and their friends gathered together, talking away: “It’s really happened! The Master has been raised up—Simon saw him!”

35 Then the two went over everything that happened on the road and how they recognized him when he broke the bread.

36-41 While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. He continued with them, “Don’t be upset, and don’t let all these doubting questions take over. Look at my hands; look at my feet—it’s really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn’t have muscle and bone like this.” As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. They still couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was too much; it seemed too good to be true.

41-43 He asked, “Do you have any food here?” They gave him a piece of leftover fish they had cooked. He took it and ate it right before their eyes.

44 Then he said, “Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled.”

Jesus mentions the Books (or Law) of Moses again in verse 44, so they must be important.

Unlike me, many of you probably know that these Books of Moses are what we know as the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

I hear Jesus say that I need to know the Bible that He knew in order to follow the story properly. 

This is where we are going this week, back to the Bible that Jesus knew. Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Passover.  Sanders is going to help us explore the first Passover, and I can't wait. 

"With each other, we ask questions, we worship, we bring our conflicts and doubts forward. Mostly, we allow ourselves to experience the Resurrection and remain open for Jesus to give us the Resurrection, a life of new possibilities, of newness, of promise. Our proper response to this event is to stand back in amazement and speak these words: My Lord and My God." - John Predmore, S.J.

Image Design: Frode Inge Helland, 1978