Practicing Resurrection - Opening our minds

Luke 24. 36b - 48

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

In the gospel reading for today, the writer of Luke tells us that Jesus came among the disciples and they were startled and terrified. He spoke to them, showed them his wounds, and ate with them. Slowly, very slowly, they understood, and their minds were opened.

One of the definitions of repent and the Greek word for it metanoia is to go beyond the mind you have. I wonder if in this story we are witness to full repentance of the disciples as their minds are opened and they finally have full understanding of what they have witnessed, so much so that they now can go our into the world and proclaim to all the nations what they have witnessed.

Where and how do our minds need to be opened so that we too can proclaim the name of the Lord to all nations?

Leon Kortenkamp