Jesus, Our Magnifying Glass
Preached by Jason Abbott
July 14, 2013
Luke 24:36-49
36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.
44 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.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
1. What does this title indicate?
When I was a boy, we used to visit my grandmother (my mom’s mom) in her little cape cod on Hazelton Avenue in Jefferson City. Mostly, when we visited, she would be sitting on a little loveseat in the main room, where you’d come into the house, and watching Cardinals baseball. She loved the Cardinals!
And there was always an antique coffee table sitting in front of her loveseat. On that coffee table, there was always a large print Bible. On that large print Bible, there was always a magnifying glass.
As a kid, of course, I liked to play with the magnifying glass. I would magnify anything and everything. (I might have even vaporized a few ants. No worries though, I’ve since repented of such cruelty.)
However, as I grew older, I recognized that that magnifying glass was much more than a toy. It was a tool. It was, in fact, the tool by which my grandmother was able to read her Bible. Without it, she couldn’t study God’s word. Without it, she couldn’t fully understand God’s message of salvation.
Sometime later, during my time at seminary, I recognized that what was true of my grandmother’s magnifying glass (that having it was essential to her Bible reading) was similarly true of Jesus Christ and reading the Bible. If we attempt to read our Bibles’ in isolation from the person and work of Jesus Christ then we really cannot read our Bibles’ at all!
In fact, I believe Jesus himself teaches his disciples and us this truth. Consider what he says about himself:
When Jesus begins his ministry, he goes into a synagogue and is given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He reads the prophecy: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor / He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, / to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). Then he sits down and teaches a very short lesson: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).
Jesus fulfills what Isaiah had predicted. Isaiah pointed to Christ Jesus.
In the sermon on the mount, he begins with a statement about the purpose of his coming with regards to the Old Testament Scriptures: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets (a shorthand way of referring to the Hebrew Scriptures); I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).
Jesus wasn’t simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah said; Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of what the Hebrew Scriptures have said.
Or, think about the two dejected disciples, following the crucifixion, who are on the road to Emmaus. They unknowingly encounter the resurrected Jesus and relay to him the sad story of the crucifixion and how their hopes have been dashed. But then, Jesus responds, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then Luke tells us, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27).
Jesus reads the Scriptures and understands the Scriptures according to what he has done and who he is.
Do you want to understand your Old Testament? Then, you must view those Scriptures (Jesus says) through my person and my work. So it is that I entitled this sermon: Jesus, Our Magnifying Glass. For, he must be the lens through which we view both our Old and New Testaments!
Let’s move to our second question and to today’s text.
2. What peculiar thing does Jesus do?
Well, it may not immediately jump out at you when you first look at the text, but the resurrected Christ does a very interesting and peculiar thing here! He teaches a survey of the Old Testament in order to establish his identity and his authority. Now why is that strange? It’s strange because he does not simply rely on the profound miracle of the resurrection to establish his authority! Instead, he relies on the resurrection’s fulfillment of what was previously said in the Old Testament to establish his authority.
Wouldn’t you think the miracle of the resurrection would be enough to establish his authority?
I was a big fan of The Wonder Twins cartoon as a kid. They were the brother and sister superhero duo who could change into different things in order to save the day. (One of them always seemed to turn into a bucket of water. Really?! A bucket of water is all you’ve got?!)
Anyhow, I would always think that being able to change forms would be an awesome superpower. Certainly, if I were to shape shift at will, I would wield an immense amount of authority just on the superpowers alone. “Behold! I can turn into a tuba and then back into a human being. Now go get me a soda!” Who wouldn’t get me a soda?!
Yet, Jesus doesn’t only say: “Look! I’m back from the grave; I’ve died and risen again! Now go do what I say!” Instead, he teaches an Old Testament survey course on how his person and work and authority are established because of what the Scriptures say! “Believe!” Jesus says, “because it’s written in the Scriptures!”
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… (vv. 44-45).
Jesus tells his disciples the storyline of God’s redemptive work from Eden through the present day, and he connects the story’s entire meaning and purpose to his person and his mission. Jesus tells them that this is God’s story and that he is the narrative’s central (or main) character.
A story without its main character is really no story at all. Conversely, a main character without his story is no main character at all. The two must go together in order to retain any meaning at all!
Have you ever wondered why so many people suppose that Buddha, Mohamed, and Jesus (or any other religious founder for that matter) should be able to co-exist with equal authority? Well, part of the reason is that these people have divorced each leader from the narrative in which their authority is established. Instead, they’ve bought into a narrative that proclaims that each leader tells us a truth about God and says some good things that you should think about and maybe even do.
In contrast to such relativistic narratives, Jesus says, “This is the story of the world. It’s revealed by God in the Scriptures. It is the only true story, and I am its main character!”
In contrast to such secular narratives, Jesus says, “Not all narratives are equally true! Not all main characters are valid! Not just any plotline will work! Not just any hero will suffice!”
Let me end this second point (and simultaneously try and justify my current graduate work) by quoting an author I recently read. The author writes:
Today’s social media world has turned everyone into a storyteller. Each post points to a different main character…. Every photo depicts…a competing storyline…. But the pages of Scripture tell…a different story. In this Story of all stories, there is only one main character [, Christ Jesus]…. [And] God has created us to be supporting actors in [His] never-ending, epic tale.1
Who is narrating your story?
Who is the main character in your life’s narrative?
Are you the main Character?
Can you be the hero and save the day?
Will your life’s story be a romance or a tragedy?
Let’s look now at the last question.
3. What is the “point” of what Jesus explains?
Perhaps another way of asking this question would be: What is the “point” of looking at this passage in Luke in the middle of a sermon series on the Psalms?
Well, there are two important points to be made by looking at Luke. The first is to soundly establish:
a. That the Scriptures point to Jesus.
This is what I’ve argued above. Specifically, we’re looking at this passage in Luke, in the middle of a series on the Psalms, in order to show that Jesus himself taught that the Bible is about him. So, one commentator explains: “At the heart of all of the biblical writers’ theology is redemption through substitution.”2 Therefore, “all of these biblical writers’ theology” finds its fulfillment in the redemption offered through the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.
The second point, of studying this section of Luke in the middle of a sermon series on the Psalms, is more practical. For you see, if the Scriptures find their fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, if the point of the Bible is to tell the story of God’s salvation work found only in Jesus Christ then that tells us a great deal about our mission too. It tells us:
b. That we are to point to Jesus.
Look at the text with me.
“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, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things (vv. 44-48).
Notice that Jesus opens his disciples’ minds in order that they might understand the Old Testament Scriptures in order that they might see that those Scriptures taught that he had to suffer and die and rise from the dead in order that forgiveness might be preached to all the nations! The Scriptures testify in order that we might preach about, in order that we might point to, Jesus!
Now, what does “You are witnesses of these things.” mean? It means that those disciples, who were present in the room, had seen these things fulfilled in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It cannot mean that you and I were witnesses of these things. Were you there to see these events?
No, we ultimately see these events and believe in them based on the testimony of the Bible, God’s Word. Thus (and this is the essential point), we are called to point to Jesus Christ on the basis of the testimony of Scripture!
We must be a people of the Book—a people who point to Jesus not primarily on the basis of our personal feelings or of our personal experiences but on the sure testimony of the Scriptures. Even Jesus relies on them to testify about his identity and mission! So, we too must understand the Psalms and the entire Bible as God’s love-story to a fallen world now accomplished in Jesus Christ.
1 Shane Stacey, “Shaped By The Story” in EFCA Today, 3.
2 Tim Keller, ,Center Church, 40.
