3rd Easter: Know Jesus, Know Scripture, Know ourselves.

It is said to know about ourselves and who we are now, we need to look at how we got to here. This is truth. When I was in counseling for depression, my therapist often asked about old patterns, where did they come from… The idea was to recognize the unhealthy ones and change them to healthy patterns. That way my future could be more livable.

We may also know others who have what they call a “type”. They only date persons who act the same, or look the same; and they may not even know it. But others viewing from the outside can see a long pattern and make some predictions on the future.

“Know thyself” was written in an ancient Greek Temple, and from it, this maxim found its way into our Christian Western Cultures. A wise statement because wisdom and a better life come from a deeper understanding of who we are and how we got here. None of us just popped into existence ready made, all of us have had to make a journey to get to here and to now; a journey with happiness and sorrow, patience and anger, hurt and healing.

To know ourselves as Catholic-Christians is also to know how we got here and to now. To know ourselves as Disciples of Jesus Christ we need to know how we got here. To know Jesus we need to know how he got to here and now.

Jesus appears to his disciples who are still trying to grasp what has just happened. Their friend, their teacher, their leader, their Messiah has been killed and somehow has been raised from the dead. What does this mean?

Jesus, in Luke, admonishes them twice for this. As he did with the two he found on the road to Emmaus, so he does with the whole group… he does Bible study with them, on what we would call the Old Testament, but he would call their Sacred Scripture. He wants them to see God at work from the beginning, bring Israel to readiness to receive the final and complete message of Salvation. He wants them to see that he is not purely novel, that he stands in a long tradition of God saving, but he is new in how he has saved.

The way to grasp Jesus, his mission, what kind of Messiah he was/is, and why God did it this way…we have to see the story unfold throughout the Old Testament.

We can read of God creating a world with God’s breath. This includes humanity and all of paradise. We can read that despite Humanity’s fall, God remained with them, caring for them and their descendants. God calls forth Abraham to be a father of a great nation so that all the world can know of God; and when those descendants become enslaved God brings them out of it, to the promised land. There he continually calls them back into relationship, back into covenant despite their obstinance, despite their pettiness, their ignorance; even bringing them back from exile.

God saved them. God loved them.

There is so much more there, in the psalms and proverbs, in the stories of Kings and Queens, in the Wisdom books, alluding to Jesus’ eventual work, alluding to God. There are words and phrases that Jesus will use that hearken back to the Old Testament, in which God acted.

There was an ancient heresy, Marcionism, that sought to exclude the Old Testament from Christians. This was categorically put down by the Church because we recognize that these Scriptures were Jesus’, and if Jesus’ then ours too.

We must read Scripture, all of it, to understand Jesus and our faith. However, we must read with a deeper sense of understanding; not a literal sense. We must apply our Catholic sense of Sacraments, that there is a deeper meaning in the context and story, in how it was written and by whom was it written; and not just accept the words on the page.

We celebrate First communions, and I think one of the best gifts a child can receive is a Bible; age appropriate of course. And along with that gift, parents take time to read it with them. Encourage them to seek the wisdom, it will only help them and you, and your family to grow in faith.

And what you will offer them now, will impact them as they grow into adults.

Their futures in Christ are being written now, with you as parents, and with us as Parish and School. Let’s help them to know themselves and Jesus Christ.