Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord which engages us this morning comes from our Gospel lesson (Luke 24: 36-49), especially verses 45 and 48-49.

The story is told of the explorer who some years ago had just returned to his country from the Amazon. The people at home were eager to learn all about the vast and mighty river and the country surrounding it. How he wondered, could he ever describe it to them? How could he ever put into words the feelings that flooded into his heart when he saw the exotic flowers and heard the night sounds of the jungle? How could he communicate to them the smells the filled the air and the sense of danger and excitement that would come whenever he and his fellows explorers encountered strange animals or paddled through treacherous rapids? So the explorer did what all good explorers do - he said to the people, "go there and find out for yourselves what it is like." To help them he drew a map of the river pointing out the various features of its course and describing some of the dangers and some of the routes that could be used to avoid those dangers.

The people took the map and they framed and hung it on the wall of the local science museum so that everyone could look at it. Some made copies of it. After a period of time many of those who made copies for themselves considered themselves experts on the river - and indeed they knew its every turn and bend, they knew how broad it was and how deep, where the rapids where and where the falls. They knew the river and they instructed others in what it was like whenever those people indicated an interest in it. (Adapted from a April 13 1997 sermon by Richard Fairchild, "So They Could Understand.")

For thousands of years, up to the point of our text, the Holy Scriptures had been like that map. The Son of God, Christ Jesus must have felt like that explorer who had drawn the map only to see people only read the map rather than visit the river and experience it first hand. The prophets had told of God's promises to ransom his people back from their captivity to sin, death and the devil, but had not fully comprehended what they were writing and seeing. Jesus had said to his disciples (Matthew 13: 17) "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." Here, after his death and resurrection, after Jesus had conquered sin through the cross and conquered death through the empty tomb, he begins to reveal God's eternal mystery to his assembly of followers. Jesus comes and opens the minds of his disciples to the map of Scripture, he takes them to the experience of the river of his love showed them at the cross and tomb. � He filled the air with the sweet smell of His forgiveness, the overwhelming aroma of God's plan that had been ready to blossom for ages. Jesus revealed to them his risen body, not just a ghostly apparition, but the firm heavenly body that they would have after their resurrections as well. He filled them with the excitement that could only come with knowing that their God was totally and completely in charge, had been slowly revealing his plan for thousands of years, and was going to continue to work his will and his love on all of creation. Can you imagine the Bible studies that Jesus had with his disciples over the next 50 days and how he continually opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures? Unfortunately many people today still only see the Scriptures as that map. They know the scriptures but they do not understand them. And they do not understand them because they have not been there. We must not simply look at the scriptures for their stories and rules about living this earthly life. We must experience what it means to repent of our sins and allow God to forgive us. �

Let us constantly admit how little we show our love for God and our neighbor and turn to Him again and again. We know the facts of Christ's ministry and death, but we (and I include myself here) rarely appreciate and experience the scope, the cost, the wealth of His forgiveness and grace. We fail to be filled with his life-giving, mind-opening Word. We hold it off at a distance and keep him away.

One New Year's Day, in the tournament of Roses Parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The irony was whose float it was. The float belonged to the Standard Oil Company (now Exxon). Despite the vast oil resources it represented, this truck was out of gas. Let us not be like that float in our spiritual lives. Often we neglect the Scriptures and our own spiritual maintenance. Though we are clothed with power from on high, we can find ourselves out of gas. Though Christ longs to open our minds to his love and forgiveness, we look away from him and strive to find our meaning to life in finances or relationships or entertainment. Would you this morning take the map down from the wall and go to the river with me. See what is there. Allow Christ to open your mind, to breath his Holy Spirit upon you, and make you a disciple from the heart. C.S. Lewis once said "I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun. I believe in the sun not just because I can see it, but because it illuminates everything else for me to see." That is the way Christ is for us. We not only believe in him because of his resurrection, but because his life and resurrection, the invasion of God himself into our world, makes the rest of this world and our personal lives make sense. Whether we're laying in a hospital bed or struggling with our family relationships or feeling the physical effects of our age or grieving at the graveside of a loved one, we can still trust that his plan for us and the world makes sense. Through Him our minds are opened to understand our history and our future. In our present Jesus calls us to be witnesses to these things and has sent us to proclaim his name to the world so other minds will be opened as well. ����������������

Jesus did not command the whole world to go to church. Jesus commanded us his church to go to the whole world. (Traditional). We often get nervous when we consider sharing the name of Christ with someone else, especially a loved one. But Jesus didn't call us to be salesmen for Him, just witnesses. What does a witness do? They simply tell what they've seen, what they've heard, what they've experienced. The evidence is what does the persuading. You've probably introduced people to your hobbies or your favorite sports. Let's say your favorite sport is baseball. How would you introduce someone to your passion with baseball? Would you hand them a rule book and tell them to start reading? Of course not. You would instead take them to a ball game and sit with them and let them see your enthusiasm and the enthusiasm of others for the game. You would explain to them the goals and the plan for the game. You would introduce them to the new language of the game as it unfolded (oh, look they're turning a double play). They would experience your love, your passion for the game and might be attracted to make it their passion as well. Luiqi Tarisio had a hobby, a passion; he collected violins. Luiqi was found dead one morning with hardly any creature comforts in his home, except the presence of violins, 246 exquisite violins. He had been collecting them all his life. Unfortunately, they were all stored in the attic, the best in the bottom drawer of an old rickety bureau. In his very devotion to the violin, he had robbed the world of all that music. Much of his collection was owned by others before him who had done the same. When the greatest of his collection, a Stradivarius, was first played it had laid speechless for 147 years. How many of Christ's people are like old Luiqi? In our very love of the church we fail to give the glad tidings to the world; in our zeal for the truth we forget to publish it. When shall we all learn that the Good News needs not just to be cherished, but needs to be told? The beautiful music of Christ's love for the world shown on the cross and in the empty tomb is greater than any Stradivarius could ever play. Don't bury God's Good News of Easter at the bottom of a rickety old bureau of your heart. Let the people hear the great sound of His music. Let them know that He is risen in your life and has opened your mind to his great love. He is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia. (Adapted from James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Wheaton: Tyndale, 1988, p. 492.)

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7)