The Bible is a book about Jesus

Yes, the first Holy Week must have been a tough one for the disciples of Jesus, not only the Twelve but also for the larger, outer circle of His followers. At first, even the women to whom the angel had spoken didn't believe the good news that Christ had risen. Jesus would have to appear to the apostles behind closed doors and even have a snack with them to prove that He was alive, and not a ghost. Disbelief dies hard, especially among those weighed down be doubt and discouragement and depression.

Two of them were walking down a road toward the town of Emmaus on the afternoon of the first Easter. They had heard the news. They had heard what the Marys and Salome (finally) had to say about their experience at the tomb. But they didn't believe it. Their trudge must have been slow, their gaze directed downward, and their faces long, because their dejection was noticeable to another Traveler Who they suddenly noticed walking beside them. "So," the Stranger asked, "what's this that you've been discussing? Why so sad?"

One of them, named Cleopas, answered, "Haven't you been watching the news? There was a Man named Jesus, a great prophet who performed all sorts of miracles and signs and wonders among us. Many of us hoped that He was the promised Messiah.

"Well, our own leaders turned Him over to the Romans- and they crucified Him! This was three days ago. And this morning, His body is missing from the tomb! And as if that weren't upsetting enough, some crazy women among us started spreading this wild tale about seeing angels who told them that He was alive! Well, some of us went to the tomb- and sure enough, the body was gone. No angels, though."

Now, the thing is, Jesus had performed a miracle here. He arranged things so that they could look right at Him and not recognize Him. He planned to introduce Himself to them another way.

"Haven't you ever read your Bibles?," He asked them. "Don't you remember that all the prophets wrote that those are exactly the things the Messiah would have to suffer before coming into His glory?"

It's at this point that Luke gives us a remarkable verse. Hiding there in plain sight is the key to understanding the whole Bible. Without that key, a person will misunderstand everything. Only with it do they come into focus.

"And beginning with Moses and all the prophets," Luke writes, "he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."

Yes, that's right. Jesus is in the Old Testament, too. The Greek word angelos, from which we get the word "angel" (the word apostolos, from which we get the word "apostle," is actually a synonym in Greek) means "messenger."  The "angels" of the various churches in Revelation are very probably their pastors, the ones God had sent to them as His messengers. And many scholars believe that wherever in the Old Testament one comes across "the Angel of the Lord," the text is really talking about Jesus before He came to earth to be a human being.

But the real significance of that verse is far more profound.  Jesus tells the Pharisees in John 5:39-40 (ESV),  "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life!"

Every word in the Bible, in the Old Testament as well as in the New, is finally about Jesus. And Jesus came into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:17).

We all know how the story goes.  People write to the Group over and over saying that they've stopped reading the Bible because what they find there is condemnation rather than support and are driven to despair by the knowledge that they have not and cannot meet the demands of the Law. If that's where the story ends, it ends in tragedy. And it also misses the real reason why every single one of those things is finally there: to point us to the One Who came into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

Yes, the Law graciously paints a picture for believers of the kind of life that is pleasing to God. But we always fall short of the picture it paints. We always will fall short of it. Believers do well to seek guidance from the Law. But its most important purpose for believers and unbelievers alike is to crush them, to convince them of their own inability to meet its demands. When you find a passage in the Bible that seems to condemn you, take it to the bank that it is there not to be the final word but to cause you to seek the One in Whom you have forgiveness for your failure and Who took your sins upon Himself on the cross so that He could give you his own righteousness.

He is the only righteousness any of us will ever have. He is the only righteousness any of us will ever need. And His obedience made yours in your baptism and applied to every one of your failures and inabilities and weaknesses,  is the answer to every passage which awakens fear in your heart. It is only there to remind you that it is in His obedience, and not in your own, that your righteousness is to be found.

Never forget, any time you pick up your Bible, that it is a book about Jesus. Bringing you to Him is its only purpose. Whatever you find there that doesn't accomplish that purpose or assist in it isn't the whole story, and if it seems to condemn you, never lose sight of the fact that it only does so to drive you to Him, where its "no" will become a "yes" and its verdict of condemnation reversed because of HIm.

When I was little, my mom was addicted to watching Perry Mason every Sunday night. While it was far from being my least favorite program, I found myself unable to get too interested in the story. It was kind of a joke in the culture of the time that  Perry Mason never- but never- lost a case.

Well, just for fun, I think they did finally have him lose one. But the conviction was reversed on appeal or something. The point was that no matter how bleak the outlook for a client Perry Mason represented, there was zero possibility of him or her going to the gas chamber or even to jail. Strange how Perry never represented any guilty clients, and some prosecution witness or other always seemed to break down on the stand under Perry's relentless cross-examination and confess!

The name "Satan" literally means "the accuser." It is he who introduces those passages which cause those spikes you experience into evidence not so much in God's court- God already has acquitted you, for Jesus's sake, and rendered His verdict in your baptism- but before the bar of your own conscience. The Accuser is the one who tries to separate you from Jesus by making you doubt, and getting you to believe that God condemns you.

But before God's court, you have even a better Advocate than Perry Mason. It's not just that Jesus has never lost a case, and never will. Nothing is more impossible than that one who trusts in Jesus to be condemned by the Father. When Satan accuses you even on the basis of what seems to be a clear text of Scripture, you have only to remind him that that text, and in fact the entire Bible, is finally there to drive you to Jesus. In Him, and in your baptism, nothing- not even a text from Scripture- can condemn you.

You don't have to compulsively start searching commentaries or seeking reassurance. Your baptism trumps everything.  No accusation of the Law, no matter how stern, can condemn one who trusts in what Jesus has done for her.

Jesus, and not the Law, has the final word.  The whole Bible is about Jesus. Even its condemnations are meant to cause you to take refuge in HIm.

Finally, Jesus, Cleophas, and their companions arrived at their destination. Jesus made as if to go further, but the two men "convinced" him to stay and have supper with them

They went upstairs. Then Jesus took bread, said a prayer of blessing upon it, and broke it. And suddenly Cleophas and his friend recognized Him.

He vanished as quickly as he had joined them on the road. The two disciples didn't waste a moment, They retraced their steps walked back to Jerusalem, found the disciples, and told them that they, too, had seen Jesus- and how "he was known to them in the breaking of the bread."

I know a Christian who ran afoul of a common pitfall for those with OCD, the passages about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It seemed to him that some silly, childish thing he remembered saying once fit the bill. Scrupers know the agony that comes from believing that one is separated from God and cannot be forgiven. There is no torment like it.

He searched commentary after commentary for help. He was looking not so much for someone to tell him that he could be forgiven, but to convince him of that fact. But of course, no argument, no matter how irrefutable, and no logic, no matter how undeniable, can ever make headway against OCD.

In his desperation, he sought out a pastor he knew, a former college theology professor.  The pastor listened patiently. Finally, when he was done,  he said, "In a little while, I will show you conclusively from Scripture that you cannot possibly have committed the sin against the Holy Spirit. But that's not the real issue here. Let's talk about the real issue: why don't you believe that, for Jesus's sake, God is your Friend?"

It's not just that Jesus trumps every doubt and accusation. It's not that it's the Holy Spirit Himself Whose presence in our hearts causes us to love Jesus and fear to lose Him and our salvation, and who cannot possibly indwell one who has truly committed the unpardonable sin, which consists precisely calloused and hardened and uncaring unbelief and insensitivity to His efforts. It's that Jesus is the bottom line. All of Scripture is about Him- even the Law. No one can pluck His sheep from His hand. He will never- no, never- cast out anyone who comes to Him. That knowledge must be the foundation of our life, the fortress within which we are safe from every accusation of the Evil One or of our own broken brains.

The man hadn't been to church, as it happens, for a long time. When their discussion was over, the pastor had one final piece of advice for him. "It just so happens," he pointed out, "that Sunday is Pentecost. Time to seek the Holy Spirit's own help. Time to take refuge in the wounds of Christ.

"Go to church Sunday," the pastor said, "and take communion."

And he did. And Jesus made Himself known in the breaking of the bread. The man was not one given to outward emotion, but as the body of Christ touched his lips, tears came to his eyes.

Jesus had made Himself known to him in the breaking of the bread, just as He had to the disciples He met on the road to Emmaus. Jesus came to sweep away their doubt and their sorrow, not to condemn them for it. And Jesus did the same for him.

 He will do the same for you. If your conscience, or even the Bible itself, accuses you, know that the Bible is a book about Jesus and that Jesus will never let sin- whether real or imaginary- keep you from His embrace.

When you doubt,  and your conscience or even your OCD accuses you; when God seems far away,  and you can't even bring yourself to pray, go to the Sacrament, and let Jesus make Himself known to you in the breaking of the bread.