NOTES for Luk 24:46-48

In these strikingly concise words of Christ, which are in fact a brief summary of the whole Bible, several points stand out. "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary": this is what distinguishes Sacred Scripture for us from any other book. It is not a collection of encrypted predictions like Nostradamus. Scripture lets us know the will of God, which must be fulfilled, and we are called to take part in that fulfillment.

"That the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead on the third day." The center of Christianity is not a teaching, not an idea, but real events: the Cross and the Resurrection of the God-man. "That repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name": from this central event of Christianity flow definite consequences that must be announced to people: sin has been redeemed by Christ, and God irrevocably forgives those who sincerely want to be forgiven by Him.

"To all nations, beginning from Jerusalem": Christianity is truly universal; any person from any nation can find peace with God through Christ. But the historical aspect of the unfolding of revelation cannot be ignored; the Old Testament cannot be discarded as addressed only to the people of Israel. "You are witnesses of these things": this is our part in the fulfillment of God's will. We do not "convert" people, and we do not give them faith. God Himself does that, but He acts through our witness, through our example of life in love, which can draw others in.