“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”
Luke 24:26, LSB
These words of Jesus to the disciples that He encountered on the road to Emmaus as they recounted to Him the events of His crucifixion and burial and the unknowns that lay ahead are words not only of rebuke but to help open their eyes to what was at work in these events. Jesus is pointing them back to Scripture. We are always called to look back in the Word to seek an understanding of God and what He is doing in life and the world. Jesus opened the Word to the disciples and led them through the Bible to help them see Him. Once completed, He opened their eyes. God does this with us and calls us to the altar to receive the Sacrament of His body and blood to open our eyes to what He is doing still in us. In Christ’s suffering, we were given the promise and hope of eternal life. It is through Him that we are moved from the mortal into the immortal as we are given the promise of eternal life. The things of this world must pass away in order to allow for the things of our Lord to be visible to us in our lives fully. As we look to the Cross, we see the fulfillment of our Lord’s promise of restoration and promise, given at the Garden to Adam and Eve as our Lord crushes the serpent's head.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.