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Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24).

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself (Luke 24).

In these 2 sentences, I think Luke gives us a most powerful insight into the power of the Resurrection.  Before the Resurrection, during Jesus' ministry in the flesh, He often expressed almost frustration at the "slowness" of the apostles to understand Him:  how slow you are to understand.....will you also go away?.....do you still not "get it"? (my translation).  Until Peter's flash of revelation:  You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the disciples themselves thought they were following a Jewish rabbi.  They knew He was the Messiah, but did not understand much beyond that.

After the Resurrection, however, Jesus is able to "open their minds" to "understand the Scriptures."  We are talking here about Jews, whose entire life revolved around study, explication, and adherence to the Scriptures ---- but obviously, there was something about them they did not understand, because they all pointed to Jesus.  Until people met Him, they could not understand what the Scriptures were saying.

So too Paul, who studied under Gamaliel, one of the greatest Jewish teachers of his time.  Paul "knew" the Scriptures, but until he met Jesus, he did not understand them.  That is the power of his teaching---that he is so familiar with the Old Testament -- but now his excitement about what it means carries throughout all his letters.  He has discovered the central reference point of all the Scriptures --- the Living Word, Jesus Christ. 

I have listened to great scholars of Scripture, both Jewish and Christian, and although what they were teaching was interesting, my heart was not "burning within me" until I met Jesus Himself through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  He was the One who opened my mind and heart to understand the Scriptures, the One who made me forever hungry to hear and understand more of His truth, the One who lit a fire in me that has never diminished.  Through Him alone has God fulfilled the prophecies of Joel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah:  I will put my law (teaching) in their minds and write it on their hearts...No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest (Jeremiah: 31:33).

Anyone who truly seeks the Lord will find Him, for we would not seek Him unless He had already found us.  Anyone who seeks wisdom will find it.  Anyone who seeks truth will find it.  Anyone who seeks understanding will find Jesus, who alone can open our minds to understand.  Anyone who seeks Jesus will understand the Scriptures.  It is possible for those who cannot read Scripture to understand it, because it is written in their hearts.

Years ago, I heard a priest tell of a woman who had spent her entire adult life in Carville, the leper colony.  A simple woman, she had never learned to read.  As she lay dying, he entered the room to hear her say these words:

Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come with me.

See! the winter is past; the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

The fig tree forms its early fruit;

the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come, my beloved;

My beautiful one, come with me (Song of Songs, 2:10-13).

If that was not an example of Jesus speaking the words of Scripture to a dying woman, it is hard to explain what else it could be.  We do not have to wait until our moment of death, though, to hear Him speak to us.  All we need to do is to sit with our bibles -- even closed-- and ask Him to open our minds to hear His words.  He promised us:  Ask, and it will be given; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened.  If we do not ask, do not seek, and do not knock, we will never know whether His words are true.  But I tell you today that He will never disappoint or turn us away if we do ask, seek, and knock.