Lk 24:35-48
35The two [disciples] recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 36While they were still speaking about this, [Jesus] stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? 39Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” 40And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave him a piece of baked fish; 43he took it and ate it in front of them.
44He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. 46And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day 47and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.”
Law, Prophets, Psalms: The Jews refer to their Scriptures (Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures) as the “TaNaK” which stands for the Torah (Law), the Nevi’im (Prophets), and the Kethubim (Writings). The whole of Scriptures is often called simply as “the law and the prophets” (Mt 7:12). Luke is more explicit when he adds the Psalms, which stands for other books in the Kethubim as well.
On the road to Emmaus and later in the cenacle in Jerusalem, Jesus explains that what happened in the last three days—his passion, death, and resurrection—had been written in Scriptures. For Luke, the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms are enlightened by what God has done in Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of Scriptures. This is the conviction of the evangelists. Luke presents the Scriptures as pointing to Jesus—but one must open his mind to this understanding. The Holy Spirit makes this possible, and so do believers enlightened by him. A case in point is the deacon Philip who explains to the Ethiopian eunuch that the passage from Isaiah he was reading is really about Jesus who, like a lamb led to the slaughter, offers his life for the people (Acts 8:26-36).