Witnesses
Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter (A)
My dear encountered couples:
We all know what a witness is. A witness is someone who has seen or heard something and testifies to it. In court, hearsay evidence, that which a witness says someone else said they saw or heard, is generally not admissible. If we use that legal standard in regard to God and religion, we’d be in trouble. Much of what we believe about God and our faith have been taught to us by others, who in turn received it from others, all the way back to the apostles. Now if we had the apostles here to witness to what they saw Jesus do and heard him say, we would then have first hand witnesses. Our faith wouldn’t be based on so much hearsay. But then much of what Jesus said is what he heard his Father say, isn’t it?
“The word you hear is not mine,” Jesus said in our gospel last Monday, “it comes from the Father who sent me.” Do you believe what Jesus says? Why? Because you have faith!
A judge and jury want factual, provable evidence. Faith in God and Christ takes the word of another without demanding factual hands – on evidence. And where does that faith come from. From the Holy Spirit within us! “When the Paraclete comes,” Jesus told his apostles, “the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, and whom I myself will send, he will bear witness on my behalf.”
How much do you and I accept the testimony of the Holy Spirit? The way we live makes the amount of our faith evident to anyone who cares to find out. Our actions speak louder than our words to how much we really believe in God, in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. We are now the witnesses to the world of what Jesus said and did. How well do you suppose we are doing?
