May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
I was ten years old, and I was called to the office of the
principal. To be clear, I was not in trouble. I was called to the principal’s
office because I had seen something happen. I had seen the fight, between the
two girls, on the playground, near the swings, during recess. I was called to
the office to tell the story of what happened. I was called to the office because
I was a witness to the events on the playground.
What does it mean to be a witness? A witness has a personal
experience of an event. I saw and heard what happened on the playground. The witness
needs to have an understanding of the event. I knew that I saw a fight on the
playground and not a game. And a witness is able to describe and explain what
happened. I could tell the story to the principal of what happened on the
playground. I could give testimony. A witness is someone who has personal
experience and understanding of an event and is able to give testimony about
it. They have experience. They have understanding. They give testimony. That is
what it means to be a witness.
On the day of the resurrection Jesus appeared to his
disciples who were gathered in a room. Earlier in the day, Jesus had appeared
to two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Though the two disciples did not
recognize him during their journey, they did recognize Jesus in the breaking of
the bread. Those two disciples ran back to Jerusalem and were sharing their
experience when the Lord Jesus appeared in the room. The risen Jesus greeted
the disciples with words of peace. He showed them his hands and his feet. He
invited them to touch him, and he asked them for something to eat. Then, he
told them that the law and the prophets were fulfilled in his suffering. He
opened their minds to the meaning of the Scriptures. Jesus revealed that what
had been seen in the lives of Moses and the prophets, and what had been
proclaimed in the songs of the Suffering Servant by the prophet Isaiah, were
fulfilled in his suffering. He was the servant of the Lord who was rejected,
and beaten, and mocked, and killed. He was the one whose sufferings revealed
the thoughts of many hearts. And when he announced his resurrection, he said
that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all nations. Then
he called his disciples witnesses. For the first time, Jesus called them
witnesses.
And he called them to be witnesses. Later, when Peter was
preaching in the Temple area, he would claim this title. Peter would claim to
be a witness of Christ’s suffering and of his resurrection. Peter would preach
repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ. This is the
apostolic mission of Peter and the other disciples: to be witnesses of the
suffering and resurrection of Jesus and to give testimony before the world. The
apostles are called to be witnesses.
And Jesus calls us to be witnesses. He calls each of us to be
a witness to the resurrection. He calls each of us to proclaim the good news of
forgiveness in Jesus Christ in the circumstances of our daily life. Jesus calls
us to be witnesses and he calls us to give our testimony to the events that
have redeemed the world.
Now we were not at the empty tomb in Jerusalem, and we were
not at the cross on Calvary. We did not even walk the seven miles from
Jerusalem to Emmaus. Yet we are witnesses. We are witnesses because each of us
has a personal experience of the Risen Lord in the waters of Baptism, and in
each of the sacraments. We are witnesses because in the celebration of the
Liturgy, we hear the voice of Jesus speaking to us and we celebrate the mighty
acts of the Almighty God. In the Liturgy, we go to the Upper Room, to the Cross
of Calvary, and to the empty tomb. We are witnesses because we experience the
gift of the life of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures, in the breaking of the
bread, and in service to each other and the world.
We are witnesses of Jesus Christ. Through our prayer and
through our weekly, and even daily, participation in the Eucharist our minds
are opened to the teachings of the Scriptures and the mystery of our loving
God. We come here each week to experience the Lord Jesus. We come to ask him
for the gift of understanding, and we come to be strengthened to give our
testimony: The Lord is risen, we are his witnesses. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
