Jesus Calls Us To Witness
Easter 3 – April 22, 2012
My brother Rob has recently joined Facebook. It's been a wonderful gift for me, because we're both busy and we both work weird schedules and we don't always have a chance to talk on the phone or see each other very often. And after all these years of resisting, he finally gave in and signed up, and he has embraced it wholeheartedly. He shows up on my page a lot, making comments, sharing music; we get to be more a part of each other's lives, and I've really been enjoying that.
But I have to laugh a little bit, because in the brief month or so Rob's been on Facebook, he has become a witness, an evangelist of sorts – for his new favorite TV show, Touch, with Keifer Sutherland, if you were wondering. He loves this show. Something about it really speaks to him, and so every week after the latest episode, he posts something about it, asking people if they've seen it yet, reminding them that they should really tune in if they haven't, that they are missing something unique and worthwhile. And he's so persistent and so into it that despite my vow I would never watch Touch because of a way over-saturated ad campaign for a month before it premiered, I finally broke down and watched the pilot. And I liked it. And I'll probably add it to the list of shows I save to watch regularly. All because my brother was “touched” by the premise of the show and kept on talking about it.
This morning's gospel lesson ends with the rather fearsome line, “You are witnesses of these things.” We don't know how the disciples reacted to Jesus' words, if their faces lit up at this great commission, or if they tried to hide their anxiety and dismay at the thought of what Jesus was telling them they were to do. We know that when Jesus shows up that first Easter night – yup, the lectionary has us stuck in a little loop and keeps bringing us right back to Easter Sunday – we know that when he shows up, appearing among them with no warning, just like in John's gospel last week, they are startled. Terrified. They think he's a ghost. And even after Jesus shows them his hands and side and asks them if they have anything to eat (resurrection is hungry work, it seems), even in their joy, they still wonder. They are still disbelieving. Part of that was a result of the joy, the “is this too good to be true?” effect. But we don't know what they thought about this call to be witnesses to what they have seen and heard, that Jesus iss the Messiah who suffered and died and rose again, that they are to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name.
No, we don't know what they thought about their new job description as disciples, but we know how we respond to these words when we realize that they are spoken to us as well. We, who so often run into pockets of disbelief within ourselves, who wonder how all this can be true, who sometimes doubt our own faith and our abilities to tell this incredible story – we are nervous. We are scared. We are reluctant. We're LUTHERANS after all! We do many things well, but sharing the stories of our faith has not tended to be one of them. We have lots of reasons to explain why we don't witness – we don't know enough, we don't know what to say, we don't want to harass other people or shove our religion down their throat. Plenty of good reasons, but that doesn't let us off the hook. Jesus still calls us witnesses to these things – the things we have seen God doing for us and for the whole world through Jesus Christ. Not just the Easter event; Easter changes everything of course, but God's saving, redeeming work in the world didn't start there and it sure didn't end there! Jesus is alive and is still active in the world – healing, comforting, forgiving, saving – and we are witnesses of these things. We have a responsibility and a commission to tell people about how we see God working in the world, even now, starting in our own homes, in our own neighborhoods. Even the disciples started in Jerusalem – they didn't go out to “all nations” until later on.
We make “witnessing” into such a big deal that our tongues get tied. Our hearts quiver inside us at the very thought. But as I was reminded in an article by David Lose, preaching professor at Luther Seminary, this week, we all witness all the time. Just like my brother, talking about his favorite new show. We all do it. We talk about our favorite shows or the great new movie we just saw. We tell others about the amazing restaurant that they just have to try or that place with the out-of-this world bagel or cup of coffee. We talk about the triumphs of our sports teams, we share the good news of upcoming weddings or births or anniversaries. This past week, you couldn't get me to shut up about the vacation that starts after worship today – and I'm not even going anywhere exotic, just to our time share in Florida.
The point is, we are witnesses all the time to the things that touch us or impress us. We share these stories without any nervousness, without any sense of self-consciousness or anxiety. When something meaningful happens to us, we want others to have a chance to share in our joy, to experience it for themselves.
That's all Jesus really wants us to do when he calls us to be witnesses... to share the stories of how we have sensed God at work in the world – at home or work or school, through the government or the church or some other organization that reaches out to help people in need, through a friend or a stranger. Witnessing about these things doesn't have to be hard or complicated or scary. We don't have to be gifted public speakers or have years of theological education or have read the Bible cover to cover 17 times. Jesus calls us, each of us, just as we are, just as he called the first disciples and sent them out into the world to carry this good news. He promises the Holy Spirit, power from on high to clothe us, to give us words to say and the wisdom to know when to say them. But this is what Easter people do. People who have experienced the power of the living Christ in our lives have stories to tell, stories to share with others who are hurting, searching, seeking; people who are longing for the chance to start over and don't know if it's possible, people who need to know that in Jesus there is forgiveness of sins and love never-ending and the peace that passes all understanding. These stories are ours to tell – big, little, and all the ones in between. My challenge for you this week is to actually tell one person, to practice – to notice how God is at work in the world, and then to talk with someone about it, maybe your family over dinner, or a friend on the phone, or someone from church you run into at a meeting or at the grocery store. But try it out. Be a witness. God will bless you as you do.
Amen.
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