“On Being Witnesses”

[Homily]

Luke 24:36b-48

Providence United Presbyterian Church

April 26, 2009 (Easter 3B)

Rev. Dr. Mary Jane Hitt

&= nbsp; The word “witness” gets a bum rap in the church these days. It brings to mind people like Jehovah’s Witnesses who come to your door, or others who may corner y= ou at a family gathering to tell you what you ought to believe about God. (By the way, do you know what you = get when you cross a Jehovah’s Witness with an agnostic? Someone who knocks on your door fo= r no apparent reason.)

&= nbsp; I was in New York City a couple days ago, and within the first five minutes o= f my trek through the Port Authority into the subway system, I saw at least three folks who were “witnessing” to their faith. They all had signs and pamphlets w= ith a message something like this: = You’re a sinner; You’re doomed to hell; The world is about to come to an end; You had better get right with God, NOW!&nb= sp; I don’t know about you, but I don’t find that a particularly inviting message. I wasn’t once tempted to stop to chat with the folks who stood there, calling out their message. I = guess I’m just too Presbyterian for that.&= nbsp;

We Presbyterians donR= 17;t talk much about “witnessing” to other people. We tend to be a pretty private bunch. “Live and let live,” we say. We know = what we believe, but we aren’t much interested in trying to convince other people to agree with us. We s= ee faith one way, but we know that others see it another way, and we’re usually okay with that. We definitely don’t want to be accused of proselytism – the kind of hard driving evangelism that uses any means to get people to believe what we want them to believe – the kind of “witnessing” that I sa= w in the subway.

&= nbsp; But you know, there’s nothing wrong with the word “witness”.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We use it easily enough in the con= text of our civil courts, and the Bible uses it, as well. We may squirm a little bit when we= hear it, but we need to understand it and then reclaim it. It is, after all, the climax of to= day’s gospel, where after appearing to his disciples following his resurrection – after explaining the meaning of all the amazing and inexplicable th= ings that had happened that first Easter – Jesus called his disciples “witnesses.” You are witnesses of these things, he said.

&= nbsp; The disciples were witnesses – they had seen for themselves what h= ad transpired, from Friday’s crucifixion to Sunday’s resurrection. They had seen t= he risen Christ among them, and they thought at first that they were seeing a = ghost. But it was no ghost. It was the embodied Christ. And his presence with his disciples transformed them from the fearful, cowering people they had been into bold witnesses to the power of God. They witnessed to what they had seen, and what they had heard, and w= hat they knew about the power of God in the world and in their community.

&= nbsp; And that’s what it means for us to be witnesses, as well. Like a witness taking the stand in court, our Christian witness is simply a matter of saying this is what I have seen and heard. This is = what I know about the power of the risen Christ in the world and in this community= .

&= nbsp; But, you may be thinking, I wasn’t there that day when the risen Christ appeared to the disciples. I didn’t see his hands and feet for myself. I didn’t see him eat a bite = of fish. I’m not an eyewit= ness, you say. Everything I know ab= out him derives from what someone else has told me. How can I be a witness like those = first disciples were?

&= nbsp; The answer is pretty simple, really. You are eyewitnesses. You have witnessed the risen Christ first hand. When, you ask? I don’t know for sure, becau= se we each have our own experiences, sometimes shared and sometimes intensely private. But you know.=

· Maybe for you it was the day it dawned on you that you would survive after the death of the person you loved most in the world;

· Perhaps it was the time you realized that someone had rolled the stone away from the tomb of addiction that had you trapped;

· It might have been the “aha” mom= ent when you knew what it was that you were uniquely created to do with your li= fe;

· Maybe it was a day when the deepest prayer of your heart was answered.

We each have our own stories of ways in which the r= isen Christ has appeared to us, and God invites us to bear witness to those experiences of the divine, telling the stories of what we have seen and heard. Our witness is not a m= atter of standing in the subway stations of life, calling out a message of damnat= ion and destruction and fear. It’s more like another witness that I saw when I was in the City.

&= nbsp; From Battery Park, I boarded a ferry that takes visitors out to see one of the m= ost profound witnesses of our nation – the Statue of Liberty. There she stands, torch in hand, a witness to a country that values freedom and justice for all people. The light of that torch, emblazone= d gold in the afternoon sun, stands as a symbol of a golden shore where your ancestors, and mine, found opportunity.

&= nbsp; Jesus didn’t exactly have Lady Liberty in mind when he spoke of bearing wit= ness to the risen Christ, but there is a way in which she demonstrates for us wh= at it means to do that. As witne= sses to God’s amazing love and power in our lives and in our world, we are= to be a positive sign to the world – a beacon of hope – a shining torch that draws people from the turbulent waters of life into the safety of God’s embrace.

&= nbsp; Our witness isn’t one of cornering people, or scaring them, or belittling them, or any of those tactics that sometimes come to mind. Our witness is simply telling our stories, with the light of Christ held high, so that the tired, the poor, t= he huddled masses yearning to breathe free might experience the risen Lord, an= d in him, find rest and comfort and home.

&= nbsp; May it be so. Amen.

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