A homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, April 18, 2021
Acts 3:13-15, 17-19, 1 Jn 2:1-5a, Lk 24:35-48
“Witness” is an odd word.
It’s a noun, and a vivid one at that.
It’s a verb, and it can be transitive or intransitive.
Frankly, it’s a miracle “witness” isn’t every other part of speech as well.
“Witness” is the core of today’s selections from the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of Luke. In the Easter season, we get strongly linked themes or messages among our readings. Today, “witness” is front and center.
But it’s not only the Easter season that shines a light on “witness” and all its meanings and interpretations.
“Witness” has been in the news a lot recently, with the murder trial in Minneapolis about to go into jury deliberations and tragic shootings all over the country. Witnesses testify for the prosecution or the defense. Witnesses were bystanders as horrific events unfolded.
Yes, when we first think of “witness,” the notion is often framed in the sense of somebody who saw something. “She witnessed the accident.” “I witnessed the robbery.” “That man was an eyewitness.”
And it’s the seeing something part that we often perceive as the most important aspect of being a witness, or of witnessing. Every movie or play or TV cop show tracks down witnesses; every investigation has to find witnesses to the whatever. Somebody saw something significant and we have to find them.
But once they are found, what are the witnesses asked to do?
They’re asked to tell what they saw.
They’re asked to witness.
They witness in through their eyes and ears and other senses and witness out through their words and images. Their act of witnessing makes other people witnesses by extension. Eyewitness accounts re-create the events in other people’s minds, not quite completely sharing the sights and sounds and smells and emotions … but not quite not.
We employ professional witnesses — journalists and videographers and private investigators — upon whom we rely to gather and then share experiences.
And through social media, we bear witness to many, many, many (did I mention many?) of our life experiences. Through social media, we share pretty much everything.
We know how to be witnesses. We know how to witness, how to share our experiences and share how they affected us.
So why, then, are some of us so challenged when it comes to witnessing about the presence of God in our lives?
