We Are Witnesses by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

Do you know what a witness is? Have you ever been a witness in court? When we are a witness, we report what we saw happen.

A witness in court is asked: “What did you see? What did you hear?” They are not usually asked “What did you think was going on?” Most witnesses in court don’t get to make assumptions about things. They just have to stick to the facts.

My husband Kurt who is an attorney, explained to me, that if you want a witness to be allowed to give opinions and draw conclusions then you have to qualify that person as an expert. For example you might bring in a doctor to be a witness but you have to qualify that person first by asking her questions about her education and her experience that qualifies her to be an expert witness in this case.

When Jesus returned, after he was crucified, and he rose from the dead, but before he ascended into heaven, he appeared to the disciples. He came to them and said: “YOU ARE THE WITNESSES to what has just happened. You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem! You’re the first to hear and see it. GO AND BE WITNESSES.”

I believe he was not just telling them to go and state the facts: Jesus rose from the dead. He was empowering them to be expert witnesses. Expert witnesses are people who have experience and knowledge.

These disciples had been with Jesus for three years. They had lived with him. They knew what drove him. They knew that from his core he loved everyone. Jesus oozed inclusion from his pores. He ate justice for breakfast. Jesus forgave people way before they could forgive themselves. These disciples saw the compassion that Jesus had for the poor, for the sick, for those who were in prison.

The disciples knew how Jesus would react to a situation. This is why you call on an expert witness in a trial: to ask “why do you think this person acted in this way?” The disciples knew Jesus.

He wasn’t instructing the disciples: “Go and tell the people that I live.” He was instructing the disciples: “Go and tell the people how I live.” There is a difference.

He said: “You are my witnesses. Witness to my life, by living like me. And tell the people how knowing me has made a difference in your life.”

This is why we are here today. Because those first disciples became outspoken witnesses to what they saw and heard in Jesus. They lived in the way of Jesus. 

·      They lived with radical compassion for the poor,

·      And with a sense that community means including everyone.

·       They lived with an understanding that even though we make mistakes, God loves and forgives us, and wants to be in relationship with us.

·      They lived with generous hearts. They held material goods in common and did not have a sense of personal property. Everything went for the good of the community.

·      They chose life over death. They chose hope over despair. Everyday.

We are here today, because they bore witness to the life they saw in Jesus. They went out from Jerusalem and told the story of Jesus, both with their words, and with their actions. People saw another way when they met these disciples. They saw not just an alternative life style. They saw something completely life transforming. These expert witnesses embodied the way of living like Jesus. Of course, they made mistakes. But they kept trying, and people liked what they saw, and they joined in. Because what they saw was better than the status quo of their culture.

That brings us to today. How are we doing with being witnesses? When people listen to us and look at our actions, do they see something set apart from our culture? Because you see, the values of our culture are not the values of Jesus. All you have to do is watch a little reality TV or Cable news to see some of the prevailing values in our culture:

·      Looking out for me, and getting all the pleasure I can get for myself (I want to be one of the beautiful people)

·      Gaining material goods for myself (home shopping network)

·      no sense of forgiveness (instead I will find any reason to sue for monetary damages, even if it is a frivolous law suit)

·      the poor are poor because they are lazy (cutting welfare benefits)

When we are witnesses as followers of Jesus, then we will be countercultural. We will live with the values of Jesus:

·      We will celebrate the diversity of people and include all. We will tell children that every one of them is a child of God, blessed and gifted.

·      We will resist the tyranny of materialism. That does not mean we can’t have a few creature comforts, but not to the point that we put our families under stress with consumer debt. And we will give generously because we want to share our resources to help others in need. We remember that everything we have comes from God anyway. God gives it to us on loan to use for God’s purposes.  We get to decide what to do with God’s resources.  When we think of it that way, we want to be more generous.

·      We are more forgiving with others because we know ourselves as people who make mistakes. We know that no one is perfect. When people make bad choices, they probably have some deep pain inside them and they need God’s love. We leave them to God and don’t carry around anger because the anger just eats away at us. We let it go. Forgiveness is such a wonderful thing, and so hard to do.

·      We show compassion for the poor rather than judging them because we don’t really know their story. Only God knows. We show compassion because Jesus shows compassion for us.  It’s that simple.  I know it’s not simple in practice, but we try.

Living as witnesses to Jesus means that we try to live as Jesus lived. We won’t get it right all the time. We won’t even get it right most of the time. But let’s try. Let’s try, because it’s a good way to live. Be a witness. Be a witness to Jesus, with your words, and with your actions. Amen.