“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses” (Acts 2:32).
If you’re a witness in court, there are two things going on. First, you know something that’s pertinent to the matter at hand, some information that will make things clear. You’re not there to explain what you think happened, or to extrapolate from what you’ve seen or heard: embellishments like these will get ruled out of order by the court. Your opinions may be precious to you, but they hardly count as testimony. A witness simply narrates what took place.
Second, and this is important, you’re someone who is willing to testify. You may have knowledge of what’s happened, or information that will clear things up, but until you step forward and tell your story you won’t really be a witness. Courts can summon you by subpoena, but at the end of the day it’s up to you whether you’re actually going to testify. It’s an action you engage in, rather than an impression you receive. The willingness to share your story is essential to being a witness, and not just a bystander. .
In our first reading today, St. Peter preaches a sermon on the day of Pentecost, interpreting to the crowd gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival the meaning of what they have seen and heard. There’s been a sound like rushing wind; the appearance of tongues of fire; a babble of voices in many languages that the crowd can suddenly understand. For Peter, standing with the other apostles, these are signs of the beginning of the new age foretold by the prophet Joel. The kick off event for this new age, Peter claims, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. There’s a new world order as death is turned into life. As Peter says, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses” (Acts 2:32): that’s right, witnesses.
We’ll be coming back, again and again this Easter season, with portions of this sermon from the Book of Acts; but this bit is particularly significant. It marks the importance of witness: requiring both a “something” that is witnessed, and then the willingness of “someone” to testify to it. Both are crucial to the testimony we offer as Christians.
There’s a “something” embedded in the apostolic witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the end of John’s Gospel, after narrating Jesus’ resurrection appearances, the writer adds, “This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true” (Jo. 21:24). People encountered Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. They offered accounts of what they had seen and heard: the apostolic witness. They were witnesses to something that was, simply put, out of this world. Yet what God did in Jesus Christ entered history, our time and space, and become an object of testimony. When Peter stood with the eleven others to preach his sermon, they were offering a unified witness.
This witness was meant to be handed on. All of us are involved, caught up in this testimony. Notice how our Gospel reading today acknowledges how others are involved, carried along by the power of this witness. Jesus says to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (Jo. 20:29). Or our second reading from the First Letter of Peter, “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy” (1 Pet. 1:8).
As we receive this witness, we become something more than bystanders. It says in the First Letter of John, “Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts” (1 Jo. 5:10). Through the power of this testimony we become witnesses too.
For that’s the second part of the meaning of witness: not just the “something” but the “someone.” Someone has to offer testimony, to step up to the bar and offer an account. The Book of Acts gives priority to this second meaning of witness when Jesus tells the apostles, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Being a witness means offering testimony to the world. Witness is not just the impression we’ve formed, the story we have received, but our going forward to tell the tale.
Our confirmands this morning are witnesses in the fullest sense. They have received the testimony, the apostolic witness; and they are called to share this witness with others. All of this takes place through faith. Jesus’ resurrection is the “something” that God has done, God’s irreplaceable intervention in history; but each of you is the “someone” God has called to pass it on. You too are irreplaceable, because God will work through you and your faith to accomplish his will for the world. “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses” (Acts 2:32).