Bear Witness
to the Resurrection!
Bear
witness!
The
Empty tomb—Messengers from God gleam,
witnessing to the women,
“He is risen!”
More
powerful still, our Risen Lord Jesus himself orders them, “Go to my siblings,
tell them that you have seen the Lord!”
The
women see and tell! “I have seen the Lord!”
“Our
Lord, who was dead, lives! He called us by name and comforted us in our sorrow
as it was transformed to blinding joy, and he is risen from the dead!”
To
this witness, as we know, the Disciples say, “Nonsense!”
Nonsense…
until they kneel at the tomb’s entrance, and then they know what the women told
them is true!
They move from disbelief,
to cognitive assent,
to experiential knowledge
—He is risen!
Along
the road—glum believers walk away, away to Emmaus.
They
do not yet know the enlightening weight of the words, “where two or three
gather—Christ is present.”
Present
too, as they explore scripture with him who is the very Word of God. Hearing
scripture from him,
letting it point to him,
being witnessed to, by Christ himself!
Inviting
him in
—entertaining the Messiah at their home in Emmaus
—their eyes opened,
“It is him, the one whom we had hoped would redeem Israel—those women had said
he was risen! And indeed, he is risen!
And
off they go, returning to the others in Jerusalem, sharing their story as other
such resurrection stories are shared with them—they, the whole group of them,
are called to be witnesses, “The Lord really has risen!”
Thomas
though, does not trust their witness.
Thomas,
who left the building when all others hid there, had missed the most
magnificent news
—he is still in a pre-Easter place, among a multitude of witnesses on the other
side of the tomb. Imagine how alienating that must have been!
He
needs to see resurrection. He needs to feel resurrection! Like
Cleopas and the bread…
He needs Easter to be true for him,
not in words alone, but in deeds as well.
He
needs to see the failure of the nail to hold him down.
He
needs to feel Christ’s side, feel that the spear was not the end of him.
And
he does! He has one of the most intimate experiences of the Resurrection, save
perhaps Lazarus’ odd parallel—he meet the risen Christ—sees and touches the Risen
Christ, and responds in confession: “My Lord and My God!”
Peter
then, at breakfast, meets again our Lord, meets for a meal of bread and fish,
in abundance
—perhaps every meal with Jesus is a feast!
There he enters deeper still into his confession, “He is risen!”
The
resurrection life, that our Lord reveals, repeated three times for emphasis, “Feed
my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.”
In this resurrection life we’ve been
grafted into love of Jesus is identical to care for his Sheep.
Love the Lord, Love his Lambs.
“Follow
me,” Jesus says, for our whole lives ought to be a witness, ought to say, “He
is risen.”
At
his Ascension, the end of his Easter sojourns and instructions to the apostles…
Jesus
names it all clearly one more time:
Scripture,
testifies to him.
His
suffering, his death, his resurrection, testifies to him.
Repentance
and forgiveness of sin, testifies to him.
And
we in turn are called to witness, testify,
confess with lips and with life,
that he is risen.
The
Good News was completed in him, in today’s readings we can literally see the
Gospel of Luke end and it’s sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, begin… Turning
the page, a new chapter, a new book… The good news was completed in him even as
we continually point to it in this new chapter of life with God.
Witness to the Gospel of Jesus.
God
reigns on earth as in heaven… while the Disciples in Acts get their Kingdoms
confused and look for the restoration of Israel, instead of the Reign of God
—we know that we encountered the Kingdom of Heaven whenever Jesus comes near
—and so we continually call people to nestle near him—like a hen with her brood
of chicks.
Witness to the Reign of God!
This
blessing Christ gives at the end of Luke, and the funny prompting of the Angels
at the start of Acts, “Why ya’ll lookin’ up?” both point to the calling of
every Christian—the whole church—to, in our whole lives, mirror the Messiah, to
be little Christs to our neighbor.
Witness to Our Savior.
Bear witness! A+A.
