Homily Notes: 3rd Sunday of Easter

There's a word that appeared twice in our readings today. And when something stands out like that, it's a good sign that it's worth looking at.


That word is "witnesses." It appears in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles as well as the story from the gospel of Luke.


In Acts, Peter and John had gone to pray in the temple. There, Peter healed a crippled beggar and a crowd  gathered around them. What we heard today is his testimony: That the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the people of Israel, raised up Jesus - Jesus who had been betrayed and murdered as a criminal.


And Peter says, "of this we are witnesses."


They are witnesses of the empty tomb and, as we heard today, of Jesus himself. 


The gospel takes place on Easter Sunday. The disciples had just heard the story of the two who had encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Then, suddenly, he's there with them. He reassures them that it is truly him - showing them his wounds, proof that this is the Jesus that they have known. Then, as if to make it absolutely clear, he asks for something to eat.
Think about that: The savior of the world who had died and was raised back to life is meeting his friends again ... and he asks for a meal! This is truly Jesus, and he is truly alive.


Then Jesus opens up the scriptures for them and shows that everything that had come before had led to this moment - and now it is their job to proclaim it to the whole world


"You are witnesses of these things."


When we hear the word "witness," we typically think of it in terms of a courtroom or the law. A witness is someone who saw something take place - they can testify to an event.
When I was in college, I was in a car with several friends of mine when a woman ran a stop sign and hit us. We were all ok, but all of a sudden there were all these people around us saying, "I saw it happen. I can be a witness."


But the word "witness" has a much deeper meaning for us here. In the original Greek that it was written in, the word for "witnesses" is μαρτυρες - "martyrs."


The disciples were more than just legal witnesses who told people what they saw - they gave themselves to this testimony. Almost from the very beginning of the Church, being a witness to Christ has carried a risk with it, so much so that the word martyr came to mean someone who had given their life for Christ.


We too are witnesses. But how? So many of the early Christians were killed for their faith, they laid down their life for Christ in a definite, heroic way. What can we possibly do that would measure up to that?


Our witness has to take a different form. It's a daily laying down of our lives out of love for God.
It means choosing love over our own desires and pleasures and egos.
That is being a witness, being a martyr. More than just saying, "yes, I believe in Jesus," we live out our belief every day.


By our actions we say to the world, Jesus died for me, Jesus is risen, and he lives in me.