A few years back someone shared with me an activity he had done at a management seminar. A large sheet of white paper was fastened to the wall - completely blank except for one small black spot. The seminar leader told them, "I want you to study this sheet of paper for five minutes and tell me what you see". After five minutes, they all reported the black spot. "You didn't see anything else?" "Not a thing!" The leader went on to explain the danger of a manager only seeing the little fault and failing to appreciate all the good hard work of the employees.
Did you see anything today? Many a mother thinks her family is afflicted with "domestic blindness". People's vision is so narrow and misses so much. When Rev. Aubrey Baker was in charge of Home Missions, he used to tell of much-needed Home Mission cheques that ended up in the waste-paper basket - with all the other "junk mail" from head office!
Everyone who sees something is a "witness". There's another step, of course - they need to be willing to say what they have seen!
This past week there have been some terrible tragedies. The police - and the media - want to interview people who may have seen what happened. When the event appears on the evening news, a little caption appears at the bottom of the screen giving their name and - underneath - the word "witness". It's a bit of a worry that the news media seems to run to air the short segment that suits their story. All the same, we get the idea - the "witness" is telling what they have seen.
In a court case, witnesses have to swear that they will tell "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth". In the event, the counsel who cross-examines them may prevent them from telling "the whole truth" - they can only answer the questions they are asked.
Jesus' original call to the four fishermen - Peter, Andrew, James and John - was "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men" (Mt. 4.19). Others too were called - twelve in all. For three years they had "followed" - learning from his character, his example and his teaching. The whole experience was - to use the modern term - "awesome". Peter summed it up, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (16.16). There was a quality about Jesus that they just couldn't "follow".
Then opposition was gathering. One of them, Judas, set his heart on betrayal. But Peter - and the rest too - were confident they would stick with Jesus, no matter what. In the event, their loyalty didn't stand the test. They all failed him and he died alone.
They saw him die. So did a lot of other people. It was a brutal Roman execution, designed to prolong pain and public shame - and to act as a warning to the subject race. But this was incredible. The judge declared him innocent, yet yielded to political pressure. And the crowd, by and large, seemed to find a kind of fiendish delight in this death.
What they witnessed that day many could have told or written. Marcus Tullius Cicero, noted Roman orator and philosopher (106-43BC), called crucifixion "the cruelest and most disgusting penalty" (Against Verres 2.5.165), "the extreme and ultimate punishment of slaves" (ibid. 2.5.169).
The distinctive part of the story of Jesus is that, from the third day on, the tomb was empty, the body was gone and Jesus appeared to them truly alive - to Mary Magdalene, to Peter, to the two on the way to Emmaus, to the eleven, to over 500 at one time… By many "convincing proofs" (as Luke puts it in Acts 1.3), Jesus showed himself to be alive and he gave them a mission. He said, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Lk. 24.46-49).
That happened over a period of forty days. Then the appearances stopped - "he ascended into heaven" as the creeds put it. The record is in Acts 1. The fiftieth day after Passover is the feast of Pentecost (the Greek word simply means "fiftieth"). The Holy Spirit was poured out and the mission began.
"You are my witnesses" - to tell the facts of what has happened and what it all means.
In Acts 3 we read about the healing of the crippled beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin - the Jewish Council - and warned that they were "not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus" (4.18). But they replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (v. 19). They were witnesses to Jesus Christ.
When Peter and John reported to the other believers, they all prayed, "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus" (vv. 29-30). They were witnesses to Jesus Christ.
So the believers began sharing their goods - "No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them" (vv. 32-34). The sick were being healed - even to the point where "Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed" (5.16).
"Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail" (5.17-18). Through divine intervention they were spirited out of the jail at night and went into the Temple to "tell the people the full message of this new life" (v. 20). They were witnesses to Jesus Christ.
Next the Jewish Sanhedrin meet and call for the apostles to be brought to them but - the jail was securely locked, yet no one is inside! What a fascinatingly gripping story it is!
This time the apostles are brought in with a measure of care for fear of the people (v. 26). "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name… Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood" (v. 28).
But we're under a higher authority - "We must obey God rather than men!" (v. 29). Don't get us wrong. We aren't trying to make you guilty. The fact is that you did it - "you had [Jesus] killed by hanging him on a tree". But that wasn't the end - "God raised [him] from the dead" and "exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel" (vv. 30-31). It's not a matter of making you guilty, but of offering you forgiveness of sins! "We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him" (v. 32).
"You are witnesses of these things", Jesus had said when he commissioned them, and they were remaining true to that commission. They weren't silent observers. They had to tell what they knew - not just what had happened, but what it means.
That is still the commission for the church and all believers of today. We aren't here to make the Jews or the Romans guilty of Jesus' blood. He died because of human sin. But he also died for the collective sins of the whole human race. Ultimately the Son of God can't die because of any kind of human scheming. It can only happen if God is willing it to happen as part of his plan for the salvation of human sinners.
And we are witnesses of Jesus Christ - all of us who have believed in him for the forgiveness of our sins. We are witnesses that he died for us and that he is alive. We are witnesses that his offer of forgiveness, love and grace is freely offered to everyone we meet.
Those early Christians were unstoppable. They weren't silent witnesses. Threatened with jail - or worse - they insisted, "We must obey God rather than men!… We are witnesses of these things…"
The truth must come out. The risen Christ is depending on us to be his faithful witnesses right here where we live.
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