WITNESS
‘Witness’ is
an expanding word. It starts simply as someone present at a dramatic event,
like the Manchester bombings this past week which killed 22 and injured many
more. “I was there” they can say to their children and grandchildren. The older
I become the more I find I am a witness to events only read about or heard
about by others. If I say “I remember the Japanese surrender in 1945”, or “I
knew John Bradburne in the 1970s”, or even “I was there at the raising of the
Zimbabwe flag at Independence in April, 1980”, younger people look at me as if I
were a fossil! It is the most basic meaning of the word ‘witness’: being there.
When Jesus
says to his friends “you will be my witnesses” he said something more charged.
He implies they were there during his ministry and saw and heard everything.
But he now calls them to live the implication, to act on it. This might cost
them something. In fact, it might cost them everything. They might die for it. The
Greek word for witness gives us our word ‘martyr.’
We know of
the bloody type of martyrdom. There is also the more reachable form: standing
up for what one believes. There are so many examples today of individuals and groups
doing this: for civil rights, justice and peace. As they mourned their dead the
people of Manchester recalled their brave forbears. Among them was Emmeline
Pankhurst who was voted by TIME as one of the 100 most notable people of the
twentieth century. She led a group of women who campaigned, against astonishing
opposition, for the right to vote. "She shaped an idea of women for
our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no
going back.” We take it for granted now when a country like Zambia or Zimbabwe
wins the right for “one man, one vote” it means men and women. But do we
remember what a huge struggle it was to achieve this?
Pankhurst’s campaign was high
profile but we encounter many “low profile” calls on us to witness. They reach
down into the ordinary of everyday. They call for honesty, integrity and
courage. It is Africa Day as I write. Yes, we have freedom. But we know it is
incomplete until every man, woman and child has a chance to a dignified life.
We are far from there yet. There are struggles before us. It takes courage to
engage. We will be witnesses to the good news if we do. It is the way we become
fully human. “You will be my witnesses.” While Jesus was around his friends
could simply be bystanders, basking in his fame. Now he is withdrawing from
them (the Ascension) and the ball is in their court. Magnificently, they take
up the challenge.
28 May
2017 Ascension
Acts
1:1-11 Ephesians 1:17-23 Luke 24:46-53
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