Thursday in the Octave of Easter
We are His Witnesses!
Even though Jesus stands before his disciples as proof of the resurrection, he is not content to let their faith rest strictly on what their eyes can see and their hands can touch. It is important to him then, as it was on the road to Emmaus, to explain how his death and resurrection fulfilled God’s will and promise for our salvation. “You are witnesses of these things,” he says to them. Peter says the same thing in the passage from Acts: “The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.”
The scriptures stand as a record of God’s plan for our salvation through Christ’s death and resurrection. But God did not leave only a written account to persuade future generations of his plan. He left human witnesses, beginning with the apostles and those like Mary Magdalen and many others to whom he appeared after his Resurrection. The authors of the New Testament quoted the testimony. But even more important than eyewitness testimony is the testimony of those who have not seen but believed. Their testimony is based on a more powerful force than logic reason or experience. Their testimony is based on God’s power, that is the power of faith.
Faith in Jesus Christ drives people not just to assent to the fact of his resurrection, but to answer the call and commitment he gives to those who follow him. The martyrs and saints not only believed what previous witnesses told them about Jesus; they witnessed to Jesus by following his commands, even if it led to suffering and death. That is why it was so important for Jesus to drill into his apostles and followers that he would have to suffer and die before he was raised up, as the scriptures attested. In effect, he was saying, “So will you have to share in my suffering and death to share in my resurrection.”
Reflection by Abbot Benedict Neenan, OSB
Posted in Article for Easter, Daily Reflections