You are my Witnesses
image from: You are my witnesses - YouTube
1st reading: Acts 3:13-15,17-192nd reading: 1Jn 2:1-5a
Gospel: Lk 24:35-48
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus has
resurrected and has continued to appear to His disciples. The Gospel of last Sunday
told us that he appeared to the disciples, gave them the message of peace and
made them messengers of forgiveness and mercy. Today, we have another story of
His appearance to His disciples. After giving them the greeting of peace, he
spent time discussing and eating with them. At the end of His stay with them,
He gave them a mission to be His witnesses to the world. The gospel of today ended
with this beautiful verse: ‘you are witnesses to these things.’
In the first reading, we saw the mission of
witnessing to Christ in action in the life of Peter. Peter did not forget to
tell the crowd that he and the other disciples of Christ are witnesses to the
great events of the life of Jesus. He said: ‘to this we are witnesses.’ As
Christians, we have also received the same mandate to witness to Jesus through
our baptism. Jesus has mandated us to go and tell our friends and the whole
world that he has risen from the dead. He has commissioned us to tell our
friends of the goodness of his name. He has sent us to tell our friends that to
follow Him is the best of all choices. But then, how can we do all these if our
lives do not show that Jesus is the Lord? How can we reflect the light of
Christ if our lives still bear traces of darkness? How can we witness to the
light if our life is still the abode of darkness? What, then, are the best ways to fulfil this
task of being witnesses to Christ?
Dear friends, the first step towards witnessing
to the risen Christ is by repenting of our sins. The reason for this is very
simple. It is this: If your actions contradict what your mouth says, you are
not a true witness. To convincingly witness to Christ, our actions and our
words must be saying the same thing. In fact, friends, the best witness to
Christ is through our actions, through our behaviours, both in the church and
in the society. This was the lesson of the second reading of today. It says: “and
by this we may be sure that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who
says, ‘I know him’ but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is
not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly for God is perfected.” We
cannot be Christ’s witnesses if we disobey his commandments.
Let our actions stop betraying the gospel we
proclaim to the world. If we want to change the world, our actions must correspond
with our words. Hence, the big task for each of us who has received the mandate
to witness to Christ is to know the extent the resurrection of Christ has
impacted on our lives. Has the resurrection of Christ changed you personally or
are you still living your old life? Let us repent of those behaviours that do
not reflect the power of Christ’s resurrection. Let us repent of those actions
that make us liars before the world, especially when we preach the gospel to
them. Let us preach to ourselves first before preaching to others. Let us
change ourselves first before changing the world. Let us transform ourselves
into light that is capable of attracting other people to Christ.
Our Christian community cannot convert our
society if we do not reflect the fruits of the Christian life. What are these
fruits? They are love, peace, care for the needy and the sick, unity,
solidarity, etc. Our Christian families cannot convert our neighbours to Christ
if we fight or quarrel everyday. Our individual lives cannot testify that
Christ has risen if we do not allow the teachings of Christ to influence our
choices, our words, and our actions. Our lives should be the gospel that other
people can read. In the first reading, Peter was able to tell the Jews to
repent and turn to the Lord because he has repented of his own sins. Let us
repent of our own sins so that we can invite others to repent.
Another step towards witnessing to Christ is
being courageous. The courage of Peter in his sermon of today to the Jews and
the courage of the other apostles in their mission should be our model. In the
first reading, Peter stood up before the very people who condemned and killed
Jesus and told them their sins to their faces. He told them of the wrong choice
they made by requesting that a criminal be released, and that Jesus be
crucified. This is the courage of a true witness to Christ. This is the courage
that we need before our friends and the entire community if we want to be true
witnesses. Most of the times we are afraid of being criticized, of being
insulted, of losing our friends and acquaintances, and then, we prefer to close
our mouths when we face occasions to say the truth. It is sad that sometimes we
prefer to play along with actions that are against the truth of the gospel, our
faith and good moral standards. Perhaps, we want to answer good names.
Friends, we must be ready to suffer criticisms
and insults if we want to be true witnesses of Christ. Let us imitate the
courage of Peter and the other apostles. With prudence and courage, let us go
out and win our friends for Christ, this is the mission handed to us by the
Risen Christ.
Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima
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