Get a Witness

Giving witness testimony to Jesus Christ

04/04/2019

John 5:31-47 Jesus said to the Jews: "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.

Eyewitness testimony is one of the strongest forms of proof in both law and in life. A long-standing legal principle states that two eyewitnesses establish a fact, that such-and-such is true or such an event actually occurred. If two independent witnesses saw Dc. Greg commit a hit-and-run as he was driving to the Hope Campus, that provides incontrovertible proof that he is guilty. That is also why a couple has a best man and a maid or matron of honor at their wedding. Their primary purpose is not just to carry the wedding rings, but rather they are the principal witnesses of the wedding vows. In other words, if by some bizarre tragedy all the legal documents about the marriage were destroyed, the best man and the maid of honor would serve as eyewitnesses and establish beyond any doubt that this couple was duly married. Two witnesses transform a legal fiction into a legal fact.

We also call upon witnesses in everyday life. People routinely request that I write letters of recommendation for them. What else is that but that I am a witness to their character? Sometimes when I make a change in the church some people don’t like it. They often say, “Fr. John, everybody is against that decision; no one at all likes it.” I ask them, “Well, can you tell me the names of some of those people?” They usually cannot think of anyone, so they answer: “Well, I know that my dog and my cat do not like it.” I’ve learned that when people employ terms like “everyone” and “no one” people are expressing their feelings not expressing facts. I feel like singing with Marvin Gaye his 1963 hit song, “Can I get a witness?...Somebody / Can I get a witness?” In other words, actual eyewitness testimony changes feelings into facts, mere opinion into more objective reality.

The whole fifth chapter of the gospel of John shows Jesus lining up witnesses who will testify on his behalf. Indeed, all creation serves as a witness to Christ; that’s why it was created. This is why Jesus repeatedly cures on the Sabbath, because the Sabbath was a witness to Jesus, in whom the people would find real rest from their labors. The Jerusalem Temple was a witness to Christ, who is the real Temple, where people would worship in spirit and in truth. That is also why the earthly Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and never rebuilt. It has finished giving witness. Today, Jesus points to the testimony of John the Baptist, the holy scriptures, to God the Father, the miracles Jesus performs, and finally to Moses himself, the great law-giver. No one knew better than Moses that two witnesses establish an incontrovertible fact, and in this case, that fact is Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. If the legal experts the Pharisees were singing, “Can I get a witness?” then Jesus was happy to provide plenty of people to sit in the witness stand. His claim to be the Christ was not a legal fiction but a legal fact; it was not a fleeting feeling but the foundation of all reality.

My friends, I am convinced that sooner or later we will all be called upon to give testimony and take the witness stand. Oh, I don’t mean in a court of law, but rather in the court of creation, and we will be called upon to give testimony on behalf of Jesus. Just like Jesus summoned the scriptures, and God the Father, and John the Baptist and Moses, to testify to him, so he calls on you and me today. The best way to give witness testimony to Jesus is by how we live and how we love. I have no doubt that the reason so many people become Catholic every year is they see your authentic Christian lives, that is your living testimony to Jesus. The reason I wear my priestly Roman collar all the time is that I hope it helps people think about Jesus and his Church. It would be a lot more comfortable not to wear the collar, but it is a small testimony to Jesus. Every Sunday at Mass when we stand to say the Creed, in a sense, we are swearing an oath in a courtroom and about to give witness testimony of what we have seen and testify to be true. Be careful not to perjure yourself by saying one thing and doing another.

At the end of time, Jesus, too, will sing like Marvin Gaye: “Can I get a witness? Somebody, can I get a witness?” And hopefully you and I will joyfully jump up with the rest of the cosmos and give tireless testimony to the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Praised be Jesus Christ!