I have to make a confession, perhaps ruining my career and drawing the condemnation of many: I don’t wear any holy symbol around my neck; I don’t have a crucifix or a prayer card in my car; I haven’t put any holy pictures on the walls in my house. When I look around I can see that my surroundings and environment are pretty bare of so-called religious elements. I hardly ever use ‘pious greetings’ when contacting people. Honestly, I’m rather reluctant to use ‘holy’ words unless absolutely necessary. Now you can see that despite being a Catholic priest – God’s ground personnel – I’m not a witness to our Lord.
‘You are witnesses to this’. These are the closing words of today’s gospel – the words pointing out the mission that Jesus leaves to his disciples. Who are they? The gospel gives us some clues. Certainly they are the apostles, chosen previously by Jesus. But the gospel also mentions two disciples who met the Christ on the road to Emmaus – neither of them was an apostle in its strict meaning. We can justifiably suppose that there are more of Jesus’ followers in the room. We also cannot with certainty rule out the presence of women, many times mentioned in the gospels as those following and helping Jesus. He speaks openly to all gathered in the room, excluding no-one among those present. We can say that the mission is universal regarding its bearers.
‘You are witnesses to this’. There’s another question: witnesses to what? The words defining the mission seem to be clear and simple: ‘in his [Christ’s] name repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations’. This is it. This is the mission. Frankly, it sounds pretty unattractive and seemingly hardly relevant to our modern world. One of many reasons that many people have abandoned Christianity is its moral teaching perceived as old-fashioned, irrelevant, troublesome, inconvenient, and just making people’s lives dull. Christian morality seems to treat suspiciously any human activity as a potential spiritual or moral threat. I think that’s a widespread perception of it, regardless of whether it is true or not.
I’m afraid that in many aspects we have chosen one of two options: unbearable and irritating nagging or keeping a convenient silence. Interestingly, in the original Greek, the word translated as ‘witness’ is ‘martyr’. I think it changes the whole perspective. A ‘witness’ is a reporter, not necessarily personally attached to a particular case or situation he or she witnesses. A ‘martyr’ is someone deeply convinced and attached to his or her cause. Jesus’ message contains one – in my opinion – crucial expression: ‘would be preached’. The message has to be presented as an offer. In common with any other offer, it can be accepted or rejected. Even the most attractive offer can be presented in a repellent and unattractive way so that nobody is interested in taking it up.
Personally I’m not convinced that militant Christianity has a future; personally I don’t believe that outward signs of my faith would attract anybody – though I’m not against those who use them. I do believe that my lifestyle, my approach to others, my dialogue-open attitude and general openness can win someone for Jesus – as a by-product of being human.