Can I get a witness!?

Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 1:1--2:2; John 20:19-31

… The readings in the first weeks after Easter morning always include stories about eyewitnesses to the resurrection. They declare to us what they have seen and heard, often as eyewitnesses or their first or second generation descendants. We hear how the first believers shared the news with those who weren’t there.

In First John, the unknown author of the letter or sermon to an unknown Christian community appears to be familiar with the Gospel of John. The author writes of the great sense of community that exists among the believers and between the believers and God.

The story in Acts tells us that everyone shared everything, so no one needed anything. They were living out what Jesus had taught them.

In the story from John’s Gospel, we learn of a visit to the disciples by the risen Jesus. Thomas was absent the first time Jesus appeared, and he remains skeptical of the stories Peter and the others have shared that they have seen Jesus. When Jesus does appear, Thomas’ declaration of faith exceeds that of any statement so far. He kneels – perhaps even bows with his face to the ground as if to royalty or a deity. And he says firmly, “My Lord and my God.”  He realizes that he doesn’t need to touch the wounds, he just needed to be in Jesus’ presence.

Because of his refusal to believe right away, Thomas gets a bad rap. He gets called Doubting Thomas, and is disrespected because of his questioning attitude. But I wonder if this is such a bad characteristic.

The other day, I saw a news story about people trying to use the name of the IRS to scam people out of a lot of money. We are always advised to verify the source of any request for money. We are told to make sure the email address is legitimate. We should never donate over the phone. ETC.

Essentially, we are the witnesses who weren’t there that first morning at the tomb, who weren’t in the room with Jesus that evening, or on the road to Emmaus with two followers of Jesus. We are Thomas, who needed proof before he would believe what the other disciples told him.

Two thousand years later, we are not going to run into any first-hand witnesses of the empty tomb. We’re not even sure where the tomb was, since there are at least two traditional locations!

We may, or may not, have grown up in the church, and like Thomas, we didn’t necessarily believe the first time we heard the story of Jesus and the empty tomb. Or rather, we may have believed as children; then questioned everything as teenagers; and then when we were young adults, we chose to not believe anything anyone over 30 told us.

It’s only the witnessing of others that brought us to believe in Jesus. Maybe it was our grandparents, or our friends, who invited us to some event at the church and we found a community who welcomed and loved us. Or maybe it was when someone offered to pray for us, and we allowed their prayers to enter our own hearts and change us.

… I tell my own faith stories to help you discover and tell your own faith stories. Here are some brief stories of some witnesses in my life that changed me, helped me become who I am today.

Evelyn and Katie were two women who mentored me and pushed me to break out of my introverted shell. Month by month, year by year, they taught me that I could be a leader. They supported me, guided me, and challenged me to take leadership positions in Women of the ELCA.

Fran was an intern at my congregation in Michigan. We met for lunch one day when a business call took me near her home. She had not completed her seminary training, and I asked her when she was going back to finish. In return, she asked me when I was going to start at seminary. A year later, I entered the candidacy process and applied to enter Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

In 2016, when I was making plans to retire, I began to look for other things to do, other groups to belong to where I could continue to grow spiritually. I discovered the Order of Lutheran Franciscans, and attended an annual meeting where everyone hugged me a dozen times in 4 days. Over the years since that first meeting, I have learned about the many ways Franciscans work for justice with love and passion. That passion for justice shows in my preaching, teaching, and everyday conversations with friends.

…These are some of my faith stories, stories that tell how I have grown and been changed by people who witnessed to me about Jesus’ love and grace. This week, I hope you identify some of your own stories of how people witnessed to you and how their witness changed you and helped you grow in faith.

As we learn our own stories, we become able to invite and listen to the stories others tell. In the sharing of stories, we discover that God has been present and at work within and among us, even when we weren’t paying attention.

If people hadn’t witnessed to us, would we believe in Jesus today? Like Thomas, people may need to hear from several witnesses before they are able to believe. If we don’t witness to others, how will they know Jesus and come to believe in him?

Amen