My Witnesses: a Short Homily for the Seventh Sunday of Easter with reference to Acts 1.6-14, 1 Peter 4.12-14, 5.6-11 and John 17.1-11

By on May 24, 2020.

Source: GENEralities
My Witnesses: a Short Homily for the Seventh Sunday of Easter with reference to Acts 1.6-14, 1 Peter 4.12-14, 5.6-11 and John 17.1-11
I didn’t have to preach this morning. But if I had, I would have said something like this…Jesus said, in Acts 1, It is not for you know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…to the end of earth. (vv7-8)This to a group of emotionally drained, confused, frightened women and men who really didn’t know what was going on. Yet, “You will receive power,” he said, “and you will be my witnesses.” Anyway. With what you DO know. Are we called to know and understand things to be Christians? No. We are called to believe. “This is the work of God,” said Jesus, “that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John6.29). God, the Father, doesn’t wait on our understanding before He calls us to act. I believe it was St Augustine who wrote, “Believe, and understanding will follow.” Believe what? Here’s a list of things in which to believe just from today’s readings for a start. Believe that: We will receive/have received the power we need.The Holy Spirit will/has come upon us.We are/will be, indeed, his witnesses (Acts1.8). The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you and me (1Pet4.14).We are invited to cast all our anxieties on God. God cares for us (1Pet5.7) The God of all grace will confirm, strengthen and establish us (1Pet5.10).Jesus, Himself, is praying for us (John17.9)We may not know much about times and seasons, but believing that all these things are true, we have all we need to know (and more) to be the witnesses Jesus calls us to be. And not only that. We also have the Jesus’ permission NOT to know the things that are beyond us and not to (cast all your anxieties on me) worry about it. All we have to do is trust in his power working in us which can do infinitely more than we could ask or imagine. So. How shall we proceed? The disciples, like us, may not have known much, but what they did know was how to start, with prayer. “With one accord,” St Luke writes in our reading from Acts, “constantly devoting themselves” (Acts1.14) to it. Pray. The Offices—morning, evening and night—off the cuff—using your own words or written down—silently and out loud—with lists or as they come to you—at all times (Lk18.1) and without ceasing. (1Thes5.17). Then be the witness Jesus calls you to be. What does a witness do? A witness gives evidence and proof of, confirms, proves, corroborates, substantiates, bears out, shows , demonstrates, indicates, reveals and vouches for the truth of his or her experience, of what she or he has seen, heard and experienced.  A witness in court swears to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Jesus said I am the truth (John14.6). St Paul wrote that “the truth is in Jesus” (Eph4.21). Jesus is “truth personified” wrote Randy Alcorn. This is the Jesus who calls you and me to testify to that truth, sowhatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col3.17)Everything. Washing the dishes. Relationships. Walking the dog. Cooking. Eating. Working. Worshipping. Playing. Enjoying. Disagreeing. Spending our time and our money. In all of these day-to-day activities, in everything, the truth we are all to radiate and proclaim is, quite simply and only…Jesus. 

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