Luke 24, Acts 1

I am a bit of a word nerd – I have a geeky fascination with language. It's kind of a running joke around the church office. I share a word of the week that I’ve just learned, like crepuscular or indefatigable. I was proud to find out I knew the definitions of the last two winning words in the Scripps national spelling bee: koinonia and logorrhea. Sometimes others correct me on my usage; I now know the difference between appraised and apprised. 

This week I am fascinated by the use of the word witness in our lessons. The definition of witness according the Miriam Webster Dictionary is “to see something, or to testify to what you saw.” That’s the verb form of the word. It also can be used as a noun: “one who has personal knowledge of something,” like a witness of a crime; or “one who gives evidence or testimony,” like a witness in a court of law.

In our scriptures today, we get the noun version. In the Gospel of Luke, the Risen Jesus appears to his disciples and shows them his hands and side.  He eats with them and opens their minds to the scriptures which foretold of his death and resurrection. Then Jesus tells his disciples: “you are witnesses to these things.”

And in Acts, as the Risen Jesus is just about to ascend into heaven and return to the Father, he says to his disciples: “you will be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth.”

I notice two things about these witness statements of Jesus. The first is the tense of the verb “to be.” In Luke, it’s present tense: “you are witnesses to these things.” In Acts, it’s future tense: “you will be my witnesses.” Secondly, these statements illustrate both noun definitions of witness: Luke’s “you are witnesses” emphasizes what the disciples have seen: Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. And in Acts, they “will be witnesses” who tell of what these things they have seen.

I think there’s a great deal of significance to this double meaning of witness. Luke and Acts are a two-volume set written by Luke. The story of Jesus’ ascension and calling his disciples as witnesses occur in both books, at the conclusion of the Gospel of Luke and the beginning of Acts. They give the same promise of the Holy Spirit and mission to take the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection to all the world. There is an order implied: You have to first see something before you can say something. You have to be a witness before you witness to it.

It’s something we’ve been seeing right here at Epiphany – people seeing the power of Jesus’ resurrection hope and then sharing that story with others. This past January, Pastor Heidi launched a ministry of Home Communion Visitors. The ministry is headed by three Epiphany members and supported by Pastor Corey and me. Pairs of trained Epiphany members visit with our homebound members, pray with them, and bring Holy Communion from Sunday worship. Here is what they are saying: (initials used for privacy)

“We visited W. yesterday and served her communion…She was happy to see us and recognized us. We talked about her most recent visit with her husband who resides in the nursing home. We laughed at some of the stories but W. did share that it is hard to be separated. I appreciated that she shared some things that are hard and frustrating as we all need to talk about these types of things and really made us feel like friends having a talk.

When we saw our homebound member, she told us about how a young mom from Epiphany and her daughter have been visiting. She told us about the visits and showed us a picture her young friend had drawn for her. She was beaming. She loved our visit, too, and was so happy to receive communion.

We had been having trouble connecting with the couple we visit all week so we decided just to go to their assisted living and see if we could find them. Sure enough, we found them in the dining room. G did not look good, but we were able to speak with him and his wife and share a word of prayer. I could see in their eyes how much they appreciated it. I got the call the next day that G had passed away. I truly believe the timing of our visit was a Spirit thing. I am so glad we were able to pray with them at such a critical time.”

What these folks are describing is the power of the resurrection. They see for themselves how their presence and the sacrament bring hope and new life to their homebound friends. They see Jesus at work in, through, and among them. Jesus is alive in these growing relationships. They sense his presence in each other and in Holy Communion. It is a powerful experience of the Risen Christ. In these moments of prayer and sharing, they touch our living Lord. And like any good witness, once they have seen something, they say something!

The book of Acts ends without a conclusion. It ends with the story of the apostle Paul in prison and doesn’t even say what happens to him. But that’s intentional because the story’s not over. It continues, in the people who the Risen Jesus appears to today; in our Home Communion Visitors and our homebound; in our prison visitors and meal makers for Family Promise; in our intergenerational drama community and our VBS kids and adults. Our mission to grow in faith, build thriving community, and transform lives is made possible by the last three words of the mission statement: through Christ’s love. It’s through Jesus and his self-giving love that we experience resurrection, that we have a second shot at life, that we have hope and light to share. We are witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection all around us, and we are called to bear witness to it, to tell others of this resurrection reality. There is so much that can point you to hopelessness and despair. The world needs our witness! The world needs Jesus. The World needs the hope of the resurrection. We are the next book the Spirit is writing. We are Jesus’ witnesses – present and future.