Incredible Witness

Here we are post-Easter when we turn once again to consider Luke’s well documented account of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts is essentially the story of incredible witness, which by any stretch of the human imagination, could not possibly have taken hold among a sane population. The OED defines “witness” as “a person present at some event and able to give information about it.” The same dictionary defines “incredible” as descriptive of something “that cannot be believed.” When Mary Magdalene blurted out to the disciples in hiding that Sunday morning that she had seen the Lord (Jn. 20: 18), nothing happened. They all stayed in the house with the doors locked for fear of the Jews (Jn. 20.19). No one believed her story. No one was willing to proclaim what she had witnessed. It was all too incredible.

In the evening of the same day, Jesus suddenly appeared before the disciples in the locked house (Jn. 20: 19b-23). Now, the disciples believed Mary’s incredible story because they could see for themselves. They had become eye witnesses along with Mary. Thomas, however, was not with them at the time and refused to believe their incredible story until Jesus appeared to the group a week later when he was present. Thomas was acting no differently from the other disciples who could not believe this thing based on the witness of another. He had to experience the risen Christ himself, just like the others. Yet Jesus mildly scolds Thomas (and all the others indirectly) by saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (Jn.20:29). Do you think maybe Jesus is talking to us….you and me?

In Acts, the Apostles proceed to proclaim what they have seen and heard as eye witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, suffering the pain and persecution of one bearing incredible witness contravening the accepted authority of one’s culture. They gain credibility because many others see for themselves the power of the Holy Spirit in these men. Yet still, what is recorded in Acts is the personal eye witness to incredible events.

What of us, then? Have we been given enough witness, incredible as it seems? During the 1970’s, I was privileged to enjoy a friendship with a Dominican priest who would engage me late into the evening in discussions of Christian theology. In his frustration with my questions, “but what about….?”, he would liken me to doubting Thomas. I distinctly remember one night he spoke of his sincere worry that I might go to hell on my ‘buts’.¹ What my priest friend knew that I as yet had not fully understood was the importance of honoring the credibility of persons who had the courage to bear public witness to incredible events, and thus coming to believe though having not seen. We are “blessed” because the resulting faith in the living Christ is indeed an eternal blessing.

Pharisee Rabban Gamaliel, a widely respected teacher of the law, sat in the Sanhedrin Counsel listening to the arguments favoring death to Peter and his colleagues who insisted on preaching the Christian gospel in contravention of direct orders from the Sanhedrin. After listening to Peter’s explanation and giving due consideration to Peter’s popularity among the people and other popular rebels in the past, he rose to advise the Council to leave these men alone. “For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God” (Acts 5:38-39). There are now roughly 2.3 billion Christians living on the planet.

Considering all the evidence, J.R.R. Tolkien advised the young doubting C.S. Lewis that the Christian myth was like all the Norse myths that Lewis loved, with one exception, it actually happened. As it turns out, Mary gave credible witness to an incredible event. Thanks be to God.

1. Rev. Thomas L. Fallon, O.P. , 1920-1993, professor of theology and history at Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island