The word “witness” runs through the First Reading on this Easter Day as we hear from testimony given by Simon Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel passage from John recounts the moment to which Peter is testifying as he, along with another disciple, run to the empty tomb of Jesus on that first Easter morn.
Although John notes: “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead” we see the very foundation of our belief in the Resurrection of Jesus and of the very Church itself. Our faith, our Church, is built upon the testimony of the apostles, and especially of the Rock himself – St. Peter.
The tomb was empty, but why it was empty and what that was to mean was still unclear. Therefore, the first kerygmatic expression of the Church is the tomb is empty. Mary Magdalene is the first to make this announcement, confirmed then later that morning by Peter and the other disciple, but that news does not just stay among themselves. The very nature of such a discovery demanded that the news spread.
While their confusion and disbelief turns to joy at the realization that Jesus bas been raised from the dead, this news also comes at a cost.
The word martyr as we know it in English is derived from the Greek word for witness. When we consider the full implications of this meaning, we are struck by the implications of being a witness of the Resurrection. In the case of the apostles, however, it was not merely enough to be a witness of the Resurrected One, but also to have been a witness to the ministry of Jesus.
We have reserved the term “martyr” in our time for those who lay down their lives for the sake of the Gospel or in defense and protection of those who are persecuted. Sometimes the expression “white martyr” is used for those whose persecution in the name of Jesus does not lead to death, but might include imprisonment, enslavement and other forms of persecution or oppression.
All most all of those who called themselves the witnesses of the events of the ministry of Jesus, and as witness to the Resurrection suffered the martyrdom of blood in defiance of a hostile world. At the time, Peter delivered this speech he did not know what the impact of his witnessing would be, though he was already experiencing a sense that his freedom and status within the Greco-Roma-Jewish world was dubious at best. Not too many years later he would be nailed upside down on a cross in the Circus Vaticanus outside of Rome.
Witnessing to the Gospel for most of us today comes with less of a cost – much less of a cost to be sure – but yet many thousands bear witness to the Gospel with their very lives each year. In an increasingly secular world it can be uncomfortable to bear witness to the Gospel and to claim one’s Christian, and especially Catholic faith, as a defining moment of one’s life.
If we learn nothing else from the disciples of Jesus during the post-Resurrection period of history, we need to learn to model their absolute boldness in life and proclamation.
We cannot simply hide our faith under our clothing, or sneak away to practice our faith. The world today needs bold witnesses, living the Gospel in defiance of the world that prefers darkness to light, and certitude of relativism in the face of truth.
May this Easter find us shouting ALLELUIA from the rooftops for Jesus Christ is risen – he is truly risen indeed.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.