Three Witnesses

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 -- Week of Proper 15

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 981)
Psalms [120], 121, 122, 123 (morning) 124, 125, 126, [127] (evening)
Judges 18:1-15
Acts 8:1-13
John 5:30-47

One of the frustrating things that the early church had to contend with was the fact that the main body of Judaism did not accept the Christian claim that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. As the church presented itself to the Gentile world (or to Jews for that matter), it needed to explain this enigma.

John offers an explanation in the terms of witnesses. Both Jewish and Roman law had strict rules of evidence. Jewish law did not accept self-witness, but required the collaborative testimony of two witnesses for some cases. In this dialogue from John's gospel, Jesus offers three witnesses: John the Baptist, the works that Jesus did, and the scriptures (Moses).

It is part of the early church's tradition that Jesus' cousin John baptized Jesus and pointed to him with a prophetic word, declaring Jesus to be the lamb of God, the anointed or chosen Messiah. John was popular with many who sought a reform of Jewish practice, but he was imprisoned and killed by Herod Antipas after John criticized his incestuous marriage. There is evidence of some competition between John's disciples and Jesus' followers. Several of the gospel writers, including John (the evangelist), took pains to show John the Baptist deferring to Jesus, declaring Jesus as Messiah. In this passage, John the Baptist is the first witness to Jesus the Messiah.

The second witness, Jesus says, is "the very works that I am doing." These good works reveal the testimony of the Father, Jesus is saying. It is from God's power that Jesus does good. Look and see. If these are good works, they are from God, they are God's testimony.

The third witness is the scriptures, attributed to Moses as source of the Law. Jesus says that the scriptures "testify on my behalf." In this context we aren't given any reference to what parts of the scriptures might testify to Jesus, but the early church collected a handful of references that they used to preach Jesus as the fulfillment of the Messianic anticipations of the Hebrew scriptures.

Three witnesses -- John the Baptist, the works, the scriptures. You would think that would cinch it. Not necessarily. There were some who continued to follow John the Baptist who did not accept that John had signaled Jesus as Messiah.

Many were drawn to Jesus because of his works. He healed the sick and gave the gift of congruity to many who were emotionally or mentally disturbed. The feeding of multitudes is a characteristic story. This evidence seemed to be pretty compelling, even to Jesus' enemies. But many discredited him saying that his acts were not empowered by God, but by the demonic.

There were many who disputed Jesus' claims on scriptural grounds. After all, Jesus did not fulfill most of the conventional expectations of the Messiah, especially that he would be a successful earthly ruler who would expel the foreign occupiers and establish a new international reign centered in Jerusalem. There were technical objections -- no prophet is to come from Galilee; the Messiah should be from David's tribe of Judah, etc. The church had stories to respond to these charges. The greatest objection was his scandalous death. Deuteronomy 21:23: "...anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse."

The fact is that most of the Jewish religious authorities and most of the people of Israel were not convinced. They could point to John's other disciples who did not follow Jesus, or just write him off because he was dead. They could dispute the source and origin of Jesus' deeds, good or mighty as they might be. They could certainly argue from scripture that Jesus did not fulfill their messianic expectations. The Jesus-followers remained a small cult within Judaism. Most of the success that they enjoyed was among Roman and non-Jewish people who were attracted to their fellowship.

It makes me wonder. If I had been a Jewish contemporary of Jesus, would I have followed the crowd? Would I have accepted the conventional view that he was not the Messiah?

That makes me wonder further. What works of God might I be missing right now? Is God doing things among us that we discount because we are not impressed with those who point toward them? Or we may see good works but disagree with the faith or theology that is behind them. How might we demean good acts because they are out of accord with something we have attached to in scripture?

I see the courageous witness of the Dalai Lama and the goodness of so many Buddhists and they appear to me to be consistent with the works of God. Other Christians would disagree. I am skeptical of the odd message that the Jehovah Witnesses share door to door, yet how might God be using them for good?

One of the consistent messages of scripture is that we are a stubborn people and we often punish the prophets and resist what God is doing in our generation. We tend to be on stronger ground when we align ourselves with the Biblical values of love, compassion and justice. Sometimes those who act in support of love, compassion and justice are among the most controversial people. Like Jesus. Will we recognize the witnesses of God in our day?

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas