Thought for the week - 15 January

"Yes, I have seen and I am witness that he is the Chosen One of God."

In today's gospel reading from the first chapter of St. John's gospel, John the Baptist bears witness to Christ. He testifies, or bears witness to what he has seen and heard: "Yes, I have seen and I am witness that he is the Chosen One of God." He could only bear witness because he had seen something and because, therefore, he had something to say.

In a court of law a witness is called upon to testify to what he has seen and heard. To bear witness is to speak of what we have seen and heard. What then is it that we, as Christians, bear witness to.

What have we to say? What have we seen and heard? If we can only be witnesses because we have seen and heard something, what is it that we have seen and heard and of which we bear witness?

I suppose in one sense it would make sense to say that we have ourselves have witnessed nothing. Unlike John the Baptist, we were not there. It all happened so long ago that it cannot make sense to think of ourselves as witnesses. But when in the 15th chapter of St. John's gospel Jesus says You are my witnesses, he doesn't mean to restrict this to the first disciples only. John the Baptist, and the first disciples were only witnesses because the Spirit had come upon them. It is only in the power of the Holy Spirit that they are able to testify of Jesus that he is the Chosen One of God. It is in the power of that same Spirit that we also are called to testify, to bear witness that he is the Chosen One of God, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

But how are we to bear witness? What is it that we have seen and heard? In one sense we have heard so much that it overwhelms us. The content of what we have heard is so great that it is impossible for us to fully understand it, let alone put it into words. There is a whole history behind us. There is the whole story of our redemption contained in the books of the Bible. There is a whole range of Christian doctrine summarised and expressed in our creeds. There is nearly 2,000 years of Christian history expressed in the life and worship of the Church, in so many diverse ways. There is no shortage of what we have seen and heard. Rather we have heard too much that it is impossible for us to easily understand it all let alone express it and testify to its truth. How can we bear witness to this wealth of Christian experience and tradition. Without a lifetime's study and reflection we can't. But that doesn't mean that only the learned man and scholar can bear witness to the Christian truth that Jesus is the Chosen One of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Recounting, retelling what other people have believed and said and written and done and suffered and experienced is not what is meant by bearing witness. The witness does not simply repeat the testimony of others. There is more to being a witness than that, and of course hearsay evidence, what other people have said, is not permissible in a court of law. The witness has to declare the value of what he says. He has to stake his life upon it. This is what is meant by bearing witness. And he can stake his life upon it because he knows it to be true for himself, and not just because others have declared it true.

The length of the bible, the depth of Christian doctrine, the whole range of Christian history and experience need not daunt us in bearing witness. We are not called upon to testify to all this material - how could we? We do not have to bear witness to it all. The witness of John the Baptist is very straightforward, limited to what he has seen and heard: "I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove and resting one him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptise with the Holy Spirit.' Yes, I have seen and I am witness that he is the Chosen One of God." Later on in the Gospel the man who had been born blind and whom Jesus healed, when questioned by the authorities gives a simple testimony: "One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." He bears witness to one simple thing - what Jesus has done for him. Again in the Gospel doubting Thomas when confronted with the risen Christ makes the simple confession, "My Lord and my God."

The content of our testimony, that to which we can bear witness may be very small indeed. We all have our own testimony, the one thing to which we can bear witness. We all have our own insight, our own conviction, given by the Spirit, which makes sense to us of the Christian experience, and of this we are able to bear witness. Someone once said that he could write his reason for being a believer on the back of a postage stamp. That is enough to make him a witness to the gospel, to the fact that Jesus is the Chosen One of God.

We all have our own experience - that small miracle, perhaps, which to us is precious but which to others may seem commonplace. That small coincidence in which we were able to discern the hand of God. That strengthening presence in times of deep darkness. That sense of joy and wonder experienced in worship. It may not seem much of an experience but it is ours and speaks to us of the reality of God. We all have something we have seen and heard and of which we are able to bear witness, and that witness is at one with that of John the Baptist who testified and declared: