Scripture Reflection, April 26, 2009: Witnesses to Christ's Love

Scripture Readings:
Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19
Psalm 4: 2, 4, 7-8, 9
1 John 2: 1-5a
Luke 24: 35-48

When the World Youth Day took place in Cologne in 2005, I was fortunate enough to live there. I was engaged in its preparation and concretely involved in one of its activities. The people around me, especially at my work place - a rather secular environment - weren’t too excited about this event. They feared the crowd in the trains and the traffic on the streets.
Some days after the World Youth Day was over, my boss took me out for lunch. Very unexpectedly she started asking me questions about the Church. “When I think of the Catholic Church” she said, “I think of old men sitting in Rome with too much power over an obsolete institution. Now I’ve seen these young people, who seem to be modern, open and normal … I saw them singing on the street, praying, laughing, bringing joy and enthusiasm. And they love the Pope. It doesn’t fit in my image of Church. What happens here? Can you explain it to me?” I don’t remember what I said, but I was struck because I realized what a powerful witness these young people of the World Youth Day were for my boss – and not only for her. Another day I heard two ladies talking in the supermarket how sad they were that all these joy-filled and happy young people had left. They could feel the spirit and enthusiasm they brought to our city.

In today’s Gospel we hear another Lucan appearance story. Christ reveals himself to the disciples showing his wounds and eating fish in front of them to emphasize that it is Him – the Jesus they’ve known. He was the same Jesus who walked with them on the streets of Palestine. The same Jesus who was crucified, was now in their midst – real and alive! He explains to his disciples why he had to suffer and die: for the forgiveness of sins. And he calls them to be his witnesses and to bring the Good News to all the nations!

As we can see in the readings, the sense of Christ’s saving power that became manifest in his resurrection was at the center of the lives and testimonies of the first Christians. The author of the Acts of the Apostles shows Peter as someone who invites everybody to conversion and reconciliation with God. He describes Jesus as the “author of life”, the savior who wants to lead all nations into the new life, into the kingdom of God. Peter doesn’t condemn, but excuses the ignorance of those who crucified Jesus and invites them to participate in God’s forgiving love.

Sometimes our faith can become ‘heavy’; we are concerned about what it means to be Catholic and the ‘right way’ of giving witness to our faith. Sometimes we may feel the burden of our sins and realize how far away we are from living out our call to Discipleship. But Christian life is not about doing ‘right’ things; it is not even about avoiding sin.

We are not better than others - sin still occurs in Christian lives, in ours as in the lives of others. What sets us free is God’s forgiving love. Christ is not inactive after his ascension. He paid a high price to save us and now we can be sure to have in him an “Advocate with the Father”. He knows us in our struggles, our sufferings, our distance from God; he knows our sins and failures. And because he knows us, he understands us and he loves us. He wants to forgive us and set us free from our sinfulness. In his death and resurrection we are restored in our broken relationship with God.

This is the joy, this is the Good News that we are called to announce to the world. And Christ not only died for our sins, but for those of the whole world! That means that we too cannot condemn anybody; neither other Catholics, nor the faithful of other denominations or religions or people from other countries or of races. Being witnesses of Christ means to be witnesses of His love for all human beings. And to ‘know’ Christ, doesn’t mean to preach his commandments to others, but to keep them and to put them into practice. And we cannot forget his greatest commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you!”

Our love for one another is the most powerful witness we can give to the world. To love as Jesus has loved us, means also for us: not to condemn, to always excuse, to always be open, to listen, to understand, to forgive.

The young people who came to the World Youth Day expressed in their songs and their dances the joy of being disciples of Christ. Their love for Jesus and for one another was a powerful witness to the people who encountered them.

Let’s take some time this Sunday to reflect on what it means for us to be witnesses to Christ’s love. Can I be a joyful disciple of Christ who tells the Good News with my life? Where am I in need of Christ’s redeeming love? Where can I bring love and forgiveness to my brothers and sisters?

Let’s bring our sins, our burdens, our worries and struggles to Jesus in the Eucharist and let’s ask him for the grace to be filled with his boundless love for the world!

Birgit Oberhofer