When did you first hear about Jesus? My earliest memory is from a Christmas when I was about three years old. My parents told me the Nativity story and we had a little creche on a table. Jesus already knew me because I’d been baptized as an infant, but it’s the recounting of the story that stays with me. For many, perhaps, most Christians, knowledge of the Christ seeped into our consciousness little by little through Bible stories, sacraments, sacramentals, and daily prayers. The dawning awareness, whatever the source, always extends back across time and space to the eyewitnesses of the Resurrected Christ encountered in today’s readings.
A witness is someone who sees, who knows, and who hands on the truth. Peter, in the first reading (Acts 3:11-26) is well aware of his status as a witness to the power of “the author of life” whom God raised from the dead. He even says, “of this we are witnesses.” Faith in the name of Jesus cured the lame man, not Peter under his own authority. In the Gospel (Luke 24: 35-48) the disciples from Emmaus relate their encounter with the Resurrected Lord when He appears in their midst. Ponder their astonishment!
No wonder they risked all to proclaim the Risen Christ “to all the nations.” Thanks to these eyewitnesses and the generations to follow, we see, we know, and now it’s our turn to hand on the truth.