Witnesses to the Unseen

I’ll believe it when I see it.  Seeing is believing.  In many ways, this skeptical, “show me” attitude can be very practical.  We teach our children to examine the claims of advertisers carefully.  We pride ourselves on our rationality.  Few of us want to look the fool.

But of course, our faith is premised on believing in what we cannot see.  In Hebrews this morning, we hear a beautiful definition of faith: “…the realization of what is hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.”

We believe in God.  We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son.  We are loved by God, who created us in his own image, who died for us, who rose for us and saved us for all time.

But how do we know?  While the theologians tell us the faith is a gift from God, that’s not always a very satisfying answer, is it?  It seems a bit circular.  I believe in God because God has “told” me to believe in Him.  Is there something else here?

As it turns out, there is.  While we cannot see God directly, and while we may not be able to reach out and physically sense the mystical change of the bread and wine into the flesh, blood and divinity of Jesus Christ, God allows us to see him working though other people.  It is their faith, their witness that is the “evidence of things not seen.”  It is their faith that supports and strengthens our own faith.  In Hebrews, we hear a roll call of some of the giants of faith: Abraham, our father in faith, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob.   And the roll call continues down through the ages.

For example, we can presume, with reasonably historical certitude, that Jesus was crucified under Pilate – not only the Gospels, but Roman historians testify to it – and that, a short time after his death, his tomb was found to be empty.  It must have been empty, or the assertions of the early disciples of the resurrection would have been easily ridiculed.  How could he have risen, there’s his body in the tomb.  So the tomb was empty, but how?  The disciples had faith that Jesus has risen from the dead.  Others claimed that they had simply stolen the body to perpetuate a hoax. 

A hoax certainly seems more plausible.  Then why do over a billion people today believe in the resurrection?  In large part, because virtually all of those early witnesses paid for their faith with their lives, dying in many ugly ways rather than deny what they knew to be true.  Would they have does so for a hoax?  I can’t imagine it.  And their faith to the point of martyrdom simply drew others to that same faith.  Thus, Tertullian, an early church Father, could assert that the martyr’s blood is the seed of the Church.

Over time, many millions of others have witnessed the faith through lives of love, generosity, peace, and trust in God.  Some of these we have formally named as “saints.”  I find solace and support for my faith by reading stories of these saints, and stories about how the saints have influenced others.  For example, James Martin’s book, “My Life with the Saints,” is a very enjoyable and humorous witness of how the saints supported and enhanced Fr. Martin’s life and faith.

And if these witnesses are not enough, the “saints” are not just those who have died before us, “marked with the sign of faith.”  Many of them live among us today, even right here in Newtown!  Jesus tells us directly that we can and should draw others to God.  “Let you light shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”  (Mt 5:16). 

For the past several months – for almost a year now – my faith has been bolstered tremendously by the witness of those here in Newtown and around the world who responded in great faith to our horrific and unjust loss on 12/14.  Their faith – and particularly the faith of the families most directly affected – encouraged and strengthened them to respond as Jesus commands us – to turn the other cheek, to love your enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and to forgive seventy-seven times.  Many responded as Jesus instructed his disciples to respond when he was unjustly arrested and led to his death – “Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword with perish by the sword.”  (Mt 26:52)  

Martyrs, saints, witnesses – whatever we call them – make real everything in which we hope; their faith is the evidence of what we cannot see.  They fill us with hope when all seems lost, supplant our doubts with faith, and open our hearts to trust in the one who created us, who became one of us and who died for us, and yet rose again to live with us until the end of time.

For all these faithful witnesses, give glory to God in the highest.