Isaac Michel, cicm
Missionary in Brazil
It is not a secret to anyone that in this changing world, the whole humanity, being confused and lost, is longing for the abundant Life, where there is Justice, Peace, and Integrity of the creation; thirsting for the Truth that sets free and creates harmony and well-being; searching tirelessly for the Way that leads to true happiness and hope. In other words, the whole of humanity is expecting to meet the author of life at the well of his “sitz im leben” (real situation of life).
In fact, a Christian should not refrain from preaching the Gospel and witnessing to it as the source of life and hope for all. This is indeed a constant and arduous work that calls for special prophetic virtues. A prophet is a constant witness of God´s Law in his own world, time, and reality of life. Some biblical texts about the life and activities of the prophets help us to know that a prophet is not an angel falling from heaven, but rather a complete and concrete man or woman called from this world and sent into this same world to be God´s witness among God´s people, calling them back to God every time that they go away from God´s Law and Love (Cf. Am 7, 14-15; Is 6, 5-8).
Therefore, as a real source of hope and happiness, proclaiming the Good News is a constant challenge in today's world. The challenge has increased further since the COVID-19 pandemic. If the Covid-19 pandemic was a time of intensive pastoral creativity and stewardship to better witness to the Gospel of life and hope, the post-pandemic time is even more exigent. It requests courage, resiliency, tenacity, abnegation, availability to serve, and above all, a missionary heart and a mind full of Mercy, Patience, and Love. All of these are prophetic virtues that are always necessary to be better witnesses to the Gospel, in every place, and in every reality of life.
Who is then a witness? How does someone become a witness in the Biblical sense of the term? A clear answer to this question may help us understand how our missionary life is important and necessary, as a way of witnessing to God’s Gospel as a source of hope and happiness for all. Two of the three biblical original languages, Greek and Hebrew, can help us better answer this question in a biblical way. In Greek, the act of witnessing is “marturia”, which stands for the word “martyr”. It refers to someone, in the Law court, who has direct and personal experience of the events in which he is called to be part of. He must talk solely about what he has experienced, seen, or heard directly. A witness, in this case, is someone who testifies to the truth in which he believes. In Hebrew, the word that is used for witness is “(”עדayin Dalet - ED). Two meaningful Hebrew letters. Ayin stands for the eyes. It means to see, to know, or to experience. While Dalet stands for the door, it refers to a pathway, a place of decision, or just an entrance to life. Therefore, a witness (“ -”עדED or martyr) of the Gospel is someone who knows or has experienced the Gospel in his own life. By doing so, he can provide others with a pathway into life.
In fact, whoever listens to a witness of the Gospel, a prophet, must make a decision on their own life. Witnessing to the Gospel is always a call to a new life, the “metanoia”, for the others (Cf. Mal 3,1; Is 57,14).
In the entire Bible, from the Old to the New Testament, there are many references to the term “witness”. However, only in the book of the prophet Isaiah do we learn how someone becomes a witness, a witness of God. To become a God´s witness, one needs to be chosen by God himself. In the Old Testament, especially until the second book of Isaiah, the term “witness” is mentioned in a general sense. In the Torah, the Law, they refer to the witness as giving testimony in a court of law. In the second book of Isaiah, there is a clear and direct declaration by God Himself, stating the basis on which He chose His witness, the prophet.
“You are my witnesses, declares the LORD, and my servants whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.” (Is 43,10).
Certainly, this text, belonging to the second book of Isaiah, does not really refer to the prophet himself, but rather to God´s people in exile. Amazingly, it was in this moment that God directly and personally declared the identity and function of God´s people. In a time of deep sorrow, people felt diminished, lost, and at their lowest. The moment of identity crisis. It is exactly this moment at which we are called to be witnesses of God´s mercy and love for others.
This whole chapter of Isaiah is a dialogue of “I - You”; God and God´s people, his servant, the suffering one. This dialogue clearly shows the relationship between the witness and the one to whom he is testifying.
This dialogue between God and His witness in this pericope points to Jesus' dialogue and relationship, as expressed in the Gospel of John in chapter 15. Like chapter 43 of Isaiah, chapter 15 of John is an “I – you” dialogue that opens on a special relationship between Jesus and his disciples and with God. Once more, in either the Old or the New Testament, a witness is identified by the relationship to whom he is testifying. Therefore, to be able to witness, one necessarily needs to know, especially to be in a close relationship with those being witnessed. In both cases, Isaiah 43 and John 15, the “I-You” dialogue and relationship show the protection of the witness by the one being witnessed, and a kind of renewal of the covenant between both.
Who/what is the Gospel, to which/whom we witness?
The word gospel, in Greek, “Euangelion” (Good News), can biblically be referred, at the same time, to the Messenger or to the Message. The Messenger in this case is “Jesus Himself”, while the Message is the “Kingdom of God”. Jesus, as the Good News of God to the people, has brought to us the Kingdom of God. The Good News or “Euangelion” is indeed the Message of God´s Messenger to His people about His Kingdom.
The center of Jesus´ ministry was, without any doubt, the Kingdom of God, which He materialized or concretized through His words and deeds, the “Dabar”. Jesus' ministry, as the Gospel (Message and Messenger) of God to us, was centered on two great commandments that summarize the Law and the Scriptures: The Love of one´s neighbors and the Love of God. This way of being God´s witness in the world, whether at Jesus' time or at our time today, is, in fact, the precious balance we need to keep to be better witnesses to the hope that comes from the proclamation of the Gospel. Indeed, without the Love for God and His kingdom, we will just become materialists, and without the Love for our neighbors, brothers, and sisters, with whom we coexist in this world, we will become spiritualists. Materialism and spiritualism are two dangerous extremes that can empty or dry the identity of the Gospel´s witness. A materialist or a spiritualist witness will always lose their identity by becoming just like a plastic flower, without fragrance, dynamism, and life-giving. A witness of the Gospel needs to be a wellspring of life-giving and authenticity. This last is the most necessary virtue for maintaining a better balance between the love of God and the love of one's neighbors.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel”, said Jesus (Mk 1:15). The time is Here and Now, let´s start being authentic witnesses to the Gospel, through a better knowledge of the Gospel and being somehow pathways for the others, our brothers and sisters in our world”. Then, together with Isaiah and Saint Paul, shall we understand: “How beautiful, on the mountains, are the feet of those who bring the Good News, who proclaim Peace, who bring Good Tidings, who proclaim Salvation, who say to Zion, Your God Reigns!” (Is 52, 7; Rm 10,12-15).
Where is the world? Where does it start? Where should I start witnessing to the Gospel? These non-polar questions are somehow pertinent. They aim to provoke us and make us think. They may appear very simple to answer, even if not just yes or no. By answering them, we may come to have a pathway, a guideline for direct and conscious action wherever we are and in whatever our task is. Maybe we all agree on that; no one can consider the world as a single physical place or thing. There is no way to say that the world is here or there; it is in this kind of situation or not, without falling into an abstraction, the Platonic world.
The world in this way is, according to me, neither the creation nor the people, nor both or nothing. But on the other hand, one can easily see that people are here or there; they are in this kind of life situation or not. To illustrate this, the Gospel of Luke presents the ministry, or prophetic program, of Jesus as he began His mission in the world of His time, quoting the book of Isaiah.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4, 18-19; Is 61, 1-2) In this pericope, which is one of the particularities of Luke, among the synoptic gospels, we can clearly see that the ministry of Jesus has a concrete setting point, a fixed target. Where and how He longed to start and do His ministry to be efficient in His act of witnessing to God´s Kingdom and bring hope to His listeners’ hearts. In this way, proclaiming the Gospel and being a witness of hope in a world that we do not try to name is like going out with a gun at hand and starting to shoot at every corner without any target. Thus, we risk reaching for everything or nothing. “Who does not stand for something falls for everything!”, archbishop Ernest Ngboko affirmed once.
However, if we try to consider the world as our own community life, the people in our parishes and missions, our ministry of witnessing to hope by proclaiming the Gospel, will be more meaningful and more efficient. Furthermore, by considering the world not as broadly or abstractly as it is, but rather as the people, as the creation, the physical place where we are, the environment, the atmosphere that surrounds us, we may come to understand that to be better witnesses to the Gospel in this world, we need to value it more, always discovering it through our creative way of interacting with nature. It would be worthwhile to strive to know it better, to create space for every living being to coexist with us, to be in this space, neither as a stranger, indifferent, nor as the master chief to give orders to all, but rather as a member with equal dignity, right, and duty like all of the rest, without being afraid of losing either our identity or our status.
Finally, as I conclude this reflection, I remember a beautiful and inspiring song that we used to sing in the church in the early 80´s in Haiti, during the dictatorship. This song may summarize all that we aim to say about evangelization in today's world.
Ref.
There is only one Gospel.
But there are many ways to announce it.
I feel the wind of the Holy Spirit blows.
Let´s change the way we are giving the Word.
I
The church is looking for a way
to match its message with the times.
A new message for an all-moving world.
II
We should not change the Message
to give ours, but we have to change
the way we are announcing it.
May this brief reflection help us think about how we are evangelizing.
To all, Peace at last!
