2nd week in Easter, Thursday – 15th April 2021 — Gospel: John 3, 31-36
Doubly Strengthened to Witness
In the Gospel, Jesus continues His instruction to Nicodemus and emphasizes on “witness or testimony.” The Greek word “martureó” translated as “witness or testimony” is one of the key subjects in John’s Gospel as it is used forty-seven times. John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus (1,7; 5,33), but Jesus was also a witness to the truth. As Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about the relationship He has with His Father; He also gives witness to the love which God has for the people. Further Jesus also manifests that the Holy Spirit gives witness to the eternal life which is the gift for all those who believe. With these two, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as official witnesses, the great truth cannot be denied: God so loves the world that He sent His only Son so that all those who believe in Him might have eternal life. However, those who reject His witness are rejecting the Father (5,23) and will experience God’s wrath. Those who receive His witness and act on it know by personal experience that His witness is true (7,17). Therefore, when we receive His witness, we share in His love and His wealth. To reject Christ’s witness is to sin against love and light. There is an excited feeling that comes from knowing that when we give witness to the truth, we are not acting alone, but we are speaking in the name of Jesus and with the power of the Holy Spirit.
