From Bystanders to Witnesses:
John 20:19-31
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews:
The disciples had been through a long couple of days. They had gone from being Jesus’ core community to being helpless bystanders in the violent arrest, “trial”, and crucifixion of their beloved friend. The role of bystander doesn’t end with Jesus’ death on the cross. These once energetic, committed, passionate friends are now huddled in a closed room: sealed off from the world… as they believed Jesus was sealed in a tomb… Here we see the early church paralyzed, fearful, flattened and overwhelmed. They can’t see beyond the mountain of the crisis that has crashed in around them. They are caught in a cycle of blaming themselves and each other.
We know what it is to be sidelined by life’s overwhelming events.
How quickly we despair, and add to our mountain of problems by blaming ourselves, by feeling guilty for our lack of ability to cope, and by insolating ourselves from the ones who love us most. How easy it is for us to feel like helpless, useless bystanders in the path of everything life throws at us…
In Barbara Coloroso’s wonderful new book: “the bully, the bullied and the bystander” she talks about the role of the bystander in the dynamics of bullying. Bullying includes not only physical aggression, but exclusion, name calling, racist, sexist or homophobic humiliation and the spreading of rumours and accusations about another person. Besides “bullies” and “the bullied ones” she names all the other players in the cycle of violence that erodes self esteem and leaves so many children and youth beaten and bruised physically, emotionally and spiritually.
As I read this amazing and helpful book, I couldn’t help but make the comparison between what happens in the playground and what happens with adults on the street, in the church and in the community. Bullying isn’t something children are born doing. They learn this behavior. They learn it by how they are raised not only by their parents but also by their community and by their faith community. Passivity isn’t something children are born doing either. It is something they also learn from parents, teachers and social organizations. They learn by watching their adults and how we react to what we observe in the world around us. The church has such power to transform and to challenge bullying by how we relate to one another. But too often, even in the church, voices fall silent in the face of the misuse of power only to voice their discontent later in a “safe” but powerless place.
The disciples huddle in a closed room. They are afraid of the bullies: afraid of the leaders of their own Jewish synagogue. They are afraid of being identified, accused and persecuted. They don’t know what to do next. They are bystanders, but not even bystanders who observe. They are bystanders who insolate themselves, hide themselves away, retreat into the safety of their four walls.
The dictionary defines “bystander as someone who is present but not taking part”
Today as we celebrate the baptisms of Megan and Chloe we must ask ourselves: is this what we want for our children? To be bystanders in life? To be present, but not take part? To be passive, unaccounted for, fearful, hidden?
Surely not! At Baptism, we proclaim a powerful, outrageous hope! A hope that our child will grow up knowing and trusting the power of the risen Christ: a confidence that stands firm in the face of evil and that will not allow evil to have the last word. We hope for them the ability not to avoid all evil (naïve), but to have the faith to face it with certainty that they are not alone, that God walks with them and that God is working through them even in heartbreak, even when they cannot see or feel any hope in the situation.
“Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.
Jesus breaks into the disciples’ self-sealed tomb of fear and despair and offers the disciples peace. Not tranquility you understand. That isn’t what Jesus means by peace. Eirene (aarenee): the greek word he uses for peace means: “unity” and “strength in community” and “mutual support”. Jesus shows himself to them, meets their need for belief and draws their attention from what they are lacking to what they have all around them. They have been given strength in their love for God and strength in their love for one another. They are commissioned to build one another up in faith; to have “zero tolerance” for bullying or for “self deprecation” within the faith community. They are to be in solidarity. “Peace” “strength”, “unity”, mutual support.
In this resurrection story, John tells us the good news and points the way for us. Jesus meets the unbelief of the disciples by showing himself to them. He offers them the peace of unity and solidarity in their belief and breaths upon them giving them the power to witness to the truth. These unlikely huddled bystanders are transformed into a powerful community of Witnesses; tellers of the truth that shatters fear and shatters the power of evil.
At baptism we witness to the power and possibility that Christ’s resurrection holds for us, for our children and for our world. At baptism we proclaim Jesus’ message of “peace”. The world’s ways no longer control us. The bullies have not won. They crucified Jesus, true… but God broke the power of death and continues to break open our sealed, insolated rooms and call us forth. It is a defiant, world-changing thing we do at baptism. It sets our children on a radical path. Here at this font we name them: “hopeful”, “compassionate”, “community builder” “courageous”, and “creative”. We name them as witnesses with us to the living Christ. We name them as God’s.
Our task does not end here however. For it is our responsibility to witness to our kids and to our community by our words and also by our actions. The risen Christ compells us to step out of the shadows, off the sidelines and to take our place as active, credible witnesses. The “peace” we proclaim is the peace of standing shoulder to shoulder with one another in our vulnerability. It holds the Church as a community always charged with encouraging one another, always striving to build one another up in faith despite the differences that so often threaten to drive us apart.
Christ calls us as witnesses who are courageous enough to challenge those who act as bullies on the school ground, at the office, in our home and above all in this our Christian community. We are to be witnesses who say: “no I won’t participate nor will I sit idle” and who stand compassionately with those who are bullied and who stand equally compassionately with the bullies (as Jesus so often did) saying: “I’ve decided to stop and how about if you stop too?”
We witness… not by what we say on Sunday morning, but by how we LIVE that faith, how it translates throughout our week, our parenting, our work life and in our faith community. Our children WILL notice:
As Followers of the Risen Christ, let us put away our role as inactive bystander and claim our place as witnesses to the power of resurrection. Peace be with you. Amen.
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