Jesus Inspired Witness

What Did Jesus Do?

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light,
that all might believe through him.
John 1.7

Have you ever heard this quote, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary”? It is popularly attributed to St. Francis, but its true origin is unknown. My hunch? I believe it may well have been a command given to John the Baptist, and I think I have some scriptural evidence to support my proposition.

Do you remember the passage in Luke 1.39-45, when Mary went and paid a visit to her cousin Elizabeth, who, quite unexpectedly after many years of barrenness, was with child? You see, the ministry of John the Baptist, his witnessing, began that day, even though he was yet in Elizabeth's womb. Sounds kind of crazy, doesn't it? But, through the inspired leaping about of John within her, Elizabeth received and responded to the Gospel! For, with nary a word spoken, Elizabeth knew that she was being visited by “the mother of my Lord.” (Luke 1.43)

John would of course go on to convince many Jews through his preaching that their long awaited Messiah had come, that the Lamb of God had come to take away the sins of the world. But the very first person to believe because of John's witness was his own mother. And, again, not a word was necessary for John's witness to make a believer out of Elizabeth.

What inspired John's prenatal witnessing? The Light. We know that babies in utero respond to all kinds of external stimuli, and studies have suggested that light is one of them. Well, there is light, and then there is the Light. How immeasurably more stimulating, more inspiring is the Light than any other light. I admit that I now step beyond the bounds of the actual biblical record, but I can imagine John, in the darkness of Elizabeth's womb, suddenly being in a suffusion of the divine Light of Christ. No wonder John leaped about inside his mother! And, in an instant, the whole of the Gospel was revealed to Elizabeth. Yet unborn, Jesus inspired powerful and convincing witness. Later, the Lord would both inspire and command witness,

“...and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1.8

And he inspires witness still. What might be the effect of our witnessing to the Light in 2011? How many may come to believe in Jesus because of the testimony we give to the Light? Certainly, we don't need to fret about what we need to say, we have seen from the example of John that it is not necessary to say anything to convince another to believe. What matters is that we respond to the Light, that we, as another John (The Evangelist) said, walk continually in the light (1John 1.7). The Light, Jesus Christ, inspired the witness of John and of countless others who now surround us as a cloud (See Hebrews 12.1). Inspiring witness is what Jesus did, and it is what he does still. Let's light up the world with our witness, if necessary use words!

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4