Witness

A witness is a person who testifies or gives evidence of an event or occurrence they know by personal presence or perception. In John's Gospel the first witness is another man named John, known as John the Baptizer. This John is a very important figure in the story of Jesus and in the history of first century Israel. He is the first person we encounter in John's story, and his role is to make much of Jesus, to be a witness of the light. His witness went into a world that had rejected the light of God, and a people who would eventually reject the light that came into the world. The good news of Jesus goes forth through the lips of people who have personally experienced Jesus, who have believed and been given a new life. The challenge this morning is to join John the Baptist as people who have personally tasted the goodness of Christ and now bear witness of the things we have experienced.