A friend, Allen Wright, wrote a book: Silent Witnesses in the Gospels. He described how certain individuals appear in the Jesus story and play their part without any fanfare. Take, for example, the landlord who provided the space for the Last Supper. Jesus said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, in your house I shall celebrate the Passover.'” Contrast the generosity of this man with the betrayal, denial and abandonment which was how Jesus’ closest friends acted during the passion. Without him, there would have been no place to celebrate the first Eucharist! Most often in life we are “silent witnesses” to Jesus by acts of kindness, generosity and forgiveness that go unnoticed — except in God’s eyes.
