After the Resurrection the disciples are reminded that they “are to be witnesses.” In English we use the word witness most often in a legal sense. A witness takes an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I am reminded of a scene in the play A Man for all Seasons. Thomas More explains to his daughter “when a man takes an oath he’s holding his own self in his own hands like water, and if he opens his fingers then, he needn’t hope to find himself again.” Being a witness then, is a matter of utmost importance, of life and death … as we can see in the fact that the Greek word we translate as witness is martyr.
