In Jewish legal tradition one needed two or three witnesses
to sustain a claim. Jesus brings before his Jewish opponents His witnesses.
First His miracles testify to who He is. Secondly John the Baptist testifies to
who He is. Thirdly the words of the Bible (the first five books of Moses)
testify to Him.
The witnesses to God continue to be the same today. God
speaks to us through miracles and events which reveal the glory of God. God
speaks to us through ‘prophets’ - those who speak His word. And God speaks to
us through Sacred Scripture.
Jesus rebuked those who believed they possessed the truth
just by having the Bible, but did not believe in Him whom God was sending them.
God instructs us when we listen to what God’s servants teach us. But how do we
know whether or not they are His servants? Jesus says that those who love the
truth recognise those who speak the truth. We must love and pursue the truth
and not be swayed just by what others think: the passing fashions of thought.
One of the great dangers of the internet, of social media,
and of the blogosphere is that we can end up being swayed by passing fashions
of thought, and the truth gets lost amongst the terrabytes of opinions at our
fingertips. Nothing should be preferred to the living sources of our faith, the
real witnesses to the Truth. It is easy to spend much time surfing blogs for
opinion on the latest thing, but we should spend more time with God’s Word in
Scripture and immerse our minds on reliable witness statements. The most
accessible and comprehensive of sources the Church provides for us is the
Catechism of the Catholic Church – let us ask ourselves whether we make enough
use of this great gift to the Church, or do we prefer passing fashion and
opinion?
Fr Ian
