Witnesses for Christ

A Christian author named Tony had been visiting a city for the first time and planned to drive home after attending the Sunday morning worship service of a local church. At one point in the service a man prayed aloud for a friend. “Dear Lord, you know Charlie Stoltzfus. He lives in that silver trailer down the road a mile. He’s leaving his wife and kids this afternoon, so please do something to keep that family together.” The man said again, “That’s Charlie Stoltzfus, who lives in the silver trailer just a mile down the road.” Tony was annoyed, thinking to himself, “Mister, don’t you believe God already knows who you’re talking about? Do you really think the Lord is saying, ‘What’s that address again’?” After the worship service, Tony was starting the drive home when he saw a hitchhiker, so he picked him up. “Hi, my name’s Tony,” he said, and the man answered, “Hi, I’m Charlie Stoltzfus.” Tony was dumbfounded—it was the man for whom the prayer had been offered. Suddenly knowing what the Lord wanted him to do, Tony turned around, drove past the church, and kept on going for another mile. The hitchhiker said, “Hey, where are you taking me?” “Home,” Tony responded, and drove him right to his trailer, saying, “This is where the Lord wants you to be—with your wife and kids.” Charlie was stunned; he silently got out and went inside. That afternoon he and his wife had a serious and honest talk, and both ended up surrendering their lives into the hands of the Lord Jesus (William J. Bausch, Storytelling the Word, p. 148).

There was a time when our society honored marriage, discouraged divorce, and supported the Church’s efforts to help husbands and wives remain faithful to their wedding vows—but unfortunately, that time is past. Married couples often seem to be swimming against the tide; they’re under a lot of pressure these days, facing worries, temptations, and stress their parents and grandparents never experienced or even imagined. Sometimes the Lord wants us to lend a helping hand to a married couple we know. We may not feel we have a lot to offer in this regard—but God is able to multiply our simple favors and expressions of support, and this can truly make all the difference. 

Jesus had not planned on working a miracle at the wedding celebration in Cana, but He couldn’t say no to His Mother. He had grown up seeing firsthand the perfect marriage shared by Mary and Joseph, and thus He knew from experience that God wants to be present in the life of every married couple. Indeed, the Prophet Isaiah uses the image of such a relationship, saying, “as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you.” Mary may have had this passage in mind as she asked her Divine Son to save the newlyweds from embarrassment when it was discovered the wine had run out. We can’t work miracles on behalf of married couples, but there are certainly things we can do to support and encourage them. St. Paul list many different gifts given to believers by the Holy Spirit—and whatever our gifts are, the Lord wants us to use them for the benefit of the people around us.

In one of his many books author Jonathan Cahn, a Jewish convert to Christianity, talks about the wedding in Cana, saying, “The first recorded miracle of [the] Messiah was the changing of water into wine. But wine is only wine if it’s aged. But the wine of the miracle had no past to be aged [since it had been water just minutes before the guests began drinking it and praising its quality]. It had to, in a sense, be given a new past. If God can give a past where there was no past, then He can [also] remove a past where there was one” (The Book of Mysteries, p. 17). In other words, none of us can say, “I can’t do anything for the Lord because of my shameful past,” or “Because of my sins, I’m not worthy to serve God or His people.” When God forgives us—especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation—He doesn’t just release us from our sins; in His eyes, those sins cease to exist, and our past becomes holy and righteous in His sight. We are given a fresh start—and the Lord asks us to use this undeserved opportunity by letting Him work through us, as Tony did for Charlie. God wants to heal broken marriages, troubled relationships, unhappy childhoods, painful memories, and every other experience of hurt and sorrow and doubt—and many times He asks us to be His instruments of grace. If, when we try to do this in response to God’s call, someone challenges us, “Who do you think you are? I know all about you and your past—you’re not perfect; you’re a sinner!” our response should be, “Yes, I am a sinner—but a forgiven and redeemed sinner.”

It’s not only some of the people around us who need spiritual or emotional healing; our society needs to be healed, as well. There was a time when America respected and defended all human life—but that time is past. Ever since 1973 it’s been legal to kill children in their mothers’ wombs—and even though that infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision was finally overturned three years ago, each state can still choose to allow abortion and other assaults on human life, such as euthanasia. Michigan used to be strongly pro-life, but now it’s one of the worst states in this regard. This is a tragic part of our past—but if enough of us truly live out our faith and let God work through us by means of our words, deeds, and prayers, our past can be changed; our simple but sincere efforts and contributions on behalf of the pro-life movement can be multiplied by Jesus into something miraculous, just as He turned six large jars of water into the finest wine anyone at the wedding feast in Cana had ever tasted.

In 1977 the great actor George Burns played the title role in the movie “Oh, God!” The movie had some rather questionable theology, but it did make a very valid and important point. Near the end of the film God, in the person of George Burns, said, “I know these are difficult times in which to have faith—but maybe if you had the faith to start with, the times would change.” This message or reminder is just at timely and encouraging today as it was almost fifty years ago. Our simple efforts to bear witness to Jesus, our sincere willingness to help others whenever we can, and our humble but confident prayers, can indeed be multiplied by the Lord and be used by Him to help, inspire, and renew those around us, and perhaps even transform our society and our world—and if this happens, we will truly have reason to celebrate and rejoice.