NOTES for Rom 12:15

Every Christian knows that his work is witness, witness to Christ and to the Kingdom that Christ brought into the world. And the more actively he bears witness, the more people around him will be saved. But what is witness? Usually by witness we mean words and actions that can let those around us understand what the Kingdom is and what kind of life its inhabitants live. But what about the people to whom we are bearing witness? Is the Kingdom what they are thinking about?

The question may seem strange, since every Christian knows that it is precisely in the Kingdom that all difficulties are overcome and all problems are resolved. No religion, of course, will help here, but participation in the fullness of the Kingdom can help. It is no accident that healings become one of the main witnesses to the power of the Kingdom during the time of the Savior's earthly ministry.

Of course, every healing turns out to be a witness. But why healings specifically? The simplest answer is that this is what people expected first of all. More than that, some of them, and perhaps most of them, at first expected from Jesus only healing once they had heard about Him, and only after receiving what they wanted did they begin to think about something greater, though not all did and not always. But Jesus did not begrudge these people the Kingdom, its power, or its life. He understood that until a person is convinced that the problem that had poisoned his whole life up to that point can be resolved, he will not believe in any Kingdom as a reality and will not accept it as reality.

And the apostle, as can be seen, understands this very well too. Witness to the Kingdom, however paradoxical it may sound, must begin not with abstract words about the Kingdom, and not even with one's own experience of life in it, but with the person to whom one has to bear witness, with his life, with his problems. But not, of course, in order simply to talk about what hurts and tear the wounds open even more, but in order to testify to him about the possibility of resolving his problems and changing his life if he decides to take a step after Christ. Not in order to become an adherent of some religion new to him, which most likely will not help him at all, but in order to become an inhabitant of His Kingdom, where problems, of course, do not disappear by themselves as if by magic, but where they can find their resolution.