As a judge, I have heard thousands of witnesses. Most of them would fall under the category, “heard one, heard them all.” After all, only one of two things happens – either the witness is telling the truth or he is telling a lie. At once I would know, experience having given me a detector, and I suspect that I would not do poorly as a writer of fiction, whose characters are rounder than life’s.
Still a number of witnesses who came to my court stand out. In one of the first hearings I conducted, the witness collapsed, and everyone flurried inside the courtroom to revive him, squeezing his leg, giving him water. Normally, people dread staying in the witness box and answering the questions of the lawyer, which, at one time, became so truculent that the witness began to hyperventilate, compelling me to call for a timeout, fearing that he might die (indeed, he died — elsewhere, later). But on one occasion, possibly to hide his fright, a witness launched an offensive from the get-go, taunting the counsel cross-examining him not to delay and to ask him tough questions, which to my surprise unsettled the lawyer, and also to my amusement, since I secretly nurse an odd desire to see the proud attorneys get their comeuppance every now and then.
Synchronicity came into play one day when out of a sudden a man accused of murder admitted his guilt. Why did he wait for two years, for the prosecution to rest its case, to do it? Because now, instead of defending himself, he confessed to the murder. Later, someone told me that the day of hearing fell on the death anniversary of the victim, surely a coincidence that pushed him to decide in favor of the truth.
That man became a witness of the truth, never mind if at the same time he became a witness against himself. And because light makes one see, and so serves as another word for truth, he likewise became a witness of the light.
John the Evangelist describes John the Baptist in this manner, as a witness of the light — “A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
It seems that Christ – whom John the Evangelist calls the Word and the Light – stands in the dock, and that John the Baptist is testifying in his favor. Indeed, not only John the Baptist, but also the Samaritan woman, the crowds who had heard Jesus and had seen his works, the disciples, the Spirit, Jesus himself. The truth itself is facing trial.
A court of law must determine, not so much the guilt of those charged with various crimes – rape, murder, robbery, theft, human trafficking – as the reality of truth, without which justice cannot exist. And this, to be worth his salt, a judge must believe, as much as rely on the evidence.
Does that differ from John the Baptist’s belief – Jesus being the Light and God? A judge must proceed from both faith and reason, faith in the existence of the truth and reason in the attainment of the truth. And, as Thomas Aquinas said, both the light of reason and the light of faith come from God.
The God to whose mystery we testify by the complete submission of our finite minds. Perhaps, a witness, an unlettered farmer, who testified in my court one morning knew this, because, when asked to raise his hand in order to be sworn in, he raised both hands, as though in surrender.
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