As a child of a revivalist-centered denomination, I didn’t know about one of the more interesting extra-biblical women the historic Christian traditions offer until I was in my 20s. And even then, I dismissed her presence as sentimentality. I couldn’t imagine why this narrative exists. Now, I think I am beginning to understand.
Beronike (Veronica), who took her scarf and wiped Jesus’ face, is a witness bearer.
She, like the other women, bore witness to the brutality with compassion and, dare I say, anger. She walked enfolded in a mob’s surge of sweat and spit. She saw the exhaustion, the fear, and the blood. She acted. Darting into the way of an execution procession, she looked Jesus in the eyes. She wiped his face.
Witnessing require proximity. It requires getting blood spatter on your clothes; it requires absorbing the taunts of the powerful; it requires enduring the hands of the mob; and it requires sharing the evidence of what is experienced.
Veronica was needed in the early church like she is needed now. She is a reminder that witnesses aren’t doing nothing. Witnesses are sharing the burden of pain and telling the victim’s story.
Witnesses. Thank God for the witnesses.
Image: The Modern Saints