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“A Bout with Doubt”
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“A Bout with Doubt”
Text: John 20:19-31
April 15, 2007
Rev. Victoria Ney
Don’t you hate it when people label you because of something you did years ago?
I have a much beloved aunt—my Aunt Ellen. Back in 1954, Aunt Ellen gave my uncle wrong driving instructions when they visited my family at the seashore for the first time. With her direction of a “right turn” at a particular intersection, they ended up at the Atlantic City Rack Track and not at my grandmother’s house in Ventnor. My aunt celebrated her 90th birthday last September, but my family still seems to hoot about the fact that you can never trust Aunt Ellen with driving instructions.
And then there’s my younger son Stephen. When he was about 5 years old, he told a whopper of a story to his Sunday School teacher about his brother being sick with chicken pox and he had to stay with his grandparents. I can still remember his teacher coming over to me in church and telling me how sorry she was that Michael was sick.
Let me make this clear: No one was sick. No one was staying with grandparents! When we got to the bottom of the story, Stephen and I had a long talk (well, as long as you can with a five year old!) about telling the truth. But thereafter, up to the present day, our whole family has been known to comment how Stephen can make up “stories!”
One time blunder, slip-up, misstep and you have a label for a VERY long time!
It almost seems as though that’s what happened to the disciple Thomas. He has a bout with doubt, and he’s labeled “Doubting Thomas” for the rest of human history!
I feel sorry for the guy. Our tradition has singled him out somehow as having an inferior faith because he actually expressed his doubt in the resurrection. He made his reservations known out-loud, and, because of that, he has the dubious distinction of being the poster child for skepticism. But what seems even worse for Thomas is that most people know what a “Doubting Thomas” is, even is they have never heard this biblical story. His name is simply synonymous with doubt. That’s very unfair to Thomas. He was a very loyal disciple, and he was committed to Jesus.
It’s true there aren’t many stories about him in the gospels, but there is one story in particular, that speaks directly about his faithfulness and devotion. The story takes place near the end of Jesus’ ministry when Jesus heard that his friend Lazarus was sick in Bethany. As Jesus tells his friends that they need to go to Lazarus, some of the disciples protest and say, “Don’t go, Lord. People there want to kill you.” But Thomas speaks up and says, “Let us also go that we may die with him.” These are hardly the words of a chronic doubter!
Unfortunately, the disciples were right about authorities who wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified. The truth is that all the disciples were in a state of fear and doubt the night that first Easter when Jesus rose from the dead.
Our scripture passage today picks up the story on Easter night—the same day that Mary had first seen the rock rolled away and found Jesus’ body missing. If you remember Peter and John ran to the tomb and validated Mary’s story of the missing Jesus—not that Jesus had risen, but that Jesus was indeed missing. Soon after Peter and John left the tomb, Mary actually met Jesus in the garden face to face, touched him, spoke to him and then ran back to the others saying, “I have seen the Lord.”
I don’t think they believed her.
It would be like one of us going to a funeral this past Friday, seeing the body in the casket, and watching the burial with the family at the cemetery. Then, as you’re in Shop Rite this afternoon, someone tells you they saw the dead person alive and well! You wouldn’t believe it either! It’s preposterous! You wouldn’t just doubt the story; you would doubt the person’s sanity!
I think it’s entirely possible that the disciples doubted Mary Magdalene’s sanity. Sure, the body of Jesus was missing. But I don’t think they really believed that she had seen him and that he was alive. Our scripture passage this morning begins by saying the disciples were still gathered in the locked room. They weren’t celebrating. They weren’t partying. They were still hiding in fear, wrapped in sorrow.
That’s when Jesus appeared to them. He just showed up right in the middle of the room—locked doors and all. Scripture tells us that they were overjoyed to see Jesus.
Jesus says, “Shalom. Peace be with you.” Calming, familiar words. Yes, it’s really me. I’m really here. And this is what I want you to do—go out and tell others. “As the Father has sent me, so send I you.” Then Jesus breathes on them and gives them the Holy Spirit to help them.
There may have been a number of followers of Jesus in that room that night, but only ten of the disciples were present. We’re told that Thomas missed out on all of this wonderful excitement.
He wasn’t there. We don’t know where he was. Maybe he was the type of person who needed to work things out by himself when he was upset. Who knows? We just know that he missed seeing Jesus. And he missed getting the special set of instructions and the blessing of the Spirit.
When news reached Thomas of this appearance of Jesus to the others, he was not impressed. He comes across as a practical and pragmatic guy—not about to give in to hysterical devotion to lost causes. Thomas insists on reserving judgment until he can put his “finger in the mark of the nails.” (v. 25). Or maybe—just maybe—he’s been so hurt and disillusioned that he just can’t get his hopes up.
Virginia was 17 years old and pregnant when she went to live with her 15th set of foster parents. Her case file read like a textbook example of neglect, abuse, and bureaucratic failure. She sat silently in a chair, hands neatly clasped, staring into her lap. The new foster parents had three children of their own.
They had been told Virginia’s story and promised that this placement would just be “temporary.” (Of course, temporary was the story of Virginia’s life.) Finally, the foster mother said, “Are you frightened, Virginia?” “Kinda,” she replied without looking up. Then she added, “I’ve been in lots of homes.” The woman was trying to be sympathetic and reassuring when she said, “Let’s hope this time turns out for the best.” Virginia’s reply is one of those statements that sticks to your soul. Virginia didn’t even look up when she said in a flat tone, “Hurts too much to hope.”
Can you imagine? I think Thomas could.
Thomas needed to see Jesus with his own eyes. He just couldn’t get his hopes up again without proof.
That sounds like a lot of us. Don’t we feel as though we need some proof when we’re facing debilitating illness, when we struggle with family problems, when we’re caught in a financial crisis, when we’ve just been laid off from work, when our spiritual well has run dry, when we have no emotional strength, nothing left to give. Don’t we wonder if Jesus is real? Don’t we wonder if Jesus is really alive?
Thomas wanted physical proof that the Crucified Christ had become the Risen Lord. Nail prints—a gash in his side—some kind of forensic proof that what everyone was talking about wasn’t just a figment of their imaginations.
Fortunately for Thomas, Jesus is willing to provide the evidence Thomas demands.
One week later, this Sunday after Easter, Jesus appears to the disciples and says to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” (v. 27).
The visible proof of the resurrection is undeniable, and Thomas cries out his heartfelt, gut-wrenching confession, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28).
But the scene doesn’t end here with swelling music and closing credits. Jesus isn’t finished yet. He says, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (v. 29). Jesus wants Thomas and the other disciples (and us!) to know that believing doesn’t depend on seeing.
I won’t kid you—there is no empirical evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. And most of us do not have visions of God or Jesus, like the apostle Paul.
We 21st Century Christians have believed because of the eye-witness accounts of those first believers.
We 21st Century Christians can read about these scared, doubting men and women who saw the Lord, who received the Holy Spirit, and suddenly had the courage and strength to risk their lives—to lose their lives—because they need to tell the Good News. Christ is risen! God has conquered sin and death!
I don’t need to tell you that there is a leap of faith involved. And along the journey of faith, there’s bound to be a bout with doubt. It’s not wrong to doubt. Fred Buechner, a humorous Christian writer says, “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.”
Doubts make us question. Doubts cause us to investigate. Doubts make us willing to study. Doubts bring us into dialogue with the God who has been inviting us into loving conversation since the beginning of time.
This whole story is a testimony to the difficulty of faith—how hard it is to believe. Someone once said, when we walk into church, we don’t need to check our brains at the door! But faith takes work, because it puts us in uncomfortable places and begs us to ask tough questions.
Beyond our need for faith, I also think this story validates our need for God’s touch—a personal encounter. As I mentioned a moment ago, we all don’t get miraculous visions. Sometimes God comes to us in places where we sometimes least expect it, showing us that “possibility” has nothing to do with our being able to explain it.
But like Thomas, faith begins with an encounter.
Make no mistake, this is a story of doubt, but it is also a story of God’s ability to change that doubt into faith—not erase the doubt, but overcome it with an irresistible encounter with the impossible.
We are all like Thomas at some point. But Jesus can break through the locked doors of our doubting hearts and reveal himself to us. God knows our need for a first-hand encounter. That is why God came to us in the person of Jesus—took on flesh so that we could see him, hear him, touch him, and be touched by him. We have been given a vision of God and God’s sacrificial love in the person of Jesus.
One last thought on encounters with the Lord….. After the Lord breaks into our hearts, and we have declared “my Lord and my God,” God calls us out of our locked rooms into the world. We are called to be encounters with God for others.
I’m not suggesting that they just hear words of about faith from our lips. People need to see Jesus Christ alive in our hearts and lives. The ways we love each other, the ways we respond to those in need, the ways we are responsible with all God has entrusted to us will be visible evidence of Jesus’ presence in our lives and in the world. Others will come to faith, not by what we say, but by the way we live out God’s love.
Be a vision of Christ for someone today. Let them have a first-hand encounter with the living Christ in the way we open our hearts to them.
Will you pray with me?
Almighty God, God of the resurrection, we thank you for the new life you have given Jesus and all who follow him. Through the power of your Spirit, inspire us to make a leap of faith into your loving arms. May we believe the words of Scripture when they speak of your victory over death, and may we accept the promises you make for the future.
We praise you for your love, your joy and your wonderful living hope—hope that points us to a future that we cannot see, but through which we believe you will guide us. In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen. |
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