A Bout With the Doubts by William Nickles
John 20:19-20:31
I know we all have heard about Thomas. “Doubting Thomas;”
poor ole doubting Thomas. The guy has caught grief
for 2000 years and my guess is that he will catch grief for
the next 2000 years – or until the Lord returns. To be
honest, I feel for the guy. Our tradition has singled him
out 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 you know what is even worse for ole Thomas is
that most people know what a “Doubting Thomas” is even if
they have never heard this biblical story. His name is
simply synonymous with doubt. All you have to do is pick up
a Webster’s Dictionary and there it is. Actually, it is in
two places: under “d” for doubt and under “t” for Thomas.
According to Webster the definition for a “doubting
Thomas” is a habitually doubtful person. Habitually?!
Goodness, we don’t know a whole lot about Thomas, but the
only time – the only time – we see his doubtful side is in
this story. So, I think ’habitually’ might be overstating the
case just a little bit.
But in any case, we still are left with a man who appears to
have a crack in his wall of faith through which a little
doubt is oozing out. And can you really blame him? What he
is asked to accept is fantastic. And keep in mind he is
hearing about the resurrection second hand. The other disciples
had the advantage of seeing Jesus in person a
few days prior. So, for Thomas, not having had the encounter
with the risen Lord, this tale being spun by the
delirious disciples is a bit unbelievable. Even for us who
have the benefit of knowing the end of the story, this
seems unreal. I mean it is not every day that we hear about
folks rising from the dead. In fact, I think I would go
out on a limb and say that it is a fairly rare event.
So, Thomas, having heard the news that the disciples saw
Jesus alive, was understandable skeptical. Put yourself
in Thomas’ shoes for a minute. Just like Thomas, pretend
that you have never heard the story of Jesus’
resurrection. And one day, after having attended a funeral
for a friend, someone comes up to you and says
excitedly, “You’ll never guess who I saw at Winn Dixie
today. She looks great! Heck, to look at her, you’d never
guess that she died last week.”
Think how you would react to that. I think my first concern
would be for this person’s emotional well-being. My
second thought would be that whoever my friend saw must
obviously bear a striking resemblance to my deceased
friend. The idea that someone would be walking around after
having died the previous week is so far beyond the
realm of possibility that I wouldn’t even entertain the
thought of it. And my guess is that not many of you would
either. And yet, we somehow expect Thomas to accept this
news in a matter-of-fact way; like this was no
surprise at all.
Poor ole Thomas has the become the scapegoat for the church
which sometimes says that doubt is wrong; or that
it is somehow less than faithful to need a sign, or a touch,
or a vision, or a personal encounter. We get the
impression that we are not allowed to ask the hard questions
without being labeled a cynic, or a skeptic, or a
liberal. Since when are questions bad? Since when is it
wrong to admit that we don’t understand everything? Since
when is it wrong to ask God to clarify something? Read the
account of Job, or the Psalms. Both are filled with
uncertainties, complaints, and questions of God. Even Jesus
while hanging on the cross cried out to God, “Eli, Eli,
Lema Sebacchtini – My God, My God, why have you forsaken
me?” Thomas is just one in a long line of faithful
people who have raised their voices to ask the hard yet
faithful questions.
Folks, faith lies in conversation. I guess what I am saying
is that faith is really what prompts the conversation.
Faith is when we are willing to embrace the doubts, ask the
questions, and face the answers. Faith is believing in
something that is beyond our ability to comprehend it, but
it is not afraid to try.
I think this story is a testimony to the difficulty of faith
– how hard it is to believe. Faith takes work, because it
puts us in uncomfortable places and begs us to ask tough
questions. I also think this story validates our need for
God’s touch. It says that it is okay for us to ask questions
of God and… to wish for a personal encounter. There is
nothing cut-and-dried about the Christian faith. It cannot
be reduced to a set of rules, where everything fits,
where everything makes sense, where all we have to do is to
connect the dots. That is the kind of thing the
Pharisees tried to do. They tried to explain everything in a
formula; to make all of life so that it could be answered
by a set of rules. And if it didn’t fit within that set of
rules they rejected it as heresy or blasphemy. And
consequently, their hearts were closed to the renewing of
Christ simply because he didn’t meet the criteria. Their
unwillingness to look "outside the box" blinded
thems to the miracle of Jesus Christ who stood in their presence.
God comes in places where we sometimes least expect it,
showing us that “possibility” has nothing to do with our
being able to explain it. Sometimes our faith asks us to
look outside the box; to color outside the lines and to
believe some things that the rest of the world says are
ridiculous. Or... our faith may ask us to do things that the
rest of the world says are folly.
But, like Thomas, faith begins with an encounter. It has to
begin with an encounter, because without it we are
unable to believe. Without an encounter with God, the
resurrection seems as silly as seeing Elvis in the grocery
store buying peanuts. It is ridiculous. But an encounter
with the risen Christ changes all of that. Suddenly, the
absurd becomes a new reality, and rules which once governed
our believing - and our dis-believing - are blurred.
And even the lines between life and death, which once seemed
so absolute, are crossed.
Make no mistake about it 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. Faith is that crazy
thing that allows us to believe when everything else says,
“impossible.” This story is important because when we
can see the possible through our own cloudy, disbelieving
eyes, we suddenly can see an entire world of possibility
far beyond what skepticism would allow. God has overcome the
grave, and now God even overcomes those things
that lead to our death – things like disbelief, fear,
hatred, and narrowness.
And even though this is a story of doubt, it is the miracle
of faith that we are ultimately left with. Minds are
opened, hearts swell with the words, “My Lord and my God!”
All because of a personal touch and a vision of our
Lord. Without it, we just continue to wallow around in our
own doubt, or remain a hostage by the world’s rules
that cling to the impossibilities.
I began this sermon by sticking up for poor ole Thomas. And
I think his reputation needs a little polishing. He really
wasn’t such a bad guy. In fact, he was no different from the
other disciples; he was just a week late! The other
disciples also needed a personal encounter with the risen
Jesus JUST AS MUCH AS THOMAS DID. Read the story
again. I think you will see that all of them reacted with
fear and disbelief at first.
Faith and understanding began only after Jesus made himself
known personally to each of them. And isn’t it
exactly the same for us. We remain solidly in our own
skepticism until the Lord breaks through the locked doors of
our hearts. The miraculous news in all of this is that God
searches and finds us even when we don’t want to be
found. Even when we lock ourselves away from the world; even
when we try to keep out the good news, Jesus
breaks through that door.
The stone door that barred the tomb couldn’t restrain him.
He had conquered death and he was going to make it
known to his friends and to the world. And no flimsy wooden
door could stop him from coming into the disciples’
room. And when they saw him they rejoiced. They cried out in
faith. And for the rest of us as well, the Lord
appears breathing his Spirit into our hearts literally
blowing away that mountain of doubt.
We all need a personal encounter with the Lord before we can
declare, “my Lord and my God.” A second-hand
Jesus just will never do. We need God to break into our
locked hearts and to give us that encounter.
I suppose what I am trying to say is that we have all been
doubting Thomas’ at some point in our lives. But it is
into our doubting and searching hearts where Jesus breaks in
and reveals 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, touch him, hear him, and be touched by him. And he died
for all of us -- died on a cross, raised up for all to
see. We have been given a vision of God’s sacrificial love
in the person of Jesus. And we are touched by God’s
Holy Spirit, who breaks through and breathes life into our
faithless and doubting hearts, causing us to cry like
Thomas, “my Lord and my God.”
The end of the text we read this morning declares, “these
things are written so that you may come to believe that
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through
believing you may have life in his name.” After the Lord
breaks into our hearts and we have declared “my Lord and my
God,” there is a life that proceeds from that point.
God calls us out of our locked rooms into the world. When we
declare our faith we can no longer sequester
ourselves in the safety of silence and detachment. We are
called to show our faith for the sake of others. So,
when others hear our testimony, may they not simply hear
words, but may they 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. Others will
come to faith, not by what we say, but by the way we live
God’s love. Be a vision of Christ for someone today.
Let’s help someone have a first-hand encounter with the
living Christ in the way we open our hearts to others.
Amen.
