Doubt as the Door to Belief

Transcript

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[0:01] Our sermon text today comes from John chapter 20, 19 through 31. That Sunday evening, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them.

[0:23] Peace be with you, he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord. And again, he said, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. Then he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. One of the twelve disciples, Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, we have seen the Lord. But he replied, I won't believe this until I see the nail wounds in his hands. Put my fingers into them and place my hand into the wound in his side.

[1:19] Eight days later, the disciples were together again. And this time, Thomas was saved. He was with them. The doors were locked. But suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. Peace be with you, he said. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Do not be without faith any longer. Believe. My Lord and my God, Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me. The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing in him, you will have life by the power of his name. Let's pray.

[2:22] Our good and gracious God, we thank you for this word. We ask your blessing upon it now. Open our hearts. Open our minds. Help us to be aware of the presence of your spirit. And help us to hear the words that you would have for us today. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[2:50] I like what Joel said. That's a bad name. Doubting Thomas. It's not fair. Poor Thomas. I've been thinking about this all week. It isn't okay for us to, for 2,000 years, assign this nickname to the guy. The Bible doesn't call him Doubting Thomas. We do. And for what? Because he was brave enough to voice what everyone else was thinking, but no one else had the inner strength to actually say aloud. It has been two millennia. And our attitude and judgment toward him remains the same. But we don't seem to apply the same thing to ourselves.

[3:32] Why can't we call him brave enough to ask the questions we wouldn't, Thomas? Or wanting to be discerning until I come to my own conclusions, Thomas? And it needs work. The Doubting Thomas kind of rolls off the tongue more easily. But none of the other characters in this chapter get that nickname. And I, for one, would like to start calling Mary Magdalene, I told you so, Mary, because she's the one who really starts off the scene.

[4:05] But before Mary becomes I told you so, Mary, she has to go through her own phase of being Doubting Mary. Because Jesus had tried to explain to his followers that he'd be back, but no one could have possibly understood what he meant. So we give Mary some leeway. When she looks into the tomb and she laments because Jesus' body is not there, we understand her lament.

[4:35] And in her mind, it couldn't be that he's risen again. And so she runs to Peter and John and she says, they've taken my Lord's body out of the tomb, and we don't know where they've put him. She's Doubting Mary.

[4:51] Not for long, though. Because just a moment ago, just a few verses later, she had an incredible personal encounter with the risen Jesus. And she saw for herself, Jesus met her where she was, and he gave her a message to give to the others.

[5:08] Now here's a little side tangent. We're not going to spend a lot of time on this, but I grew up in a church where women were not meant to preach. And years later, this would be a mini crisis of faith for me when I, not my faith, but my understanding of women's place in scripture, which became a crisis of faith.

[5:31] And years later, I would work through this, these passages in the Bible with a very dear mentor who happened to be a woman and a pastor. Mary was the first one entrusted with the news of Jesus' resurrection. She had gone through her own personal time of spiritual growth, that started with doubt and fear, and progressed through her personal interaction with Christ. And then she was given the Christ-ordained mission to tell the others. So God gave a woman the authority to proclaim the gospel to others before appearing to the men. So like I said, that's just a little tangent, but I think an important one.

[6:20] Now, who was she meant to proclaim this news to? Verse 17 seems to translate this as the word brothers. And it happens in many translations, not just one or two, but a lot of translation, translations translate it to the word just brothers. But she was told to proclaim this news to his Adelphoi, which is the word used for brothers, but also when there are both two brothers, and there are two genders there, it's brothers and sisters. So if both are available in a group, then it's addressed to both brothers and sisters. It's the same word used to include them. So Jesus is brothers and sisters. Mary's audience is not just limited to males. She's to proclaim the news to all the followers of Jesus, who are now his brothers and sisters. He did not say to my disciples, to my students, to my friends. He said to my brothers and sisters.

[7:27] And what is she meant to tell them exactly? Well, she's meant to tell them first that Jesus has risen, but also the result of this rising, of this resurrection, which is that Jesus's brothers and sisters are now children of God. Listen to verse 17.

[7:50] Don't cling to me, Jesus said, for I haven't yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and sisters, and tell them I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. And this has been a theme in John, that the ones who hear the gospel and have faith are now children of God, sharing the same parent as Jesus. We see this in John, starting in John 1, verses 12 and 13. But to all who believed in him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn, not with a physical birth, resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So that's a pretty hefty commissioning that Jesus gave Mary.

[8:43] So we saw her start from doubting Mary and scared Mary, to professing the resurrection Mary, as she immediately goes to tell the brothers and sisters, I have seen the Lord. Now, what do Jesus' brothers and sisters do with this news that Mary gave them? It appears they didn't do much with it at all, because the very next line says that they were meeting behind locked doors, because they were afraid.

[9:17] Doubting decidedly, and Jesus told his disciples. But we don't give them that name. They heard the good news, but they had doubts. They took what they knew of the world and the situation, and they applied it to what Mary had told them. And they doubted that they were going to be okay. They had heard that Jesus was back. But as far as they were concerned, there's nothing but an empty cave. And it's not nearly enough to calm their fears.

[9:46] so Jesus seeks out these doubting disciples and he meets them where they were just offering them peace in place of fear he shows them his hands and his side and they know it's Jesus and does this sound familiar because later Thomas will demand to see the same things that they saw after they come to terms with the fact that Jesus is among them he restates his offer of peace and he commissions them just as he had done with Mary Magdalene earlier she doubted she saw she was commissioned the disciples heard they doubted they saw they were commissioned so there was a transformation with both groups they went from doubting to being met where they were and they were not doubted they were commissioned they were commissioned were by Jesus to believing, to joining him on his mission for the gospel.

[10:47] Jesus never sends us without equipping us for it spiritually, and that's both literal and figurative. He blew over them with the holy pneuma, which means spirit or breath, and then he equipped them with the words of power over spiritual discernment. And I can't reiterate enough how Jesus was meeting both Mary Magdalene and the group of disciples every step of the way. He didn't make them come to him in their disbelief. He came to them. They doubt he met them where they were. They believed he gave them the words of peace and affirmation, and then they were made ready by him to receive their commission. And then he sent them to continue spreading the word of gospel and doing his good work.

[11:43] But Thomas, well, Thomas wasn't there. And so why is Thomas called Doubting Thomas? Let's look over what we know about him. Thomas made his gospel debut in John 11, 16. Jesus was already in a precarious position with the Pharisees and the leaders of the church. He was the king of the law at that point. And Jesus was very set on going to Judea to raise Lazarus.

[12:15] He could get himself killed by marching right into that danger zone. And the disciples were absolutely set against him going. But Thomas made his debut in the gospel when he says in this forthright, resigned, if brave statement, let's also go.

[12:38] That way we may die with him. So not doubting Thomas, but incredibly faithful Thomas. He's ready to die alongside the Messiah when he could far easier make the decision to stay, to leave Jesus's teaching or continue to try and talk Jesus out of it like the other disciples.

[13:01] And then Thomas appears again next in 14, 1. When Jesus says, talking about his impending death and ascension to heaven. It's really unlikely that the other disciples have any clue what he's talking about. And if you go back and read chapter 14, you'd definitely get that feeling that they were not sure what was going on at all.

[13:23] But they remained silent. And we actually talked about Thomas at youth group this Friday in this situation. And what we discussed was toddlers and preschoolers. They ask a million questions. They question absolutely everything. They ask questions that most people would never even contemplate. And they aren't afraid or embarrassed to do it.

[13:50] But somewhere along the line, we're expected by society to just know things. And so we stop asking our questions out loud. And we may still have questions, but we're afraid of asking. We don't want to be. We don't want to be seen as the person who doesn't know, or we don't want to be seen questioning authority. And as Christians, we don't want to ask questions of God because we don't want to seem like a doubting Thomas.

[14:20] And so we shrink back and try to take things at face value, even when we think these things might confuse us or be growing the seeds of disbelief or confusion or faithfulness, faithlessness within us. But not. We don't want to ask questions that are not Thomas. Because he speaks up and he says, well, actually, I have no idea what you're talking about. And Thomas is a straight shooter and he's a practical guy. And he may not have much imagination or sense of mystery, but he does have an inquiring mind. And so Thomas asks the tough questions that others may be scared or embarrassed to ask. He's a no-nonsense guy. And honestly, I don't know. I can appreciate that.

[15:07] So maybe we shouldn't be so surprised at what happens in our passage today. Thomas stays in character. So the other disciples are all excited and fiery and fueled by their personal encounters with Jesus. And they go and they tell Thomas what they know. And guess what? Thomas acts exactly as they acted when they heard the news from Mary Magdalene. He needs his own encounter with Jesus. Just as the disciples needed their encounter with Jesus and just as Mary before them needed her encounter with Jesus. But Thomas is a little more forthcoming with his disbelief. He actually says it aloud. And more than that, his statement is forceful and emphatic.

[15:59] The verb that's used is a powerful one. It's not just that he won't believe it until he sees it. It's that he absolutely, positively will not believe until he sees it. Until he feels it. Until something powerful and unprecedented happens directly to him to drastically change his mind. He wants proof. He has doubts and he wants critical evidence. And don't we do the same thing? Don't we demand to know before we make a decision? And we gather evidence? And don't we ask informed questions? It's called being sensible, not being doubting.

[16:44] Don't we make investigations into life decisions? Are we labeled as doubting Victoria or doubting Foothill? No, because it's okay to ask the hard questions in life and in faith. In fact, Jesus invites us to do that. And then he meets us where we are. And then he meets us where we are. And then he meets us where we are. And Jesus met Thomas where he was, just as he met the disciples and Mary before them. So eight days after Thomas makes his pronouncement, his wish comes true. And then some. Jesus appears and speaks directly to Thomas. Scripture doesn't tell us that Thomas ever touched the wounds. But Jesus speaks directly to Thomas. And scripture doesn't tell us his reaction. Sorry, scripture does tell us his reaction. And it's a breathtaking proclamation. It's more than the disciples who just were joyful. And Mary Magdalene was joyful. But Thomas says, my Lord and my God. All that's left of this encounter is pure praise for Jesus and an acknowledgement that he himself is God. So Thomas' faith had grown. As all of this happened. Their faith had grown.

[18:07] And then you know what Jesus says. He says to Thomas, have you believed because you've seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. And that, of course, includes at least the reader of John's gospel, including you and me and all the believers today.

[18:31] But that doesn't mean we can't ask questions. But that doesn't mean we can't ask questions. Even the hard questions and even the questions that seem obvious to everyone else. I didn't believe in Jesus the first time I heard the gospel. I very sincerely doubted that Jesus could love me.

[18:50] If he knew me, I was certain he wouldn't love me. And I doubted a lot of things. I had to ask questions. I had to have a personal encounter. And it wasn't a one-time thing. I continued to grow in faith because I continued to bring my questions and doubts before Jesus.

[19:10] And when I do that, Jesus meets me. Every single time. He meets me in my place of doubt, in my place of fear, in my place of disbelief. He meets me exactly where I need to be met. And I just need to be brave enough to bring my questions before him. And my faith grows stronger every time.

[19:33] So I'm going to read a passage from John. So I want to pick back on that tangent from earlier that women can't preach. I firmly believed that. When I first started feeling the call and prompting to go into ministry, I was filled with doubt. And I even had lingering reservations that Christ could love me as much as others simply because I was female. Though those feelings were less developed and they were buried deep down, it's one of the many times I wrestled with scripture. And I cried out in confused prayer. And I asked people to pray with me and over me and study the Bible with me. Though that conflict of faith through that, God gave me greater understanding of the Bible and of his world around me and even of myself and my relationship with him. And his calling in my life became more clear and alive. And he never fails to meet us where we are when we call on him. And then just as with Mary Magdalene and with the disciples and even with Thomas, we're called to the next step, which is proclaiming the gospel to the next doubtful person and to the doubtful world beyond.

[20:48] So in the end, it's not Thomas's doubting or demanding that matters. It's his believing. Because everyone doubts. Not everyone believes. But it's not just me. But our call is to be a believing Thomas. To push as hard as we need until we are awestruck and moved to proclaim with him, my Lord and my God, and to join him in his calling in the world. Let's pray.

[21:22] Our Lord and our God, would you help us to be in awe of you every minute of every day? Would you help us to care for you? To cast our doubts and fears upon you. To encounter you as you are waiting just next to us. To share that encounter with us.

[21:45] God, would you help us to go from doubting to belief. To help us to fill your mission in this world. To make our faith. To make our faith. To make our faith. To make our faith.