FINDING IT HARD TO BELIEVE?

2nd Sunday of Easter—April 15, 2007

United Lutheran Church, Red Wing, Mn.

John 20:19-31

              “Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Last Sunday felt good to me, like the first Christians encountering the Risen Lord. To hear again, of the Risen Christ, to sing the powerful and familiar Easter hymns, and to celebrate the Lord’s Supper all contributed to that feeling.  The resurrection always seems more real to me on Easter Sunday.  But what happens to us, you or me, when we don’t “feel” that way or when we are not spiritually uplifted?  What happens when God doesn’t seem quite so real, when life has got us down in the dumps, when we don’t feel the joy, or when life strikes us with tragic events?

     It’s always amazes me that at the very heart of the Easter Gospel when the mightiest act of God has occurred, when Jesus has been raised from the dead by the power of God, when the trumpets of Easter have exploded in celebration and this amazing experience of doubt takes place.  On that grand occasion of the first Easter morning you might have expected the disciples to have been filled with awe and adoration. But the Bible tells us that on that first Easter morning there was doubt! The Bible cites several examples of that very human experience.  1./ Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and was told by a messenger that Jesus wasn’t there.  Suddenly Jesus appears and says her name.  She runs to tell the other disciples.  What was there reaction?  Oh, she’s just excitable Mary, emotional Mary.  Doubt lingers in their minds.  2./ Later they’re huddled together trying to figure out just what has taken place in Jesus life and their lives, but Jesus appears to them.  Did they fall down and worship Him?  Did they say, “See, I knew he’s be back!” But, NO!  They are startled and afraid and think they have seen a ghost.  “Why are you having all these doubts?”  3./ Thomas wasn’t there at his first appearance.  “You should have been here, Thomas.  You missed it! Jesus came back!”  His reaction…”I don’t believe it and until I place my hand in his side and in the nail prints in his hands, I won’t believe it!”  He stood alone in expressing his doubt.   Here again are the doubts of the Easter Jesus.  4./ At the last appearance of Jesus, on the Mt. of Ascension, Jesus was ready to leave his earthly existence. He was about to tell his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations”.  It was a moment of goodbye and a last hurrah.  And the Gospel of Matthew says, “When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.”  Same song, second verse!

    Thomas has most often taken a bad rap.  He didn’t believe just to believe.  He thinks, ponders, questions, and doubts.  You know the expression, “Inquiring minds want to know!” There are two moments in the Gospel of John where we meet Thomas.  The first is in the 14th Chapter when Jesus has been teaching the disciples and saying that he is going to prepare a place for them, a mansion with many rooms.  Jesus has just said…”and you know the way.”  But Thomas says, “Jesus, we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?”  None of the other disciples seem to express that kind of curiosity.  But Thomas did!

    The second encounter with Thomas is in today’s Gospel when 10 seem to express wonder and amazement that Jesus has come to reveal himself to them, but Thomas doesn’t go along with the group.  I’m thinking Thomas probably wouldn’t rattle off the Creeds without questioning some of what we confess.  But then, perhaps in the human experience we are more like Thomas than we openly admit.  We have doubts and questions about the existence of God, Jesus’ identity, and the Christian faith.  Unfortunately, we yoke negative connotations to such questioning.  We ought to come to the realization that we are in good company when we dare to ask and articulate our questions in matters of faith.

    Various writers have confirmed for me that to question holds the potential of deepening faith.   People like: Douglas John Hall in his book, THINKING THE FAITH, when he writes, “THE LINE BETWEEN FAITH AND DOUBT IS ALMOST VISIBLE!”  Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith as some would have us believe but rather an integral part of our faith journey.   Down through the ages most Christians have walked that line between faith and doubt.   C.S. Lewis, whose works include; MERE CHRISTIANITY, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, SURPRISED BY JOY, and SCREWTAPE LETTERS, just to name a few, was one of the most prolific writers who openly addressed that almost visible line.  He was a skeptic who in most of his writings helped the struggling Christian through doubt to a stronger faith.   Another writer is Annie Dillard in AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD who describes her teenage struggles with faith, articulating so simply and profoundly, this line of doubt/faith.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED by Scott Peck includes this statement; “TO BE VITAL, OUR RELIGION MUST BE A WHOLLY PERSONAL ONE, FORGED ENTIRELY THROUGH THE FIRE OF OUR OWN QUESTIONS AND DOUBTING IN THE CRUCIBLE OF OUR OWN EXPERIENCE OF REALITY.”

     Henri Nouwen, who has been a “mentor” in my own spiritual journey says that when John identifies Thomas as a Twin, it may well mean that we, all of us, are “two people”, a doubting one and a believing one.  I believe that Thomas is a witness with whom we can relate.  There are times when we feel at a distance from God, at times we don’t sense the presence of God to be real, nor own the love of God as being for us.  We move from moments of being lifted and swept along by the sheer joy and grandeur of the message that Jesus is risen from the dead to the struggling times of questioning of whether His words are not only true, but if they are true are they true for me.  If it is for me, what do I do with that word, that news and how does it change me or transform me into one who lives  with that truth?   Can I see it working within me and around me in my family, my church, and my community?

     There are three thoughts I offer this morning.  The first is this: I believe all Christians have doubts, questions, and moments of being skeptical.  I believe we are “wired” that way.  To ask the questions, to inquire, to think, to sort out, to experience doubt are all part of what it means to be people of faith.  Sometimes in life we have many more questions than we do answers.  For me, it’s woven into the fiber of my being.  Henry Drummond once wrote some of the differences between a doubter and an unbeliever.  He wrote that a doubter is a person who searches for God and the godly life.  This is a person on a journey, a quest, a search to find God and to discover the love of God.  An unbeliever isn’t searching for God so much as for situations in life that bring happiness.  The doubter, wrote Drummand, is a person with a “thousand questions” about life, love, purpose, and more.  But the unbeliever isn’t questioning about God, but may be apathetic regarding God.  The doubter struggles with God to live a godly life, struggles to find the purpose of life but not so the unbeliever who struggles to pay the bills, find a spouse, find a job, and find a house.  Too “black and white” perhaps, but there is a difference, writes Drummond, between the honest and questioning doubter and one who has put aside the God question.

     The second thing I need to say is this; doubt, questions, even skepticism often leads to a deeper faith and a larger faith.   Can you think of persons who in wrestling with their doubts have gone on to a deeper understanding of life?  I’ve read that Copernicus who doubted that the earth was the center of the universe---living in a time when Christians said this was the case.  His doubting of the faith he had been taught, led him to a deeper understanding of the world and of the faith.   A person like Columbus had been taught to believe the world was flat by persons who taught it like a Biblical truth.  Sail too far and you fall over the edge of the earth.  He doubted it and it led to a deeper faith and greater adventures.

    It’s important for us to grow beyond our Sunday School theologies of faith.  Our child-like faith in Christ is still vital but moving beyond what can be a very wooden literalism and thought pattern of God that has not stretched and grown as we’ve matured. It may not serve us well as adults.  Our faith needs to be forged and revitalized in the crucible of life.  Doubts, questions, life experiences can all deepen us as faith matures.  The most difficult times of life have the potential to do that.

    The third thought is this: I believe that it wasn’t an accident that Thomas came to believe in the resurrection of Christ when he was IN the company of the rest of the disciples.  I find this a consoling and significant thought.  For in times of doubt or unbelief, the community can carry you along, so to speak, it can offer on our behalf what we ourselves overlook, and it can be the context in which we may recognize the Lord once again.  It seems to be no accident that Thomas’ doubts were initiated because he was not present with the other disciples and sharing in their fellowship at such a critical moment.

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer in LIFE TOGETHER, writes these words; “IT IS IN TIMES OF FRAILTY AND VUL-NERABILITY IN FAITH THAT WE MOST NEED TO BE IN THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH, FOR WHEN MY FAITH IS WEAK I RELY ON THE STRENGTH OF MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE FAITH; AND WHEN THEY ARE EXPERIENCING SIMILAR STRUGGLES, THEY COME TO RELY UPON MY PRESENCE AND MY FAITH.”

    I wonder if this is the evidence of John’s telling of this Gospel story and is a skillful way of reminding his readers of the importance of the fellowship of believers, even the importance of worshipping together each week. In the midst of our Sunday worship, we become more aware of the presence of the Risen Christ than we do the rest of the week.  This isn’t to say that we don’t experience Christ’s presence at work, at school, at play, at home. Rather to suggest that in worship, more than at any other time, we are most likely to be reminded that Christ is risen and in our midst.  It just might be that nothing more glamorous than our time of worship is the very place where most of us who doubt, can rediscover a faith of our own and proclaim like Thomas, “MY LORD AND MY GOD!”

     Barbara Brown Taylor writes to a friend who is struggling with The Apostles’ Creed and is telling her that it’s important to think of the creed not in the singular but in the plural.  When the congregation stands to confess what they believe, she writes: “I COUNT ON OTHERS TO BELIEVE WHAT I CANNOT BELIEVE…RIGHT NOW.  WHEN MY FAITH LIMPS, I LEAN ON THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH, LETTING ‘OUR’ FAITH SUFFICE UNTIL ‘MINE’ RETURNS…MY DECISION TO SAY THE CREED AT ALL IS A DECISION TO TRUST THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE ME.”

     I said there were three thoughts but I’d offer a fourth.  There is a time in all of our lives when God just might say to us, “IT’S TIME TO STOP YOUR DOUBTING.  IT’S TIME TO MOVE PAST YOUR DOUBTING. IT’S TIME TO BELIEVE AND EXPERIENCE THE POWER OF BELIEF.”  In the Book of Job,  for 38 chapters Job goes on doubting, complaining, and questioning God and God finally got tired of hearing Job’s complaints and whining.  And he said(in essence), “BE QUIET JOB!  I’M TIRED OF YOUR WAILING AND YOUR DOUBTING!  BE QUIET AND BELIEVE!”  There’s a power to believe as Jesus wants us to believe.  A power to believing that isn’t weighed down and slowed down by doubts and questions.  There’s a power in a life that believes in Christ, loves Christ, and walks in Christ.

     Yes, there’s an element of uncertainty in all our faith.  Uncertainty is often accepted.  When it comes to Jesus, faith leads to sight.  Believing is seeing as much as seeing is believing! And when in the Gospel it says that Jesus “breathed on them”, it was the Spirit that entered them and he gave them new life.  Like being resuscitated! When the lilies have wilted and the overflow crowds have left, this is the day to practice the presence we cannot see, but must simply trust. Trust that what God has promised, God has done.  Raised Jesus Christ from the dead, given to us God’s Holy Spirit, and called us to follow in faith.

    Frederick Buechner wrote in  WHISTLING IN THE DARK, “BELIEVING IN GOD IS A JOURNEY, A RELATIONSHIP.  IT DOESN’T LEAVE YOU COLD LIKE BELIEVING THE WORLD IS ROUND.  IT STIRS YOUR BLOOD LIKE THE WORLD IS A MIRACLE.  IT AFFECT WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO WITH YOU LIFE LIKE BELIEVING YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE OR NOBODY LOVES YOU.  WE BELIEVE IN GOD WHEN FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER WE CHOOSE TO DO SO.  WE BELIEVE IN GOD WHEN WE RUN INTO GOD IN A WAY THAT BY AND LARGE LEAVES YOU NO CHOICE BUT TO DO SO.

As the writer of John has reminded us, “These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.   Amen

                                                                                    Pastor Clark