Faith, Doubt, Belief

John 20:19-29

Fruit trees in blossom

Good morning Easter People! We come to worship the Lord Jesus lives forever and ever! We have come through the season of Lent the time of preparation and now we bask in the peace of Christ...

If only it were that simple right? If only our spiritual lives followed the church calendar we could predict when we would be joyful and we would know we we would be repentant. If our relationship with God followed the church calendar we could store up faith and spiritual nourishment in May to last us through the summer when we go on summer vacations and take a break from Sunday School.

If our faith followed the church calendar this would be a high point for every one of us. But the truth is not every one of us is spiritually strong this morning. The truth is that some of us are feeling very weak indeed. Some, like Thomas in the Gospel reading today came here today not believing, but came with great skepticism.

I know a person, and perhaps you know someone like this as well, who has no doubts about anything he says. This man that I know was once a neighbor to me. When we moved in to this particular place he was 14 years old and it didn't take him long to come over to both introduce himself and to also offer his babysitting services to us for our then 1 ½ year old son Alex. Matt was funny. He was sure of everything. He was sure that he was going to be rock star. He was sure that his dad was the smartest, strongest, wisest man alive. He informed us that his house was indeed bigger and better than ours not as a way of bragging but just as a matter of fact. Matt loved to ague. If you disagreed with Matt he would argue his point relentlessly even if the facts and the evidence were overwhelmingly against him. I admit that I found this trait of his annoying at first. Especially since he often visited us unannounced. But than I just came to accept that that is just who Matt is. Then I had a little sport with it. I would propose ludicrous arguments and stick to them just so he would have something to argue with me about. One time I just dropped the statement, “Did you know, Matt, that there are no pigs anywhere in the country of Mexico?”

Of course there are.

Have you ever seen one? I haven't.

Even though he knew that I was offering up a false argument he was still compelled to try to disprove my statement. But I wouldn't relent. That must have been infuriating to him that my only proof of my statement was that I or he had never seen a pig in Mexico. Never mind that at that time neither one of us had ever been to that country. He didn't seem to mind my teasing in fact he asked me a few years ago to officiate his wedding, which I gladly did.

But isn't that the same argument that Thomas is using? It cant be true because I haven't seen it. There are a lot of things in this world that I have not seen but I believe are true. For example I have never seen the Indian Ocean. I have seen pictures, but those cold be of any ocean right? I am pretty sure the Indian Ocean exists. I have not seen an atom. I have seen a model of an atom but I have never seen one with my own eyes. Just the same I believe they exist. How about something a little more difficult? Ghosts. Do you believe in ghosts? If you don't is it because you have never seen one? What about Angels?

Someone once said something to me that made me stop until I realized what he was really saying. He said “I don't believe in candles.”

What?

He doesn't believe in candles? Look I'll show you one right now. But that's not what he was saying. What I didn't hear was that he didn't believe that people should ever use candles. It seems that at some point in his past there was an accident, there was a fire and he suffered some sort of loss. So his solution was to never use candles again. This came up as we were doing some wedding planning and I asked him if he and his bride wanted to use a unit candle. If he had just said no we would have gone on from there and I would have never known about the tragedy and the hurt in his life.

That is the beauty of the gathered body of Christ. Not only do we go out and do the work of God. Not only do we partner with God in the redemption of the world. But we share in each others lives. We lift each other up. We bear one another's burdens.

We are afraid, disappointed, let down, agitated and we need assurance for tomorrow.

God is already there. We who have eternal life are there as well. The victory is already won.

The Gospel lesson today starts on Resurrection Sunday. The disciples of Jesus were gathered behind locked doors. They were afraid, disappointed, and let down. They felt no assurance. Everything they were hoping for was seemingly lost. Then Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

He showed them his hands and his side.

“Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me so I send you.”

What an amazing experience. Jesus the one they saw get arrested was there! The one whose beaten body they saw hanging on the cross was there offering them peace.

Everything was different now. Everything is not lost. There IS hope! There is GREAT hope!. But what do do next?

Then some time later in walks Thomas. Jesus was no longer there but they tell him. They tell him but he refuses to believe. To him it is a ludicrous statement. He too saw the body of Jesus taken down from the cross and put in the tomb. A far more ludicrous statement than “there are no pigs in Mexico” or “I don't believe in candles.” He must have thought they have gone mad. I imagine that their statements were infuriating to Thomas.

Perhaps our truth claims about Jesus are still infuriating to those who have not yet experienced the Risen Christ.

Some will walk away from the peace of Christ because they see no proof. Some walk away or stay away from the Church because they have some hurt inflicted on them by the brokenness of another human. Some people, when they walk away from he Church also walk away form God.

So I say be gentle with the atheist. Be gentle with the secular humanist. Pray that they come to know and believe with out ever seeing. But if that is not possible, pray that they can see what they need to see and experience what they need to experience to know that God loves them; That God died for them; That Jesus defeated death so that we may join in his eternal life.

We all have some degree of doubt. It ebbs and flows. If you find yourself in a time of questioning and doubt, surround yourself with those who can encourage you. Hear the testimony of those who have seen and have experienced the Resurrected One. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who who have not seen and have come to believe.”

Twenty years ago I  wouldn't have guessed
Jaylen would be a part of my life.
The fact that he is, is just one more
piece of evidence of God's great love. 

So how is it with you today on your journey of doubt and faith? Thomas said that he would not believe unless he saw the mark of the nails in his hands, and but his finger of the mark of the nails and put his hind in Jesus side. What will it take for you to believe? What will it take to remove your doubt? Spend some time thinking about that. Not what you want. But what is the minimum that you need to come to belief that God loves you?