Some Doubt. . .
A sermon
delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
May 6, 2012
at Gordonsville
Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia
John 20: 24-29
Help
us to see despite our eyes
Help
us to think outside our minds
Help
us to be more than our lives
For your eyes show us the way
Your mind knows the truth
Your being is the life.
John
20: 24-29
24
But Thomas (who was called the
Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So
the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark
of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26
A week later his disciples were
again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then
he said 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.” 28 Thomas answered
him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed
because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come
to believe.”
Doubting
Thomas, this story, has been used for years to challenge people to believe.
Nobody really wants to be considered a "doubting Thomas." It is safe
to say, I think, that anytime a person's name becomes a label you are going to
have problems. I know you've heard it before. It usually is proceeded by, don't
pull a ________, then you insert someone's name. With Thomas though, I'm not
sure that his forever label is really fair, or whether Jesus is as critical of
him as the history of Bible Commentary has been. I mean really is doubt a bad
thing, an unforgivable sin in a world where we are saved by faith alone?
I
want to begin this morning by talking a little about my process for studying
the Bible and forming an idea for a sermon because this process may give you a
little insight into where I am coming from in what I'm trying to say this
morning about this well known passage.
I
was trained at seminary to always exegete and never isogete, when entering a
Biblical Text. Many of you are probably wondering what the difference is. If
you are like I was before going to seminary you'd have no clue. The two words
were thrown around so much in my first year that I was afraid for a long time
to ask what they meant. It seemed I was supposed to know; it seemed every else
knew what it was except me, but I had absolutely no clue. What I found was that
basically Exegesis, which is the good one is focusing on what the text is
saying, what you get --Exo--, out of the text, beyond your own biases,
listening to exactly what the text is saying. On the other hand, Isogesis,
which is the bad one is reading --Iso-- into the text, bringing your own biases
and preconceived notions on what the text says before you ever read it. I think
it's is true that Exogesis is the better of the two, but how easy is it to
completely divorce yourself from your thoughts before entering a text? It is
nearly impossible, and it is even worse when a passage is well known. I also am
never trustworthy of any thing, person, or process, which tells you to be completely
devoid of personal thought. So what I do instead is try to question everything
within the text, what I've heard, what I've thought in the past, trying my best
to prove it wrong. Then when I get that figured out, I again challenge that,
and then that again, and that again, until its Saturday afternoon/night and I'm
ready to collect all these thoughts together into some kind of coherent idea.
So
let's go through that process a little with this text. The first thing that
comes to mind when you read this story, and I've heard it preached this way
many times, is that it is better to not be a doubter, as I began this morning,
"who wants to be a doubting Thomas." This is the interpretation that
sees doubt as the opposite of faith, and faith is good, making doubt therefore bad.
In other words, forget what you think, forget what you feel, forget what your
mind tells you, and believe. You must, otherwise you are a heretic, a sinner, a
"bad" Christian, and a bad person, and therefore unworthy of the
grace that Christ has to offer. I mean we are saved by our faith right? Have
you ever heard it interpreted that way? Probably, and regrettably so.
So
according to my process, I wanted to do everything I could to poke holes in
this interpretation. So here goes, the problem with this interpretation to me
is that doubt is natural. We all have doubts. And if doubt is both natural and bad,
then we have a major problem because the impenetrable barriers of dishonesty
will be brought into our relationship
with God. Imagine it, God says that I can't doubt, but I do. . . now what?
Somewhere along the way if I want to be good, then I've got to start lying to
somebody, either to myself or to God, and is that the basis of the relationship
that Jesus came to reconcile? It sounds to me a lot like what sin is, barriers
to relationship with God. Is there room for doubt in faith? I would say yes. There
must be, right. Great, so Thomas is not bad, but is somehow good. It is ok that
he doubted, maybe even good.
Ok
good, we've got that figured out. But before we go too far with it, let's poke
holes in this thought now. I was doing ok with this idea, and I was ready to
package it, but then I looked again at the text, and there it was, in Jesus'
own words, giving credence to the other interpretation. Jesus says, "Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have come to believe.” Now what am I going to do with that. It seems to
really suggest that it would be a lot better if we didn't have doubts. But I'm
not ready to say that doubts are bad. I still think going down that road is way
too dangerous. I mean we've been down it before. It is the stuff of Inquisitions
and witch trials and persecution and hypocrisy. It is ugly stuff.
So maybe I'm missing something about
the word "blessed." Let's look that up. We usually see
"blessed" as a synonym for "saved" right, at least when it
is found in the Beatitudes, but maybe, just maybe this blessed comes from a
different Greek word for blessed that means like lucky or something, rather
than "saved". . . It can't be the same Greek word as the Beatitudes.
. . You know
“Blessed
are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who
are persecuted for righteousness’ sake."
Maybe that is my out, I can get around the blessed thing,
and say it has a different meaning, but only if it's not the same word as that
famous passage because we know what Blessed means there. But no such luck. It
is the same Greek word, μακάριος. It
is funny though as I was looking, even though it is the same Greek word, I
found that it doesn't mean saved, but rather it means "happy, or fortunate." So now
I've opened up a whole can of worms with the Beatitudes, but it does open up
the door for us in this passage.
Look
at it, "Happy and Fortunate are those who can believe without
seeing." The Beach Boys song, "Wouldn't it Be Nice," comes to
mind. Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have doubts. We could walk again with
God in the cool of the day, no doubts, no sin, just perfect relationship, but
for most of us that is not the case. We do doubt. We do, so where does that
leave us in this passage. Hey it would be nice if we didn't doubt, but we do,
so Jesus says, "Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands, reach out
your hand and put it in my side." In other words, Thomas, I'm here put your
doubts to the test. I can handle it, and I can show you. Jesus can do that
because he is real. The scars are real, the cross is real, and the resurrection
is real. The truth does not fear doubt, only lies do.
Think
about it. How often when someone has something to hide, they aggressively deny
anyone's right to doubt them. I mean this is an election year. We're surrounded
by that kind of talk. You can go a long way by silencing those who doubt you.
The history of the church is full of that type of doubt smashing. I always
wondered why, what are we trying to protect people from? If it is all true why
do we need to punish people for their doubts. It seems like a position taken in
doubt rather than in faith, but Jesus doesn't
do that. He doesn't send Thomas and his doubts away, instead he embraces Thomas
and his doubts, and shows Thomas the truth. It would be better if you could
take my word for it, better for you, but since you can't here you go, let me
show you the truth.
There
is another important action in this story though. And that is Thomas, himself.
He does it. He sticks his hand in the hole, he feels the wound on the side, and
he allows his mind to change. This seems to me more important than his doubt.
He is willing to doubt his doubt. He is willing to be proven wrong, and then
willing to adjust his thinking. He is open to the change, to learn something
new. He welcomes it. He poses a question, "Is Jesus really
resurrected?" Then he challenges the question, "I don't believe it
until I see it for myself." And then he does see for himself. . . Have you
ever done this in your life? It is easy to pose the question, and it is easy to
set the parameters of your doubt, but then it is so hard when the truth becomes
apparent to then accept it as truth. Isn't that hard? It's hard because that
type of thing forces you to change your life, to completely realign who you
are, and what you believe. For Thomas that means living out a life of travel,
preaching, and eventual martyrdom for his faith, all of which begins with
"seeing" doubt challenging moment here. Maybe he would have been
lucky to have believed without seeing, but you can't question the power of a
faith that transforms life like his does. Is doubt our problem, or worry about
where our faith will take us? Only you can answer that question for yourself?
So I invite you to ask it. Ask yourself that all too difficult question. If you
had the opportunity to put your hands into the holes in Jesus' resurrected
flesh would you, knowing that when you do, your life would have to completely
change?
Ok
let's change direction for a minute. Let's look at this from another angle. Can
you have faith without doubt? Are the words incompatible opposites or are they
two important complimentary pieces of a whole? Is faith without doubt still
faith? I don't think so, it's then knowledge or fact, things you merely
acknowledge, rather than believe. To be honest complete knowledge actually
creates sin, doesn't it because it creates arrogance instead of humility. Doubt
allows you to empathize with others who have doubt, and to realize that you
must be dependent upon Christ. I come back to the Blessed are those who believe
and do not see. I can imagine Jesus saying, "Wouldn't it be nice if this
were the case because I wouldn't have had to go to the cross." It would be
nice, but then why would you need me? I said earlier that people, throughout
the centuries have looked at this text and said "I doubt therefore I am
not good." Exactly! Perhaps there is something to that. I had said that it
creates a system where we are either lying to ourselves about our doubt, or
lying to God to hide our doubt. Perhaps that is the very thing that can create
a little humility in us, that instead of creating a breach in relationship
based on lies, it can be a beginning to a relationship based on honest
confession, bowing down before Christ in need. I cannot boast in anything, not
my goodness, not the quality of my faith or my blessedness, I simply can only
boast in Jesus Christ.
So
let's rewind a little bit here because it has basically been a circular journey
with many different stops and changes of direction. First we looked at the idea
that doubt is bad, and if our salvation was based on our lack of doubt, as many
have preached for centuries, we will have trouble because doubt seems to be
natural to us. So I posed the opposite thought that doubt must be good in some way,
or at least ok. But then we looked at the text and found Jesus saying that
those who simply believe without seeing are blessed, and that blessed here is
the same as the blessed in the Beatitutes, but that it means lucky or fortunate
rather than "saved." This opened the door for us to look at how yeah
it might be better for us to not doubt, but since we do it is ok, and Jesus
allows us to work within it, for he makes himself available to Thomas, showing
him the wounds. But then we looked at Thomas and the amount of faith and
courage it took to actually reach out and place his hands in the wounds,
knowing that his life would change forever. Then we looked at also how faith
needs doubt, and that our doubt makes true our very need for the grace of
Christ.
Yes.
. . . What a whirlwind. . . Here we are at a new place, perhaps a new
understanding. . . and it all started with a little doubt. One little question.
Is this true? I've been told it's true, but am I sure. Let's test it. Part of
it seems true, but there is this over here that doesn't fit so nicely. What do
we do with this piece? Ok got that now, but that changes what I thought about
that before, remember the Beatitudes. I'm going to have to relook at that
sometime. One little question begins a new journey and a new walk, and a larger
glimpse of the truth, and a truer relationship is formed. Do a little doubting,
see where it takes you. I invite you to because I am confident of the truth.
"Put your finger here, put your hand here, do not doubt, believe."
Doubt is only bad if it cripples you scaring you from the questions. Don't let
it. Ask away!
I
preach this to my students almost every day. Some people call it being open
minded, but I've never liked that term. It reminds me too much of a lobotomized
air head. People that tell you to be open minded have an agenda. I prefer the
term Welcome Minded. Your mind is like a house. Welcome all visitors, but at the
end of the day you are the owner of the house because you pay its eternal rent.
I
wrote this poem a number of years back, before I had thought about a term like
Welcome Minded. It's called "May I Ever Come to Know"
May I ever come
to know
That what I know
Falls far short
Of what I need
to know.
May I learn
That in my
thirst
For what I don’t
know
That I won’t
forget
The truth that I
do know,
And that is that
I know
Considerably
less
The more I am
blessed
To come to know.
[1]The
Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (Jn 20:24-29). Nashville:
Thomas Nelson Publishers.
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