John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
“My Lord And My God”
We don’t see God and then believe; we believe, then we see.
“For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Heb. 11:6
Thomas doubted - but he wanted to believe. This opened his eyes and heart to see and believe. He wanted to believe Jesus rose; he stuck with those who did believe. And he acted upon this desire; he saw the marks of the crucification; he confessed his faith in Jesus.
Faith does not rest on seeing alone; it rests on acting; taking the plunge and going where the mind can never fully comprehend. This is why faith is a “power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life.” P. T. Forsythe
For John, believing in God and believing in the resurrection is all tied up with loving one another. It is not something we do in isolation, something we achieve by ourselves.
It is something which happens to us when we obey his commands and do good to one another.
Faith active in love increases faith so we can see what we could not see, believe what we could not believe, and know what we could never know - even the awesome truth of the resurrection.
“Doubting Thomas”
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith.
Luther: “There is more faith in honest doubt then all the creeds of Christendom.”
Be a doubting Thomas:
It will keep you honest and open to change; open to God’s will for your life.
It will keep you humble - you will not get so easily caught in the idolatry of certainty. Faith will be a voyage of discovery, often disturbing, yet also fulfilling.
Doubt helps faith happen - it opens us to the miracle of faith happening in us.
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith!
Quotes on Doubt
Gamaliel Bailey, an American abolitionist said,
“Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there
truth is - it is her shadow.”
Frederick Buechner puts it when he says,
“Whether your faith is that there is a God, or that there is not a God,
if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep.
Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”
Soul Making, Alan Jones says,
“In a world where there is no room for doubt, ambiguity, or questioning, there is no room for genuine faith.” (p.116)
Ellie Wiesel, who lived through the fanaticism of the Holocaust born of the blind belief in the superiority of the Arian race says, “I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God....My experience is that the fanatic hides from true debate...He is afraid of pluralism and diversity; he abhors learning. He knows how to speak in monologues only...The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests....A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations,(and ) as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it, (it’s) ‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty’.”
Parade Magazine, April 19,1992
For the terrible truth we are saved from by doubt is, as Alan Jones says, “the persecuting personality (which) is marked by clarity and precision. (In which) there is no room for indecision... no room for guilt... no room for doubt. Such are the marks of a totalitarian state or totalitarian church. (It is ) the divided mind, the uneasy conscience, and the sense of personal failure (that is, our own uneasiness and doubt) which brings us... to the place of faith” where we become not blind believers but “one of God’s spies trying to make room for hope” and love in a world of hopelessness and despair. (Soulmaking,pp.117,119)
I like this message Gpa, and was thinking about it the other day when out on a walk. I think it can also be said that it is healthy to have some doubt in all relationships because that too keeps you on your toes and open to change. As long as the doubt isn't overbearing and weighing you down, of course.
ReplyDelete-Carolyn