24 Now Thomas, 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.”
This text comes up after Easter every year and I've said many times before that we should pity poor "Doubting" Thomas because he gets a bad rap. Who among us would not doubt given the circumstances? The guy we just saw crucified and buried has come alive again and is speaking to all his friends? Yeah, sure. We're on Candid Camera, right? (Translation for all of you younger-generation folks: "We're getting Punk'd, right?") Besides, we need doubts! Our doubts provide the soil from which curiosity and learning grow. If nobody ever had a question or concern nobody would ever learn more than they already know. Doubts help us discover things about God that we would never probe otherwise. The old-school mantra of, "Never doubt. Never question." was backwards. Not doubting is the opposite of faith. The moment we stop doubting and questioning our faith stops evolving.
Doubts in themselves are not bad things. They have the potential to be good or bad depending on what we do with them. This is where Thomas fell short. That's what we discussed in the sermon.
There are two basic responses to doubt: utterances that end in a question mark and utterances that end in a period. The difference between the two provides the dividing line between faith and un-faith, between our doubts being productive and crippling us.
Responses that end in a question mark turn our doubts to good. Questions imply exploration, curiosity, the possibility of change. This is the kind of doubt-response we have in Theology on Tap and our other Bible Studies. When someone expresses doubt or poses a question we don't jump on them, shut them down, or run as if our faith was going to be contaminated. Nor do we immediately provide a "right" answer, shutting down the conversation and implying that we already know everything about faith and God. Instead we run with the question, open up the doubt. Usually the person who brought it up isn't the only one feeling it! We toss around the subject, weigh in, use the opportunity to get to know each other and our perceptions of faith a little better. Somehow in that process, even though the doubt isn't answered per se, it's assuaged. We know we don't have to be afraid of it. Raising the question, even a doubtful question, has brought us closer to each other and an understanding of God.
If only poor Thomas had put a question mark at the end of his doubts! "Wait...you saw him? How could that be? I don't get how that could happen, seeing as how he was DEAD. Are you sure?" Think of all the possible responses that could have come from those inquiries and all the faith that could have blossomed from the discussion as they waited for Jesus to show up again.
Unfortunately Thomas took the other route, punctuating his doubts with a period instead of a question mark. "I will not believe until I have seen him, stuck my fingers in the holes in his hands, stuck my hand in his side." He was not moving. He was not open to any new possibilities. Instead of opening himself up through his doubt he closed everyone else down. He already knew this could not be. He would sit there until someone proved him wrong.
There's no confession in this kind of expression. There's no vulnerability. It's a pushing away, first of the fear and doubt, then of everyone else around. "This is NOT so and I will not be told differently!" I guess in a way you've banished doubt there, but it's a cold resolution. It ends the conversation and any possibility of learning or growth.
The sad thing about this second approach is that it seldom gets resolved. Thomas was lucky. Jesus showed up in person and demonstrated the truth, much to Thomas' shame. But it took being hit over the head with a club to get Thomas to change his mind. That kind of experience doesn't happen to us much nowadays...not that Jesus doesn't show up, mind you. He's here and talking to us all the time. But we don't recognize him. We also don't let ourselves get hit over the head by that "you are wrong" club nowadays. We'd rather pack up and leave.
Nowadays punctuating your doubt with a period looks like this:
- You address an open issue with certainty, closing it down. "I know what's real. I know the truth. I know what God wants. It is THIS! And I will not hear anything more about it!"
- People around you offer different opinions, but you either remove yourself from them--keeping to a circle of people who think like you--or you simply refuse to acknowledge that what they say could be truthful or godly in any way.
- Anything that happens that might lean towards what other people are saying, you ignore or credit to some other cause.
- If, by some misfortune, what they say DOES turn out to be true and you are hit over the head with it, you leave and find another church that agrees with what you said initially.
Despite Thomas' unique and dramatic case being an exception, both sets of people generally get what they sought. Question mark doubting people find deeper understanding and knowledge of God and his path when they are bold and let those question marks free among God's people. They also tend to open up paths for others who are asking their own questions, reassuring them that doubts and fears don't destroy faith, but in God's Spirit they aid faith. Period doubting people refuse to see anything that contradicts them and thus are proven "right". They also tend to drive away any who think differently or need to express their doubts, leaving behind a circle of the like-minded. This gives the impression that the whole world thinks like they do because in their small, closed environment it does. Both end up banishing their doubt and fear--one through embrace and exploration, the other through denial--but they have radically different effects on the people and world around them as they do so.
I don't think there's much doubt about which road Jesus calls us to take. If we want to see something, to have something proven to us, before we act in faith then we'll never act. Only by taking leaps of faith, discussing our doubts while trusting in God, can we walk the path of the Lord. That means admitting we don't know everything. That means admitting we're not in control. That even means doing some crazy things sometimes, like telling people that a guy who died (who we can't see anymore) really is back alive and that this transformed our lives forevermore. Sometimes it means turning our lives upside down so that message can be told, so others have a chance to hear, believe, and question, even as we have.
To be hit over the head with a club, having something proven to you before you'll act on it is one thing. But blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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