Sermon 3/30/08
After Easter: Doubt - John 20:19-31
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Do you have any nicknames? How did you earn your nicknames? My name is a name that lends itself to a lot of nicknames. Beth is a nickname for Elizabeth, of course, and I went through a time in elementary school when I went by Liz, much to my mother’s dismay. And the last name Quick is even more adaptable to nicknames, some, over the years, that I’ve liked, and others that I could have done without. My sixth grade basketball coach called me “Bisquick,” which was at least somewhat creative. My older brother was known as “Nes” to his friends – short for “Nesquik.” I never minded any of my nicknames too much, but others are not so lucky. My mother’s maiden name is Mudge, and she was called “Smudge” by her classmates, which she didn’t particularly like. Others are even less lucky in their nicknames, and have a name given to them because of an event that has happened, an embarrassing situation. What would your nicknames reveal about you?
Today, we encounter a gospel lesson that focuses on the nickname of a particular disciple: doubting Thomas. So few of the twelve disciples are singled out in the gospels. We know quite a bit about Peter, but about the others, hardly anything. And for Thomas, virtually the only mention of him in the gospels is this scene today. Thomas doesn’t believe Jesus is raised until he sees Jesus with his own eyes, and he’s forever after known as Doubting Thomas.
Our text opens on the evening of Easter Sunday. At this point, only Mary Magdalene has seen the risen Christ. Peter and another disciple had seen the empty tomb, but left before seeing Jesus. Mary had told them that she’d seen Jesus, but we see today that her news apparently had little effect on them. The disciples are locked up in the house where they’re staying, afraid because of the events of Jesus’ crucifixion and death. They’re not rejoicing. They’re scared. But suddenly, Jesus appears, and says, “Peace be with you.” He shows them his wounds, confirming that he is the very Jesus they saw die. He again blesses them with peace, and tells them they will be sent as he was sent. He breathes on them, and speaks of the Holy Spirit, and gives them authority.
But Thomas isn’t there with them for some reason. The disciples share what they have seen – that they’ve seen Jesus. But Thomas says that unless he sees for himself, he won’t believe. A week later, the disciples are again in the house together, this time with Thomas too. Jesus again appears, with words of peace. And this time, Thomas sees for himself. “My Lord and my God!” he exclaims. Jesus says, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
And so Thomas, then nicknamed “the Twin,” finds himself a new nickname: Doubting Thomas. Peter didn’t have this same bad luck – he denied Jesus in the critical moment, but we know so much more about him and so we’re able to see a better picture of the ‘full Peter’. We know he’s more than that one event. We know him as Peter the Rock of the Church, not as Peter the Abandoner of Jesus. But we don’t have anything much else about Thomas in the Bible. Some of his writings do exist – there is more to know about Thomas – but these writings are not part of the canon – the official collection – of scripture we call the Bible. To so many people then, Thomas’ whole discipleship is summed up in this one event – Doubting Thomas. Imagine if your life was summed up in a label like that, based on one event, one action you took. What word would describe you fairly? Fully? If you cheated or stole or lied when you were young – if you were forever Lying Thomas or Cheating Thomas – or if you were Clumsy Thomas or Chubby Thomas – how would you feel if your life were forever summed up that way? So I feel bad for poor Thomas.
Besides, “doubting” is hardly a label that Thomas deserves more than any of the others – he was the only one asked to believe for sure that Jesus was alive without the benefit of seeing him. Would the others have been convinced without seeing Jesus themselves? Well, Peter and another disciple had already been to the tomb, as we read last week, and they were still confused and locked in fear in this room until Jesus appeared before them. Apparently, they weren’t so full of faith that they were ready to venture out of hiding. I think given the chance, we would have seen all of the remaining eleven disciples do just what Thomas did – ask for some more convincing proof.
It’s important to note, though, that Jesus doesn’t seem to mind Thomas’ doubt, as long as that’s not where Thomas ends up. I think we’re a bit afraid of doubt, or how God will react to our doubts and questions about faith. There’s so much we don’t understand about God or how God works in the world or about what God wants us to do. But sometimes, we’re afraid to admit that we don’t get it. Maybe we’re afraid that God will punish us for having doubts, or that we’re the only ones with doubts. But this passage, Thomas’ encounter with Jesus should put our fears to rest. Jesus says that those who believe without seeing are blessed. But he doesn’t say Thomas is bad or wrong or a failure because he has doubts. In fact, Jesus just gives Thomas what he needs to move from doubt to faith. He shows Thomas his wounds, a reassurance, and brings him peace, a comfort, just as he did for others. Doubt isn’t a problem if it isn’t the last stop on our journey of faith. We just need to keep moving from there. When we keep asking questions, our doubts can actually lead us to deeper faith.
But I think if we focus too much on these details, the fact that Thomas ‘doubted’, we’re missing the point. I think we find in this passage the point, the key teaching moment, the thing we’re meant to learn, regardless of the ‘setup’ for the lesson. Jesus says to Thomas something that can apply to all the disciples: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not believed and yet have come to believe.” That’s the key of the passage. The point of all the other verses.
What do those words mean for us? Is it as simple as saying, “Ok, we’re supposed to believe in God without proof, believe in God without seeing God working in our lives, believe in God with out any reason to”? I don’t think that’s what Jesus means, what John is trying to convey. I don’t think God expects us to have faith based on – well, nothing. I think, that really, this passage is a chicken-egg question. You know – which came first, the chicken or the egg? It’s that age old question – chickens are born from eggs, but to get an egg you need a chicken. And to get the chicken, you need the egg . . . In this passage, we have a chicken-egg question. Which comes first, seeing, or believing?
Thomas answers this question honestly for himself. To believe, he must see. Seeing comes first. The rest of the disciples might not have admitted it, but I think they would have answered the same way. Jesus doesn’t criticize Thomas. But he encourages Thomas and the others to reorder things – to see, they must believe. I’ve been thinking a lot about vision lately, What is our vision for this church? Where are we headed? What do we see for ourselves? Do we have visionary people among us? Do we understand our purpose, and how we’ll get ther? Frankly, I find visioning with a congregation to be frustrating – it’s easy to have visions of an ideal congregation, without any idea of how to transform what you’ve got into what you can potentially see. And so I am wondering if I’ve been asking the questions in the wrong order. Maybe I need to start by asking what it is we believe. What do we believe about ourselves, about God, about our fundamental purpose? What do we believe about our congregation, and about our individual lives and purposes? Why do we even want to have a vision of our future? Why is it important to us that people come here? Why do we want to grow? Why do we want to reach out? What do we believe?
If we start by asking what we envision, if we start by asking about what we can see, I think we’ll find we have a pretty limited vision. On our own, when we look around, when we think about what we can see for ourselves, for our congregation, for our community, for our world, our tendency is to underestimate things, to underestimate the possibilities. We can only see what is apparent, obvious. We don’t look hard enough, deep enough, or in the right places. And so if we base what we believe about anything only on what we can see, then we really don’t have a solid foundation for our beliefs, a firm grounding for what drives us and guides us.
Our other choice is to put believing before seeing. How do we do that? We believe so many things because they follow rules or laws or patterns. We believe because we can test and prove. But what our gospel lesson is talking about is not just “believing” in the sense of something being “credible” – it isn’t “accepting something as true, against all appearances, just because some authority declares it to be true. ‘Belief’ in [this] sense” is belief because of “some direct encounter with the One in whom the believer believes.” (1) Some things we believe because we have lived them and known them to be true, even if we can’t see them. We know love. We know relationships. We know compassion. We know justice and when justice is absent. We know joy and we know pain. We know these things, believe these things.
Jesus asks us to know him – to know God, to believe in our own experiences with the One who created us, to believe that new life and resurrection are possible, to believe in what we experience as God’s children. What do we know and believe already? What do we know about ourselves? What do we know about Franklin Lakes, and this congregation? What do we know about humanity? What do we know about our relationship with God?
I think when we start focusing on these questions, we’ll find that we have some answers already. And when we start here – start with what we believe – what we know – and how God knows us – then we’ll see much more than we even realized was there, because we begin to see not just with our own eyes, but with God’s eyes. We let our vision be shaped by God’s vision for us. Imagine, then, the possibilities. Imagine all the things we might see if we believe that God can show us.
Easter isn’t just a one day celebration for people of faith. It isn’t over. Christians call themselves Easter people, because we’re always people who believe in new life and resurrection, every single week. But we’re also in the midst of the Easter Season – the great fifty days of Easter. This season goes from Easter Sunday to the Day of Pentecost in May. It represents the time that Jesus spent with the disciples after the resurrection, preparing them to do the work he’d set out for them. They were filled with doubts and fears, and worries, and a lack of understanding, even still, even after the resurrection. But they believed in God, in Christ’s ability to shape and guide them. And as their faith grew, the things they could accomplish for the kingdom of God were astounding for this small group of people. What do we believe? And what will God do with our faith?
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Amen.