2021.04.11 | Doubt? Of Course!
Doubt? Of Course!
Rev. Pepper Swanson
John 20:19-31
There was an adorable moment in our Easter Pageant video, but you might have missed it because it went by so quickly. There were, in fact, many adorable moments in the Pageant but this particular one kept coming back to me as I studied up for this week’s sermon about good old doubting Thomas.
The choir had just completed their scene at the Empty Tomb, with stellar performances by Suzie, Mary, and Susan as the women who discovered the tomb was empty and Rob and Miles as glittery angels of good news when the video transitioned to our Zoom Sunday School and young Natalie said: Did anyone believe the women?
Such a perfect question for the season of Easter. Perfect question because it mirrors our own questions about the Easter story we celebrate and re-enact each year: Did this really happen? Who saw it? Who believed it? How is this possible?
In today’s scripture reading, the disciple Thomas is the last of the named followers to encounter Jesus following the resurrection. The first was Mary Magdalene, then all the disciples, except Thomas, who declares that he will not believe until he’s not only seen but actually touched Jesus’ wounds. He wants to see and touch the wounds before he will accept that Christ lives. We say Thomas doubts but you could characterize him as needing evidence, proof, something tangible before he will accept what he has heard.
When Christ appears a week later, he offers to let Thomas touch his wounds but seeing is believing and Thomas proclaims: “My Lord and my God!
Bible scholars have long praised this unique Gospel story for showing us that there is not one static, unchanging faith accomplished by a single decision but many different kinds of faith, from weak to strong, from growing to faltering to failing. And, those who demonstrate a strong and healthy faith can be found in committed disciples like Thomas as well as those who are less experienced or seen as sinful by others.
I wonder sometimes what would have happened to Thomas if Jesus hadn’t appeared to him. Would he have left the group that went on to found the early Church? Or would he have stuck around but continued to disbelieve? Would he have hidden his disbelief? Or would have he grown to believe by remaining part of the community as it began to reach out and proclaim its message of Christ’s resurrection? In other words, failing a direct encounter with Christ, would he stay or would he go?
It’s a question that’s relevant to us as well. I believe each of us struggles with doubt from time to time. In a year of catastrophic happenings, with so much death and destruction and wholesale change, not to mention isolation for so many people of all ages, I’d be very surprised if you said you never doubted God, your faith, or your church. Our questions about faith today, especially in 2021, are the same as those facing Thomas during that long week when he was alone in not believing: What if I never believe? What if I’ve lost my faith? How can re-build my faith? How can I be more comfortable with what my faith asks of me? And ultimately, if I don’t believe as I think I ought, should I stay or should I go?
Beyond affirming that doubt is very much part of the life of faith, there are no easy answers for those who question. There are, however, a number of people who have studied this subject and have come to some interesting conclusions. Back in 2010, the National Institute of Health published a study with the super-neat title: “The Doubting Process: A Longitudinal Study of the Precipitants and Consequences of Religious Doubt.”
The authors, professors of health education and sociology, concluded people who have greater involvement in prayer groups appear to be associated with having fewer doubts about religion and that people who attend Bible study groups are more likely to seek spiritual growth in the process of doubting than those who do not. But sadly, those who have negative interactions at Church are more likely to doubt and are more likely to suppress their doubts then to seek out spiritual support from others.1
Our Bible Study groups are, of course, secretly cheering! On a personal note, I would say that I agree that here at Eden, both our Bible Study and Seekers groups always lessen my doubt and increase my faith in both humanity and in God. If you ever have a doubt, I hope you will join one of our small groups — we don’t have all the answers but we do have one study that says it helps!
The finding about negative interaction with others being correlated with doubt is something for all of us to think about as we move to re-opening the Church to the congregation later this year. There will be a wide variety of opinions about when and how and what Church will look like. Hopefully, knowing that our words and opinions are more than just words and opinions will help us keep the interaction positive and constructive and faithful for one and all.
Today’s scripture reading ends with three verses that some scholars believe may have been the original ending of the Gospel of John. In these verses, we, we who live now in faith and in doubt, receive a blessing and an explanation:
Our blessing is from Jesus, who says to Thomas: Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.
Our explanation comes from the unknown writer of the Gospel of John, so often praised for his portrayal of faith and doubt. He says, “These signs are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in His name.”
My friends, in our little Easter pageant, six-year old Natalie’s question, “Did anyone believe the women?” is answered by Suzie, who is a little bit older, who says, “Not at first. The news seemed too good to be true. But eventually the other disciples understood that Jesus had saved the best for the very last.”
Every day, each of us have doubt, require evidence, and waver or falter in our faith. Easter, with its story and eggs and lilies and great joy reminds us that God understood that it would get harder as the years went on. Blessed are those who doubt, blessed are those who seek support through prayer and study and fellowship, and blessed are all who have not seen but who come to believe, in one way or another. Amen.
Neal Krause and Christopher G. Ellison, “The Doubting Process: A Longitudinal Study of the Precipitants and Consequences of Religious Doubt,.” J Sci Study Relig. 2009 June 1; 48(2): 293–312.