Knowing Faith

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

April 3, 2016

Knowing Faith

John 20:19-29

When it was evening on that day,

the first day of the week,

and the doors of the house where the disciples had met

were locked for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood among them and said,

“Peace be with you.”

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

When he had said this, he breathed on them

and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive the sins of any,

they are forgiven them;

if you retain the sins of any,

they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin),

one of the twelve,

was not with them when Jesus came.

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.”

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.”

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.”

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

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.”

***********************************************

I have always thought

history has treated Thomas unfairly.

For two thousands years

he has been known as “Doubting Thomas,”

the man with weak faith.

“Don’t be a doubting Thomas”

is a well-worn phrase

we are quick to apply to anyone

who hesitates,

who questions,

who doesn’t seem fully committed

to faith and belief.

Read the story carefully, though,

and we see that Thomas asked for nothing more

than the same opportunity

the other disciples had had:

they got to see Jesus;

they got to see the scars –

the text is clear on that:

“When it was evening on that day,

the first day of the week,

and the doors of the house

where the disciples had met

were locked for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood among them and said,

“Peace be with you.”

After he said this,

he showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples rejoiced

when they saw the Lord.”

[Jesus]  showed them his hands and his side.

and …Then …the disciples rejoiced

when they saw the Lord.”

                 

The disciples didn’t rejoice

when Jesus first appeared in that room,

or even after he spoke to them

in that voice that was so familiar,

“Peace be with you.”

No, they only rejoiced

after they saw the scars.

Only then were they certain

that this was Jesus risen indeed,

Jesus unbound from the tomb.

the living Jesus.

Do you recall our text from last week,

Luke’s recounting of the empty tomb

on that first Easter Sunday?

Listen again to a part of the text:

“and returning from the tomb,

they told all this to the eleven

and to all the rest.

Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna,

Mary the mother of James,

and the other women with them

who told this to the apostles.

But these words seemed to them an idle tale,

and they did not believe them.”

(Luke 24:9-11)

The apostles heard what the women said,

what they had found and seen:

an empty tomb,

the linen wrappings,

two men in “dazzling clothes”

who suddenly appeared

and said to them,

“Why do you look for the living

among the dead?

He is not here, but has risen.

Remember how he told you…

that the Son of Man must be

handed over to sinners,

and be crucified,

and on the third day rise again.”

The apostles considered the women’s story

an “idle tale.”

Yes, there was probably more than

a little sexism at work there;

but still, they didn’t believe.    

All, except, it seems, Peter.

At least he got up and went to have a look.

The women’s words were enough

to pique his curiosity.

He was intrigued.

He wanted to see for himself.  

Peter may have doubted the women’s words,

but what set him apart from the others

was that he didn’t dismiss them,

the way the other disciples did,

dismissing the women’s words

as “an idle tale”.

That’s where I think Thomas gets into trouble –

he isn’t “doubting” Thomas

as much as he is “dismissive” Thomas,

dismissing what the disciples told him,

what they shared with him,

what they’d seen,

all of them;

what they’d experienced,

all of them.

Thomas dismissed their words:

“I won’t believe unless I see it,

see Jesus myself.”

There is a difference between dismissing

and doubting.

There is nothing wrong with doubting;

sometimes we are asked to believe

what logic tells us is impossible,

such as a man rising from the dead;

death defeated;

eternal life granted us.

Sometimes we are asked to take on faith

the incomprehensible:

how our Risen Lord,

our Living Lord

feeds us with the Bread of Life

and quenches our thirst with the

Cup of Salvation.

                                                     

Doubting can actually help us to grow in faith,

grow in belief.

When we doubt, we tend to ask questions.

and a questioning faith is a vibrant faith,

not a weak faith.

                 

As a writer in the Christian Century magazine put it,

“an unquestioning faith is no faith at all,

because it shows a lack of engagement

with the divine.”

(Shawnthea Monroe)

A questioning faith is one that is not dismissive,

it is engaged, engaged with God,

engaged with Christ,

engaged with the Spirit.

A questioning faith asks the tough questions,

without fear,

without hesitation,

without apology:

Why is there so much evil in this world?

Why is there suffering?

Why do children die of hunger and thirst?

Why do the rich get richer,

and the corrupt prosper,

while the good so often struggle?

Even as we ask our questions,

we know from the story of Job

we may not get answers that satisfy us;

we may not get any answers at all.

As we walk in faith

we should keep the words of the poet

Emily Dickinson close at hand:

“I shall know why,

when time is over,

And I have ceased to wonder why;”

Still, we should ask,

we should question,

we should learn,

we should grow in knowledge,

knowledgeable faith,

knowing faith.

Not all-knowing faith –

no, we should always be careful.        

The history of the Christian church is one

of too much certainty,

too much arrogance.

A lifetime of faith and study

constantly reminds me

of how much I don’t know.

But when we question,

we can look afresh at

what we call “gospel truths”

and perhaps see things in a new way

come to a new understanding:

slavery is wrong,

even if Scripture seems to approve;

inequality is wrong,

even is Scripture seems to approve;

inclusion, acceptance –

that’s what Christ models,

what Christ teaches us,

even if the Church historically has modeled

exclusion, preference, closed doors.  

In his book, “You Lost Me”,

David Kinnaman asks,

“Is the Christian community capable of

holding doubt and faithfulness in tension,

welcoming hard questions

even as we press together toward answers?

Or will the church continue to be seen as a place

where doubts don’t belong

because certainty is the same as faith?”

It is okay to be a doubting Thomas,

or a doubting Mabel --

not dismissive, or closed-minded,

but questioning, probing,

hungry to know, know more,

know God,

know Christ,

know more about what it means

to walk in faith,

what it means to say, “I believe.”

A bit of doubt keeps us humble;

a bit of doubt keeps us fresh;

and yes, a bit of doubt

keeps us faithful.

AMEN