Questioning Faith?
John 20:19-31[1]
In our culture, faith
and doubt are often seen as opposites. I’m sure there have been countless
sermons preached through the ages on how doubt “poisons” faith. And the gist of
that line of thinking is that to be a person of faith, you should not indulge
your doubts, or even question what you are told to believe. We even have a
phrases for it: we’re supposed to respond to spiritual matters on “blind
faith.” We’re told to set aside any doubts or questions and just “take it on
faith.” The problem is that approach just doesn’t work for a lot of us. We are
a people who are taught to ask questions when we don’t understand.
On the other hand, I
think there’s a distinction to be observed between asking questions and
peddling uncertainty as if it’s a virtue. Too much emphasis on doubt can be
just as much a problem as too much emphasis on being dogmatic. This is
especially true for young people. When they are left to their own devices to
find their way to God, without the support of their family or a faith
community, they tend not to find their way to God at all. It would seem that
the answer, then, is to find a healthy balance between encouraging questions
and instilling basic convictions about God, about faith in Jesus, and about
what it means to live a meaningful life. And that happens best in a supportive
community.
Our Gospel lesson for
today is the familiar story about “Doubting Thomas.” In our lesson, Thomas, one
of Jesus’ hand-picked apostles, refused to believe that Jesus was alive after
his death on the cross. No matter what the others told him, he simply would not
believe. Unfortunately, this incident has earned him the nickname “Doubting
Thomas.” As a matter of fact, when Jesus addressed Thomas, saying, “Do not
doubt, but believe” (Jn. 20:27), the word translated “doubt” should probably be
rendered as “faithless.” Jesus told him, “Do not be faithless, but believe.” It
might seem strange to talk about a healthy balance between faith and
questioning based on this lesson!
But in fact, Thomas
was by no means “faithless” in his relationship with Jesus. Quite the opposite
was true. When it became clear that Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem to
die, it was Thomas who said to the others, “let us go, that we may die with
him” (Jn. 11:16). That doesn’t sound much like Thomas was “faithless.” And it’s
important to note that Thomas was absent the first time Jesus appeared to the
apostles. While the others were hiding in fear behind locked doors, Thomas was
out there somewhere. We don’t really know what he was doing, but he wasn’t
hiding with the others!
I think it’s entirely
appropriate for us to wonder why Thomas didn’t believe the report that Jesus
was alive. I wonder whether it was his dedication to Jesus that made the pain
of his death hard for Thomas to move past. I also wonder whether it was because
he had seen some of the others falter in their faith, especially Peter who had denied
knowing Jesus, and he wasn’t prepared to rely on their word alone. What Thomas
said was, “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” (Jn
20:25).
Whatever the reason for Thomas’ “doubts,” a
week later Jesus appeared to the apostles again. This time Thomas was there,
and Jesus invited him to see for himself that what the others had said was
indeed true. I think it’s important to note that even though Thomas didn’t
believe their report, he was still taking part in his “community of faith.” And
so when Jesus appeared to them, he let Thomas see the wounds that he still bore
on his body. He invited Thomas to do just exactly what he said he would need to
do to believe: touch Jesus’ wounds. Jesus overcame Thomas’ apparent
“faithlessness” and accommodated his need for more than the word of the others.
And in response, Thomas made one of the strongest confessions of faith in Jesus
contained in the Bible: he called him “My Lord and my God!” (Jn. 20:28).
It’s a fair question
to ask what it takes to convince people in this day and time to put their faith
in the message we proclaim: that Jesus died and rose again to new life. I don’t
pretend to be able to answer every question we might ask about how that was
even possible. But I think that our questions can actually help us make faith
our own. Many of us know by experience that pursuing our questions can be the
path to deeper faith. The questions raised by our doubts can provide the
guidance and the motivation to set out on our journey of faith, even when we
don’t understand what we’re doing, even when we don’t know for sure where it
will lead us.
But I would have to
say that the context in which you set out on this exploration makes all the
difference in where you will wind up. Having the support and encouragement of a
family and a faith community plays a crucial role in the outcome of that
journey. That’s also something our experience has taught us. When we learn
faith as something our family practices (not just at church), when we can work
through our questions with the support of a family of faith, we have access to
resources that others don’t have. We have role models that show us how faith
makes a difference in our lives. If you’re like me, my best role models didn’t
have answers to every question. But they had a genuine faith that they lived
out, and that shaped my faith in definite ways! It helped me find that balance
between exploring my questions and affirming basic convictions about God, about
faith in Jesus, and about what it means to live a meaningful life. And for
that, I give thanks to God!
[1] ©2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, Ph.D. on 4/24/2022 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
