Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-068 (Sermon)

DELIVERED FROM DOUBT

by Andy Campbell

John 20:19-31; Acts 5:27-32

Everybody loves a winner. This is blatantly obvious when [our] team wins a match. But, oh dear, don’t they take a rubbishing when they lose!

We all like cheering our team or our stars on to victory, but when they are being thrashed, we tend to drop our bundle, to become despondent and lose our enthusiasm.

We begin to doubt the prowess of the very people we had faith in only a short time before. We may even hurl abuse at people, whom, only a week ago, we considered to be the greatest in their class. Such is the fickleness of human nature that we can plunge from tremendous heights to unbelievable depths in a very short space of time; and when we are down, doubts besiege us.

It is very easy to be down on Thomas the “Doubting Disciple”. Yet it may be that he took the death of his master, Jesus Christ, very hard. We do not know how he was hurting inside, maybe that is why he was missing from the other ten when Jesus made his first appearance.

Thomas, like the others had staked everything on Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah. He had left all to follow his Lord. He must have loved Jesus very much, and may have even been very bitter at the way Jesus was treated both by the Jews and the Romans. It is possible that he felt guilty that he and the others had deserted Jesus at the very moment of his seemingly greatest need.

I believe that we all can relate to similar experiences, and that they tend to make us sharp and defensive in our dealings with others. Thomas may have been experiencing what is commonly known as the “Blues”, and when the others told him that they had seen the risen Lord, he may have suspected that they were trying to cheer him up. Just as we can negatively react when we suspect that people are condescending towards us. Thomas literally said, “I won’t believe it until I see him!” “Unless I can put my own fingers and hand into his wounds, I will not believe!”

Does this not sound like the desperate words of a person whose hopes have been crushed, and is afraid of building up false hopes only to have them dashed again. Surely the recent events in Jerusalem would have been enough to discourage even the most ardent follower.

Now, one week later, Thomas is back with the ten. Can you imagine his feelings? Was he secretly hoping that Jesus would appear once more? Whatever he was thinking, he did not carry out his previous demands when confronted by his risen Lord.

Suddenly, Jesus appeared, gave them his peace and turned his attention directly to Thomas.

“Come on Thomas, put your hands in my wounds, see for yourself that I am real. Stop doubting and believe!” There is no record that Thomas accepted the invitation, what scripture does record is that Thomas’ original doubt became the agent for the highest confession of faith in the New Testament Gospels, “My Lord and my God”. Never before had any of the disciples referred to Jesus as God.

Jesus did not belittle or chastise Thomas for his doubts, but acknowledged him because he had seen and believed. But, said Jesus, “Blessed are those who believe without seeing.” Thomas had said “I will not believe unless –“. But, ultimately, true faith must always be always independent of sight, if it is to be faith at all.

What turned the frightened men of the upper room into the men we see described in our reading from Acts? Now they stand up to the High Priest, and in spite of intimidation, refuse to bow to pressure and continue to preach the Good News. They were preaching with great vigor, spirit and courage. There was nothing covert about their approach, and we are told that one result of their witness was the spontaneous sharing which allowed the early church to care for its needy members.

The power behind the Apostles’ preaching was the total commitment of their lives to the risen Lord. As for “Doubting Thomas”, tradition tells us that he got as far as India on his missionary journeys, preaching the Gospel everywhere he went. Thomas was eventually martyred for his faith and is believed to be buried near Madras. A church there still carries the name “Mar Toma”.

The secret of the Apostles’ success is mentioned in the first letter of John 5:4, which states: “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”

Why should our faith be regarded as “The victory that has overcome the world”?

Surely it means that our faith is a triumph over all the things in this world which would cause us to doubt. It is not an easy thing to truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he lived on this earth, died a cruel death on the cross for our sins, and rose again from the dead to deliver us from the consequences of human sinfulness.

There are many thinking people who cannot accept that truth, on faith. Like Thomas, they want to see before they believe. Just why were Christ’s wounds so important to Thomas?

Would he have believed if the resurrected Jesus had shown him no wounds?

It is a human trait to take pride in our scars, people like letting others know the price of victory.

In reality, Christ’s wounds spoke for themselves, to all who saw, that this was truly Jesus! Those wounds continue to speak today, in intercession for the redemption of humanity.

Just as Jesus showed himself to Thomas, Jesus shows himself open handed and open hearted to all who would faithfully follow him. God overcame the world in Christ, and is still continuing to further that conquest through his faithful followers. It is by the faith which claims Christ’s redeeming work, and continues to carry it out, for him, and through him.

The decisive victory is in the past, when on that first Easter, Christ died to overcome evil.

Victory comes to the person who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. But then there are levels of belief, and we are dealing here with the most intense beliefs we can ever hold.

From all indications the fellowship of the early church was built on the faith of the believers, which was unshakable concerning the Lordship of Jesus. The beginning of persecution could not extinguish that faith! Even today we read of committed Christians suffering for their beliefs, particuatrly in countries opposed to Christianity. What makes these people hang on, is it stubboness or unwillingness to admit they could be wrong, or could it be that they have found their faith in Jesus to be based on a real experience of his saving power.

It is not wrong to have doubts, nor to question your faith. In fact I believe that a faith that has not been tested, could be a faith found wanting.

Thomas’ faith was crushed, he may have wanted desperately to believe, in spite of evidence to the contrary. But, like many of us, he did not want to be hurt again. Jesus met his need, and without Thomas having to carry out a physical examination to verify the facts.

The very presence of his Lord was enough to evoke the cry, “My Lord and My God!”

Thomas may have been overjoyed that his worst fears were unfounded, and that the hope which he could barely dare hold was now an undeniable reality. Are we not excited when some very slim hope proves to be real? When something which we are almost afraid to wish for comes true? We can scarcely believe our good fortune. Put yourself in Thomas’ sandals, how do you think you would feel in his situation? Today we do not get personal appearances of the Lord Jesus in order to have faith. We do have the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children.

“Faith,” says the writer to the letter to the Hebrews, “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen”. Therefore, when John speaks of faith being the victory which overcomes the world. He means that faith which is held in spite of the external circumstances, the faith which defies all attempts of this world to put it down, to crush it. It is the faithful believer who is the conqueror of the world.

Christians today are called upon to believe in Jesus Christ as the risen Lord, who died for their sins on Calvary, and who now works in the world, by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in his faithful servants. At first glance, much of what occurs in our world gives the impression that evil rules, that humans are an end in themselves. The dominating features of life appear to be materialism, cynicism and fatalism. It is not hard to become pessimistic and fail to realise that Jesus has overcome the world. But when we come to faith and find for ourselves that Jesus lives, then we with Thomas can cry “My Lord and my God”.

On the surface, the shame of the cross must have appeared as a terrible defeat. Now the cross, which had become a symbol of human degradation, has become a symbol of victory. A statement of God’s love for his own. The gloom of Good Friday gave way on Easter day to resurrection joy.

Still, this world is not an easy place for the committed Christian to live in. Faith demands action and obedience – it is not passive. If we are to be victorious, then we must engage in the struggle, which is continuous. Every day, we must take our doubts and fears to the Lord, who strengthens us through our prayers, through His word, the Bible, and through our faithful Christian friends, who also are his servants. We are called to faith by the risen Lord Jesus,

Each year at Easter we are reminded of the great sacrifice which our Lord made for us to free us from the curse of sin and death. Will we in the days to come, live out our faith, as we like Thomas, acknowledge Jesus as “Our Lord and our God”.

Amen.