March, 30, 2008

Faithful Doubt

by Rev. Dr. Jim Carlson

John 20:19-31

Opening Illustration – Chef Gusteau – “anyone can cook”

Can anyone have faith that Jesus is resurrected, or do you have to actually see him?

Question John’s dealing with in the story about Thomas.

Jesus appears to disciples Easter evening. Shows his wounds to prove it’s really him. Resurrected in spiritual state.

Commissions the disciples to go out and tell people what they’ve seen. Tell people about the signs and about Jesus’ resurrection.

Their life is now in the Spirit. Breathes the Holy Spirit into them. Gives them the authority to forgive sin on God’s behalf.

Thomas was absent during that appearance. Who knows where he was? When he returns, disciples tell him they saw Jesus.

Thomas refuses to believe unless he also sees Jesus’ resurrected body.

More than a week later Jesus appears when Thomas is present. Jesus seems to know what Thomas said about needing to see.

Jesus invites Thomas to feel his wounds. Thomas believes without touching. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.

John uses the character of Thomas as an analogy to people during the late 1st century who were unwilling to believe the apostolic witness about Jesus’ resurrection.

We’re used to criticizing Thomas for being unwilling to believe what the disciples told him. We criticize people who express doubts about Christianity.

At the same time that we’re criticizing people who just don’t take the leap of faith we have, we try to supply a set of facts so that they don’t have to.

Evidence that demands a Verdict. Sets out to provide factual proof of Fulfilled prophecy and Jesus’ resurrection and creation.

John says Christian faith is not born out by knowing the right facts. Faith is experienced in the witness of people who have come before us.

Church is empowered by the Holy Spirit to tell the world about the experience the disciples have of the risen Jesus. The message is that people can still experience the risen Jesus today, even though they are never going to see Jesus the way the disciples did.

John does not offer us scientific proof. Thomas wanted proof.

Message of Jesus is verified by the movement of the Holy Spirit. Spirit enables the church to offer God’s forgiveness to the world because we have experienced God’s forgiveness in our own lives.

There is a story about a pre-civil rights African American community in Florida. The story says that during times of political elections, this community would rent a voting machine and go through the voting process.

Now, they knew that their votes would not be counted, but they voted anyway. When asked by members of the white community why they did this every year, they replied, "Oh, just practicing. Just practicing.”

Believing in what is not yet seen means we practice or behave as if it is already exists. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

This is what leaders and visionaries do. They believe in something bigger than themselves and they begin to act as if it is so.

Do you need proof? Most of us want it. The Christian faith doesn’t offer proof. It offers faith. It offers the experience of the Holy Spirit.

The good news is that you and I can continue to have the experience of the disciples on that Easter day even if we don’t have the scientific proof Thomas needed.

As Jesus sent out the disciples to announce to the world that Jesus was in fact alive, so God send us out today. It is not our place to criticize the world for not coming to faith because we haven’t proven our case scientifically.

Our job is simply to tell people what we’ve experienced for ourselves. Let the Holy Spirit do the rest.