The Sermon Text —John 20:19-31

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."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these 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

I had a college friend who was an atheist. His name was Bill. During our college years Bill and I would have very lively and heated discussions about faith and religion. Bill wanted proof, he wanted someone to show him point by point the facts surrounding the existence of God and if that was not possible, forget it. He was not going to believe. Our arguments would continue with us going back and forth on different issues until Bill would finally say something like this, "John, I would be the first person to believe if only God would come down here and perform some kind of a miracle—right here in front of me. I’m serious, if he did that I would be the first one to believe."

I heard that line so many times over the years—it was so frustrating. I would tell Bill that God does not work that way—that instead God works through history, through people, through creation—but that was not good enough for Bill. So, despite my best efforts, Bill remained an atheist, but at least I remained a Christian.

I never told Bill th—I guess I probably should have— but I never told him that I too have questioned my faith. I have had moments in my life when I have struggled with my belief in God. There have even been times in my life when I have wondered if all that I have read about, sung about and heard about with respect to God is really true. Doubt has and continues to be a part of my life and perhaps that is the case for some of you as well.

Fortunately, there are some tools to help those Christians like me who doubt, so that we can endure our moments of weakness. Through our baptism into Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, God has given us the gifts of love, grace and hope. And those gifts, while not perfect solutions to doubt, help us to begin to see that God is truly at work in this world. They help us see that God is alive through the work of the Church, through the work of countless individuals and many organizations. Those gifts remind us that God does exist and calls upon us to be his hands in this world. As great as these gifts are and as helpful as they are in strengthen my faith, I still find myself falling back into skepticism and wishing that I had proof that God existed.

Wouldn’t that be great? To have something to hold on to (something tangible)—when everything else is uncertain. To be able to say with great conviction, "I have seen! Now I believe!" At those moments of doubt I can really relate to our friend Doubting Thomas.

We don’t know a lot about Thomas. He was one of the original twelve. We also know that he had a second name. According to John’s Gospel he was also known as "The Twin." And we know this about him—we know that he was not a coward.

That little bit of information comes from earlier in John’s Gospel—during the story of the raising of Lazarus. When word came to Jesus that Lazarus was quite sick, a dilemma presented itself. Lazarus’ home was in Bethany which was in Judea. Jesus proposed going to Bethany because his friend was dying. However, most of the disciples did not like that idea—in fact they tried to persuade Jesus not to go.

Why? The disciples feared for Jesus, because in an earlier visit, the people of that region had tried to kill him. These disciples were afraid that, if they returned, the people might now succeed where they had failed before. But Jesus insisted, and so Thomas stood up and announced, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." (John 11:16) Thomas, who admittedly was a bit pessimistic in assuming that they would all die if they returned to Bethany, was also intensely loyal and brave.

We learn a little bit more about Thomas from one more situation—this one actually took place when Jesus was with his disciples in the Upper Room and he was telling them about his impending death. Jesus told them,

Thomas didn’t understand what Jesus was saying. In a classroom Thomas would be the exact opposite of me. If I am in a class and the professor is saying a bunch of things I do not understand, I might just sit there pretending to understand. Thomas would not. He would raise his hand and ask a question. Thomas was the only one of the twelve who confessed that he was confused and he wanted to understand specifically what Jesus was saying. Of all those present, Thomas interrupted and asked candidly, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Thomas wanted desperately to understand because he wanted to follow.

Thomas was a loyal friend, an honest questioner, a devoted disciple and a doubter. With all that we know about this disciple, it seems unfair that his lasting legacy is limited to that of a doubter. After all, Thomas was not the only disciple who faced doubt on that first Easter Sunday. When Mary Magdalene, one of the first witnesses of the resurrection, went to the house where the disciples were hiding to tell them the incredible news that Jesus was raised from the dead—the disciples did not believe her—none of them. In fact, they dismissed her, suggesting that her words were an idle tale. All the disciples doubted, but only Thomas gets the label. Perhaps it was not as big of a deal to doubt one frantic woman back then as it was to doubt ten terrified men.

Several days ago I was driving my daughter, Lydia, to school and we were talking about what we were going to be doing that day. After Lydia told me about her day, I told her that I was going to go to church to write a sermon. Lydia then asked me what the sermon was going to be about. I told her it was the story of Doubting Thomas—the story I just read a moment ago. She then asked me what I was going to say. Which resulted in me mumbling a few words about faith and doubt and then saying, " I am still putting it all together."

Without missing a beat, she said, "Why don’t you just say what Judy said in the movie, The Santa Clause? You remember what she said, don’t you?" Without wanting to sound foolish I said, "Remind me what Judy said."

Lydia then said, "Well, remember when Santa was in the North Pole and he still didn’t believe the elves when they kept telling him that he was actually Santa Claus?" I said I remembered that part. "Well," she continued, "remember when Judy (who was an elf) was giving Santa the hot chocolate at bed time? Santa and Judy were talking about what it was like in the North Pole and other stuff and Santa was just sitting there thinking he was either going crazy or dreaming. That’s when Judy said it. Do you remember?"

"Oh yeah, I remember," I said, "but remind me of exactly what she said." Lydia told me, "Judy said, ‘Believing is seeing.’ You know, it’s the reverse of, ‘Seeing is believing.’" Then Lydia went on to say, "Just say in your sermon, ‘Believing is seeing.’"

"Believing is seeing!" I have thought about that phrase a lot since Lydia and I had that conversation. In fact, I think I have repeated that line 100 times or more since that particular day—"Believing is seeing," "Believing is seeing." I have been doing that because I am so used to hearing the other phrase, "Seeing is believing," which of course means you see first, then you believe, that this reverse phraseology has kind of thrown me. But the good news is that I think I have it figured out now. The elf—Judy—was simply saying to Santa, "Believe first, and when you do that, you will see."

This reference makes perfect sense when you think about Santa Claus. We all know the story of Santa Claus and because we know it so well, the line, "believing is seeing," makes complete sense to us. So, if it is good enough for Santa, perhaps it can be good enough for us.

One of my great frustrations during the arguments that I would have with my college friend Bill would come after I described how I saw God working in this world. I would say something like, "I see God in the kindness of strangers. I see God in the new life of a baby. I see God in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. I see God in the power of Holy Communion." After saying something along those lines, Bill would just dismiss those examples by stating, "John, that isn’t proof."

And he was right—none of that was proof. Each of those things could be explained away rationally. Faith asks something different of us—something more from us. At some point faith asks us to make a step—to take a "leap of faith"—to trust something that we cannot see. Faith asks us to trust, even when it is tough—especially when it is tough. Faith asks us to trust in God and to trust that God is active in this world. Faith asks us to see, both in our neighbor and in our enemy, someone we ought to love. Faith asks us to turn the other cheek. It is not easy to have that kind of faith—at times we fail to hold onto to it like we should and at other times we act as if we have completely forgotten it was even there—yet it is the one gift that allows us to see the world differently, uniquely.

Through the eyes of faith we see greatness in little children. Through the eyes of faith we see that the last are to be first. Through the eyes of faith we see that all people—all people—are to be treated equally. Through the eyes of faith we see power and victory in a cross. And through the eyes of faith we see love conquering all.

The gift of faith certainly does give us a new perspective on the world—it gives us a new way of looking at the world and all who live in it. When we believe—when we have faith—our eyes see the world in a fresh, new, wonderful way. Believing is seeing. Trust in God, and you too will see. Amen.

© 2007