A Life Worth Living Dismisses Doubt

The second sunday of easter

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

John 20:19-31

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (NIV)

CIR HIRI! (Christ Is Risen; He Is Risen Indeed!) Easter Sunday reminded us that a life worth living is one that lives on the promises of God.  How true!  Lewis and Clark received that huge promise that was backed by President Thomas Jefferson and the United States government: take anything at all you need for the journey from anyone at all you need to, and we’ll pay it back. Yet that promise pales in comparison to the promise given us by our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who said, “Because I live, you also will live” (Jn 14:19).  The one who assured us that we need not have any fears because he has overcome all the troubles in the world (Jn. 16:33) is also the one who proved it with his resurrection.   Truly, a life worth living is one that lives on the promises of God…

…which sounds so nice and simple and easy – and perhaps it would be – if it weren’t for doubt.  But doubt can be crippling.  Every ounce of us may wish to believe, to trust, but just the slightest amount of doubt can creep in and spoil everything.  And so this morning, while we continue with our eyes focused on the empty tomb, we pray that we might be led to recognize that a life worth living DISMISSES DOUBT.

Shakespeare wrote, “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win.” The world sees doubt as an impediment to one achieving his or her dreams.  Junior didn’t make the free throw because he doubted himself; he didn’t have enough confidence that he could make it.  She didn’t get the job because she doubted herself doubted herself in the interview and wasn’t sure she was cut out for it.  He would have gotten the main role in the play if he had only auditioned instead of second-guessing his talent.  The world sees doubt as a hindrance to personal success, and indeed, it certainly can be.  However, a distinction must be made between how the world views the pitfalls of doubt and how the Christian views the pitfalls of doubt.  While we recognize that doubt can certainly play a role in impeding a person in certain areas of life, we are well aware of the much more serious danger that doubt presents in the spiritual realm.

That was the kind of doubt Thomas was experiencing.  His doubts carried eternal implications, for if he refused to believe that Jesus had indeed been raised, as his fellow disciples claimed, then Thomas was still in his sin and without any hope whatsoever, just as Paul reminded us in our Second Lesson this morning from 1 Corinthians.  For a time, Thomas was in that very state of unbelief.  “The other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it’” (v.25). 

It is quite easy for us to become frustrated with Thomas, isn’t it?  We find ourselves on the border of being furious with him for refusing to believe the testimony of eyewitnesses.  But I challenge you to think of Thomas differently: rather than being filled with frustration, isn’t pity in order?  After all, don’t you think Thomas wanted to believe Jesus had risen?  Surely we cannot imagine him choosing to continue on throughout Easter week with a heavy and depressed heart over the death of Jesus.  Surely he would not prefer that each day be covered by the bleak disappointment stemming from loneliness without Jesus.

Such behavior would hardly mirror the Thomas we see elsewhere in Scripture.  After having relayed to the disciples that their friend Lazarus had “fallen asleep,” Jesus explained that he needed to go and wake him up.  Thinking Jesus was referring to physical sleep, and not death, the disciples tried to dissuade Jesus, thinking it best for him to sleep if he is sick.  Then Jesus told them plainly that Lazarus had died, and Thomas replied, “Let us go, that we may die with him” (Jn. 11:16).  Does such zeal in support of Jesus sound like it’s coming from someone who would later on willfully choose to deny that Jesus had risen from the dead? Surely not!  Certainly Thomas must have hoped in his heart of hearts that what the disciples were speaking was the truth.  It’s just that he couldn’t bring himself to believe it; he couldn’t overcome his doubt.

Furthermore, Thomas by no means cornered the market on doubt, did he?  Did you notice what the first reaction of virtually everyone was on that first Easter morning?  Almost all doubted!  It wasn’t just Thomas, but all those who heard word of a resurrection doubted its reality until their own eyes laid hold of the risen Jesus.  Initially the women were terrified and didn’t know what to do after the angel had told them Jesus rose.  The disciples and Peter and John didn’t believe the women’s story at first.  The two on the way to Emmaus recounted all the details, but even they didn’t believe that he had risen.  Thomas wasn’t alone; doubt seemed to be the reaction of the day!

If that was the case on the very day of Jesus’ resurrection, then it should not surprise us that we who are so far removed from the momentous event experience doubts of our own.  Ask the Christian who just found out that a loved one is dying if he’s ever doubted the reality of eternal life or a resurrection from the dead.  See if the Christian parents who raised their children faithfully under the shadow of the cross, only to see their adult children make one spiritually immature decision after another if they’ve ever doubted the Proverb “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he’s old, he will not depart from it.”  Does the recent convert ever have doubts about the Trinity?  Does the still unemployed father ever doubt that God will provide?  Doubt abounds in our lives, and most would agree that a doubt-filled life is not the ideal life worth living while here on earth.

And the real danger is that such sinful doubt really serves as the building blocks of unbelief itself.  Doubt stacked upon doubt stacked upon doubt has the potential to erect a barricade of separation from God that no hardened heart ever has or ever will be able to scale.  Before long, what had started out as a little doubt here or there has turned into full-blown unbelief.

So what is the answer for those plagued by doubt?  It is the very same answer it was for Thomas: Jesus.  After what must have been the most agonizing of weeks for Thomas, Jesus returned to visit the disciples again, this time reaching out to Thomas and giving him exactly what he needed.  Remember that Thomas refused to believe unless he could see the nail marks and put his finger into his side?  Jesus didn’t need to be told what Thomas needed; in his omniscient divine wisdom, Jesus appeared to Thomas and said to him, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (v.27).  And with that, the teetering faith of Thomas was strengthened, leading him to confess, “My Lord and my God!” (v.28). 

A life worth living dismisses doubt, but not a one of us has any innate ability whatsoever to overcome our inclinations toward doubting.  It is no use to look inward, to look to self and presume that a change here or there will get rid of doubt.  Like Thomas, only seeing Jesus will fortify our faith.  If you struggle with doubt, then look to Jesus.  Visit with him more frequently in Scripture.  Daily recall how he washed you in baptism.  Come to his table to be fed forgiveness as often as possible.  Let him be more prominent in your life, so that your faith might be built up and you will stop doubting and believe.  How do you know if it will work?  Follow the advice of the British poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who when asked if Christianity was true, responded by saying, “try it.”  Or learn from a Hindu convert to Christianity, who once declared, “If I were a missionary, I would not argue the question of religions; I would give people the New Testament and say, ‘Read that.”  Try it.  Read it.  Stop doubting and believe.  You cannot on your own overcome doubt.  But Jesus did, so look to him.  CIR HIRI!

The effigies of a crusader knight and his lady lie side by side in a cathedral in England.  The right hand of the lady is missing.  History indicates that the knight, fighting in a crusade under Richard the Lion-Hearted, was captured.  The knight begged Saladin, the sultan of Egypt and Syria, to set him free.  He appealed to the love and devotion his lady in England had for him.  At this Saladin scoffed, assuring the knight that it wouldn’t take too long for the lady to forget about him and marry another.  The knight refused to believe it, stating with utmost confidence that she would always remain faithful to him as long as there remained any hope that he might still be alive.

Demanding evidence for such a claim, Saladin agreed that if the knight’s lady were to send her right hand to prove her devotion, he would release the knight.  When the request reached the lady back in England, she promptly had her right hand removed and sent to the Muslim conqueror.  When Saladin saw the hand, he allowed the knight to go free and return to England.  The amputated hand served as proof of the lady’s devotion to her husband.

Nail marks and a pierced side served as evidence of the dying devotion Jesus had for Thomas.  Along with that appearance, we also have other numerous proofs and undeniable evidence of Jesus’ devotion for us recorded in the Scriptures.  The Lord God knows how inclined we are to doubt and to question, so he provides ample evidence of his love and devotion for us in the Scriptures, ultimately with one purpose in mind, as John reminds us: “these [miraculous signs] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (v.31).  Or, we might just as well say, “these are written that you may find a life worth living, a life that dismisses doubt.”  We can be sure of it.  CIR HIRI!  Amen.