Seeing is Believing

John 20:24-29

Every year around this time, back in Millersport, the local newspaper was always interesting to read. They would go to every length to write an April Fools’ Day cover story that would be both believable and audacious at the same time. One year they wrote a story claiming that Buckeye Lake was being sold and marketed as a party lake with floating bars everywhere and even the possibility of a new “clothing optional” island being built (http://buckeyelakebeacon/news/2009-03-28/front_page/001.html). NBC4 out of Columbus picked up on the story and gave it more credence by doing a live spot on location. Now, if you read the whole article, it got more and more unbelievable, to the point where, at the end of the article, they publicized a town-hall meeting at a non-existent middle school where they were offering “free beer.” Yet there were some who fell for the joke, hook, line, and sinker. “This can’t be true! But I read it in the paper, so it must be true…” Aside from the fact that we are inundated with so much information these days and we as a culture have lost the ability to discern what is good information and what is bad, there are times when we find new information that is just unbelievable, but maybe, could it possibly be true?

My seminary philosophy professor posed the question: what would happen if scientists claimed that they had found Jesus’ bones? Would you still believe the Bible?

You might resist, reasoning that scientists might have made a mistake, that the bones aren’t really Jesus’ bones, that maybe they have a bias against Christianity, so you could choose not to believe them.

But what would happen if Christian scholars, pastors, and leaders, Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, United Methodist, even Billy Graham, all agreed that those bones were indeed Jesus’ bones? I know I have been deeply disappointed when Christian pastors, speakers, and writers whose works I have admired have taken less-than-orthodox stands, going as far as denying the existence of Hell or denying main tenets of the Christian faith, but they haven’t shaken my faith. But what would happen if you came to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that those bones were Jesus’, meaning that he hadn’t risen from the grave, would you still be a Christian?

(Just an aside, they won’t find the bones, because he is alive!)Have you ever had a crisis of belief? When you’re sure you believe something, but then you find out that it isn’t true? What would you do in this crisis of belief?

Jesus’ disciples faced a crisis of belief. They seemed to believe in a certain kind of Messiah, one who would be the conquering king who would overthrow Rome and give them back their land and perhaps give them exalted positions of authority. But Jesus didn’t do any of that and, to make matters worse, he was executed on a cross. The disciples had to have struggled deeply. But then he rose again! Or so the rest of the disciples said, but Thomas knew better. Dead people don’t rise again. Jesus was most definitely dead. The Romans didn’t make mistakes, and once you were nailed to a cross, you only had one destination, and that was death. And so Thomas, who has been so vilified as “Doubting” Thomas believes the only thing he can: that Jesus is still dead. 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.”

Thomas wants proof. He won’t blindly believe. He needs proof. Now, some of you are going back to the Doubting Thomas thing, you’re already scoffing at him in your heads, because you can’t believe he was so dense, that he didn’t believe. But remember that none of the disciples understood or believed; but by the time we get to this passage, they have seen the risen Jesus, while Thomas has not!

I appreciate that Thomas didn’t just blindly believe, but wanted proof. I remember having a conversation with a young man who told me he was agnostic. For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, an agnostic is one who does not know if there is a God or not. The word “agnostic” comes from the Greek – “gnosis” being the word for knowledge and “a” being the negative, kind of like the prefix “un” in English – so it literally means “unknowing.”

We had a conversation about being agnostic, and I put it straight to him (we had the kind of relationship where I could shoot straight and he appreciated it): it’s fine to be agnostic for a season, but if you are not searching and seeking answers, then all you end up is willfully ignorant.

The question is: what we do when we encounter the dilemma of belief versus unbelief? Many of us grew up in the church – in this church, even, and your parents and grandparents raised you, teaching you about the Bible and all about Jesus. I would venture that many of us have experienced a crisis of faith at one point or another. Maybe it was due to an extended period of struggle when you didn’t know what God was doing or even if God was paying attention. Maybe it came during a time of intellectual searching and analysis. Maybe someone hurt you – a Christian brother or sister – and you began to question everything. Perhaps a loved one died and you began to wonder how a good God could let this happen. Maybe you watched a pastor or other church leader fall into sin or leave the ministry or even the faith and you wonder, “if he fell away, what hope is there for me?”

I want to be clear here that these are serious crises of faith. These are real, and there are many who have found themselves affected by stories just like this. Would anyone here be bold enough to admit that you have had a crisis of faith sometime in your life?

There are times when it seems like God is quiet. Notice in today’s scripture that after Thomas expressed his doubt, Jesus didn’t immediately show up. No, it was a week later.

There are times when we cry out to God and God is silent. What do we do with that? Understand that God’s timing is not our timing, and that God may have something planned, that God could be using the timing to teach you to trust in him or to teach you patience or persistence.

In Luke 18, Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. In other words, this guy was not a Jew, nor a believer. And as we read in Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs  9:10 that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we can deduce that this magistrate wasn’t wise either. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” The literal translation says that he was afraid she would come and give him a black eye! I can picture this little widow coming and smacking the magistrate in the face with her purse, literally giving him a black eye!

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. This “quickly” might better be translated “suddenly” – not necessarily the “quickly” we are looking for. But the point is this: even an unjust, unwise judge who doesn’t fear God or care about the people will eventually make sure that the widow gets justice, because his reputation rests on it, so how much more will God, who is slow to anger but abounding in steadfast love, bring about justice?

But Jesus’ final word in this parable is this: However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” It’s not that we wear God down with our pleas – but our understanding comes from Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

I don’t know why God chooses to wait, or why God gives “yes” answers to some prayers that seem to be right along with his will while others are given “no” answers. But I’m not God and I’m not responsible to be God. What I am called to do is trust him.

But here is the thing: after a time, Jesus actually does appear to Thomas, and when he does, Thomas doesn’t need to go through with the conditions he had set. He no longer feels any need to touch the wounds; he knows it is Jesus. And so he makes the most important declaration in the book of John: “My Lord and my God!” He now understands. He now really knows Jesus’ identity.

I want to bring this back to us. Earlier I mentioned that many of us grew up in the church. Some of us have a very simple faith – which isn’t a bad thing in itself, as Jesus told his followers that to truly enter His Kingdom, we have to have faith like a child – but some of us have an unexamined faith that we haven’t made our own. So how are we going to get the proof like Thomas got? In John 20:29, Jesus told [Thomas], “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Here’s the deal: if Thomas was a product of our culture, he would never have brought the subject up for fear of offending someone. Unless, of course, he was posting it to the internet, where it seems like people feel free to post the nastiest, ugliest, meanest attacks on one another with impunity. He would certainly demand proof. Even if he trusted them, Thomas probably would have told them, “I’m glad that works for you guys.”

But what happens when Jesus shows up? He has no choice but to believe. So here’s what I see as a difficult issue. I believe Jesus isn’t showing up. Before you get upset and start calling the bishop and saying that I’m a heretic, let me explain. I truly believe Jesus shows up all the time but we miss him. Jesus himself said that when two or three believers gather together in His Name, he is with us. (Matthew 18:20). And when he issued the Great Commission, Jesus tells us that he isn’t leaving us alone to do the work of making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything he has commanded us… he finishes up by telling us: Surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20b)

Jesus is with us when we come together in his name. So I ask: how does someone who doesn’t yet know Jesus see Jesus? How do they encounter Him? They will encounter Jesus when they encounter the people Jesus is with. People who say they can worship outside the church neglect their duty to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world, to take Christ to the world.

The stark reality is that Jesus isn’t going to show up in bodily form for your friend, your loved one, your neighbor, your co-worker to touch the nail scars. But your friend can still encounter Jesus… through you. Will you be the proof they need?

How can we be proof?

When people see you, do they see Jesus? What will it take for that to be the case? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to direct you in everything? Are you constantly in the Word? Are you praying? Are you praying about the encounters you will have and the impact they might make for (or against!) Jesus? If you aren’t, you are likely fueling the fire that Christians are a bunch of hypocrites or that if this is what Jesus is like, I don’t want any part of him. We have to be intentional in every aspect of our lives.