Reverend Ref +

EASTER 2A

We get this gospel every year on this, the second Sunday of Easter. Every year we hear about Doubting Thomas. And every year sermons are preached along the lines of, "Poor Thomas -- couldn't believe until he saw. Don't be like Thomas."

Well . . . why not? I think that this is one of those passages that we can really relate to, if we are honest with ourselves. We all have doubts, and if you say you don't, you're lying. Doubts about our marriage, our parental abilities, a new job or a new career, or maybe even about God himself. The world is full of doubters.

Doubting -- honest doubting -- often leads us to challenge existing beliefs which can then lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation for our beliefs. For instance, the Church for centuries held to the Ptolemaic system of the universe -- the system that said the earth was the center of everything -- based on whay they both saw with their eyes and the theology that God put us in the middle, the center, the focal point of the universe. Men like Copernicus and Galileo and Kepler doubted that assumption, and, as a result, we all have a deeper understanding and appreciation for just how grand and intricate God's creation really is.

There is a huge difference though between honest doubting and doubting 'just cuz'. Honest doubting causes us to examine long-held assumptions and/or beliefs and ask, "Why?" Honest doubting means that we stay in dialogue with the question, wrestle with the question, and allow ourselves to discover and accept the answers that come from doubt.

'Just cuz' doubting, however, means that we don't engage in dialogue, we don't wrestle, and we aren't willing to consider or accept answers that may be different from our preconceived notions. It means that we simply close the door or shut down our doubts simply by saying, "Just cuz." People who doubt the resurrection or God or faith or whatever simply by saying, "I don't believe it just cuz," aren't doubters. They are self-imposed censors.

Or how about the flip side of that. Not engaging in dialogue, not wrestling, not willing to accept what we consider unorthodox answers out of our fear of change. These people have developed easily defended, black and white answers out of a bible that was dictated by God to Moses in the Queen's English. They don't doubt anything. It's written in the bible and they believe it just cuz. These people are often portrayed as having a strong faith. Well, with apologies to our more conservative and fundamental brothers and sisters, it's a weak faith that is unable to withstand the least bit of doubt. They have all their answers in their itty-bitty God-box. Isn't it interesting, though, that the God who created everything, the God who is omnipotent, omniscient, omniomni everything fits so well into those boxes?

Thomas . . . getting back to Thomas . . . seems to me to be the lynchpin, stuck in the middle of both sides, hanging in the balance. One group hails him as the patron saint of those willing to question and challenge age old assumptions; and one group derides him as a person weak in faith, unwilling to believe unless it could be proven.

Let's not blame Thomas for doubting, and let's not blame Thomas for believing only after seeing. Instead, let's give Thomas credit for being willing to admit to where he was -- somewhere between complete faith and complete rejection.

And finally, according to the NRSV translation which we use, Jesus says, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." And yet have come to believe. This is different than previous translations which don't have the word 'come.' By adding that, there is an implication that people are on a journey. There is an implication that people are somewhere in the midst of dialogue or struggle or discovery. There is an implication that people can change over time.

At some point we are all like Thomas -- we won't believe until we see. So the question today is, Where do you see Jesus? Can you see him in your friends? Can you see Jesus in your neighbor? Can you see Jesus in your enemy? Can you see him in the other? Can you see him in this church? If you can, then, like Thomas, reach out and take what Jesus is offering you. And in that reaching, you will come to believe.