“Is Seeing Really Believing?”
Pastor Randy Butler
Bertrand Russell was a famous twentieth century British philosopher known for his rigorous thinking and brilliant mind. He was also an atheist, believed that religion was mostly superstition. And at one of his lectures, a woman asked him what he would say if it turned out that he had been wrong about God, and found himself standing outside the Pearly Gates when his time came. When the woman asked the question Russell’s eyes lit up and he replied, “Why, madame, I should say, ‘God, you gave us insufficient evidence.’”
I wouldn’t presume to argue with a brilliant philosopher, but Russell’s answer does make me wonder: How much evidence is enough? What role does evidence play in the life of faith? What is the connection between that word faith, and belief?
In our passage this morning, we begin on the evening of that first day – the day of resurrection. It is Easter evening and the disciples are gathered together in a room with the door locked. And yet John tells us that Jesus shows up. He simply reports that Jesus came and stood among them, doesn’t say how he got there through the locked doors. And in a very touching moment Jesus blesses his disciples, saying, “Peace be with you.” He charges them and prepares to send them into the world, and then breathes on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
But one of the twelve, Thomas, was not there that first night, and so the others tell Thomas, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas is insistent and says, “Unless I see the mark where the nails were driven through his hand, and I put my finger on that mark, and unless I touch his side, (where Jesus was stabbed), I will not believe what you are saying.” I am guessing that this didn’t go down too well with the others, his dismissal of their seeing Jesus. “You weren’t even there, Thomas, when Jesus showed up. Apparently you had something better to do on the night we had heard that he might be alive. You weren’t there but he was.”
So a week later Thomas is there with them. And although the doors were shut again, Jesus comes and stands among them again. Says again, “Peace be with you.” Sort of a repeat performance, as if for Thomas’ sake. And Jesus accommodates Thomas’s demands exactly: “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and touch my side.”
Now it is easy for us to criticize Thomas, his absence at the first appearance of Jesus, his reluctance to believe the others. His famous doubts have given rise to the name “Doubting Thomas” for anyone who has reservations and questions. But the others stick with Thomas – we don’t read that they throw him out, criticize or berate him. And Jesus certainly doesn’t. I think that one of the lessons of our text is that faith grows and develops not in isolation, but in community; in the give and take of fellowship with others, where we can ask questions, explore the claims of Christian belief, and come to our own conclusions.
This was certainly true for me. I was twenty one years old when I first went to a college age fellowship at a Presbyterian Church. I’d never been to church much, didn’t know all the things others knew about the Christian faith. I was a student at the Cal State University located right near the Church. And as I started going to this college group at the church I decided to take an Old Testament class that was offered. And I also took a fascinating class on Medieval history, which of course has a lot do with religion. And so when I went to this Christian college group I asked a lot of questions, thought of myself as a serious seeker, and intellectual inquirer. I am sure at times I was quite annoying. But my new friends, more mature in the ways of their gracious and loving Lord, well, they put up with me, loved me, even seemed to like me, and it changed my life. I am here today because of that experience. They gave me room, let me find my own way and ask my own questions.
Jesus’ invitation to Thomas to touch and see his wounds honors Thomas’ doubts, and respects Thomas’s unique journey. We aren’t expected to be gullible, to just accept and believe without any questions. Like Thomas we are invited to investigate the credibility of the resurrection. It is quite in-credible after all. Questions are OK, even expected. Maybe the Lord took great delight in showing Thomas his wounds. But then he finally says to Thomas, “Do not doubt any longer, but believe.” At some point we are invited, exhorted to decide and follow Jesus.
Insufficient evidence, said Bertrand Russell. Maybe. It is not always very clear. But as someone said, there is proof sufficient to convince those that are willing to be open, and proof sufficient to challenge, even judge those who are obstinate, for whom there will never be enough evidence. Sometimes our questions serve to avoid making a decision that we know will change our life. Questions can become intellectual diversions and bunny trails that keep us from joining Jesus on the way that leads to life. Are we engaging in honest inquiry or stubborn hard hearted resistance? After all the reasoning and questioning and exploring there is a time to decide. There is a tipping point, and we will have to decide, even if we don’t have all the evidence we might like.
Jesuit scholar John Kavanaugh went to work for a time in Calcutta with Mother Teresa. At this time of his life he was searching for a clear answer as to how to spend the rest of his life. On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa. They talked for a while, and then she asked “What can I do for you?” And Kavanaugh asked Mother Teresa to pray for him to find clarity. She paused for a moment and said, “No, I cannot do that.” When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” Kavanaugh said to her that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for. But she laughed and said, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.”
Ultimately all we can do is trust. We will never have enough evidence, enough information, enough clarity. At some point we finally have to act. Act with vigor, as Bertrand Russell himself said on another occasion, even without complete certainty.
Interestingly in our text Thomas is called the twin. As Bible teacher Dale Bruner asks, are we not all in some sense twins: real believers and yet semi-unbelievers at the same time? Faith is not certainty, it is well, faith. We will always be a mixture of faith and un-faith. But we can still act. We can still decide.
Thomas does – Oh does he ever! He sees and touches Jesus and then exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” This the loftiest view of the Lord given in all of the gospels. Nowhere else is he addressed as God in the four gospels. From the lips of the doubter comes the most exalted name: my Lord and my God.
He has indeed made his inquiries about this incredible resurrection of Jesus, and he is convinced. He moves from knowledge to faith. There is a shift from his head to his heart. And that must be our shift too. Jesus for Thomas is not just universal Lord and God, but his Lord and his God. We must make the Lord our own, make God our own. As the apostle Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ has made me his own.”
Now today we have less to go on than Thomas did. He could see Jesus, talk to Jesus, see and touch his wounds. That was tangible evidence. We don’t have the same hard evidence – we have testimony about the evidence. We call it the witness of the apostles, their writings: the gospel of John and the other three gospels; the letters and other writings of the New Testament. Written primarily by those who knew Jesus or were close to those who knew him. The New Testament is the testimony of the apostles, whose witness we now decide to be enough or not, for us. Our text closes by saying that Jesus did many other signs which are not included in this book. But these were written so that you may come to believe. John is giving his best testimony concerning the evidence of Jesus’ life death and resurrection. This is John on the witness stand. He wants us to believe and he wants us to have life. He wants us to read his testimony, believe it, make it ours and experience a fullness of life we never thought possible.
So let us do our honest investigation, ask our questions. But then let us believe and act and live. Amen.
