Thomas gets a bad rap. Even though he went on to become a missionary to India and built many great buildings there and became known as the patron saint of architects, he is forever remembered as “Doubting Thomas”.
Never mind the fact that the other disciples probably had some serious doubts of their own – they had heard the tomb was empty, Peter and John had even seen the grave clothes laying on the ground. Yet, here they are, later that day, hiding in a locked room. They didn’t seem to really believe until Jesus actually showed up either.
Maybe we can excuse their doubts because it was only Jesus’ first day out of the grave. Jesus visited them that evening, long enough for them to probably wonder what was going on – where he was, if he had indeed returned. If we can excuse them for this reason, surely we can excuse Thomas. IT WAS EIGHT DAYS LATER when Jesus finally came around again.
Eight days. That’s a long time. I wonder what Jesus was doing? We don’t know, but it appears at least that the disciples were doing pretty much nothing. Eight days later, and they’re still sitting in a locked room. Seeing Jesus returned from the dead they got so excited they seemingly just stayed put.
It’s no wonder Thomas doubted the resurrection. Not just the obvious impossibility of it, but due to the fact that it hadn’t seemed to have changed the disciples at all. Maybe Thomas doubted them as much as he doubted Jesus.
Jesus says here that blessed are those of us who have not seen, yet have believed. I’m not gonna argue with him, but I think I’d rather see too.
Faith is a tricky concept. The dictionary defines it as “comeplete confidence or trust in someone or something" That sounds a little strong to me. If I have complete confidence or trust in something I feel certain of it.
If you look up faith in a thesaurus, it will tell you the opposite of doubt is doubt. I submit that the opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty.
The disciples did not have to have faith in the risen Christ, they KNEW it. They had seen him. Everyone since has had to rely on faith. Beliefs... yes. Strong beliefs even, yes. Certainty? No.
The gap between belief and certainty is where doubt springs from.
In late 2001, about a month after 9/11, I was in a meeting with some youth ministers and the bishop of the Diocese of Texas. We were discussing a particular issue and the bishop gave a statement about a belief of his that was less than clear. Some of the youth ministers were trying to nail him down on what exactly he believed. The bishop said something that I’ve not since forgotten. He said that he wasn’t certain, and that on issue such as the one we were discussing he couldn’t be “religiously certain”. Someone challenged him saying that he SHOULD be certain. The bishop said that he hoped to never be religiously certain, because religiously certain people did things like fly planes into buildings.
If you think you have your religion all figured out, and you’re certain of it all, you are deluding yourself. On the other side of things, if your doubt keeps you from believing anything, you’re paralyzing yourself.
To strengthen your faith, you have to investigate it’s claims – which must leave room for doubt.
There are things about Christianity that I believe pretty strongly. There are other things that I’m not so sure about. I don’t have it all figured out. And that’s ok. Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for his doubts.
Doubt should not keep us from belief. Doubt doesn’t have to be a negative thing, in fact it can be healthy. Thomas has been known for his for two thousand years.
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