Turning Doubt Into Faith

One of the blessings in my marriage to Tim is that he helped me see things I’d never seen before. When we met Tim had long been a wildlife observer. I loved wildlife, but I wasn’t an observer. The difference being, wildlife observers see wildlife.

We would go on hikes and Tim would say, "See that woodpecker!" And I wouldn’t see it. We would go canoeing at dusk and he’d say, "There’s a beaver on the water" and I’d miss it.

One time I asked him, "What is that bird called?" And he looked at me blankly and said, "That’s a robin. Didn’t you ever see robins growing up?"

The truth is there were robins, and woodpeckers, and even beavers, but I didn’t see them. Not only did I not see them, but I had trouble believing that Tim saw them.

Tim went to the woods and the water with the expectation that he would see wildlife. I missed it most of the time, so I didn’t expect to find it.

But the more time I spent with Tim who did see it, the more I began to catch glimpses of it. He’d say there is a loon over there and I’d see it before it flew away. Or on an evening paddle – there is mink on the shoreline and I’d see the body slinking along. And pretty soon I would go on a hike or a paddle expecting to see wildlife.

The first time I was paddling on a lake and spotted a great blue heron before Tim was an incredible experience for me. Not because I saw it first, but because I saw it myself. Nobody had to point it out to me, I could just watch with awe the beauty of that great creature. Rather than hearing about it, I could experience it for myself.

Tim’s experience…led to his belief…which gave me hope (even in my doubt)…which led to my experience and my belief.

Sometimes we rely on the witness of others to point us to our own personal encounters with Jesus. Today we read about Thomas who doubts that Christ is raised, but as more people tell him that they’ve seen the Lord, his desire is sparked which then leads to his own encounter and belief.

Thomas plays a significant role in John’s gospel by portraying how we all come to believe in the resurrected Christ.

The writer of John’s gospel knew this. Writing near the end of the 1^st century he was addressing people who had never seen or heard Jesus in the flesh. A child 6 years old on that first Easter would have been close to 70 by the time John wrote his gospel.

John’s problem, which is the continuing problem for the church was how to encourage people to believe when Jesus was no longer around to be seen or touched.

The story of Thomas is the way the author of John addresses this challenge. By detailing that reluctant disciple’s doubt, John took the words right out of our mouths and put them in Thomas’ instead, so that each of us can then think about how we do (or do not) come to believe.

The story of Easter is a story of personal encounter with the risen Christ. Early in the morning, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb of Jesus. When she finds the stone rolled away she gets Peter and John who run back to the tomb with her. When they see the empty tomb Peter and John believe and return home.

Mary stays in the garden, crying. Thinking she is at first talking to the gardener, Mary encounters the resurrected Christ and believes. Mary goes to all the disciples and says, "I’ve seen the Lord."

That evening 10 of the disciples are behind locked doors and are afraid. Jesus comes and stands among them, and says Peace be with you. The disciples encounter Jesus and believe. Later when Thomas comes, they tell him, "We’ve seen the Lord."

As Jesus’ disciple, Thomas is a devoted follower. But after Jesus’ crucifixion Thomas doesn’t expect to see Jesus alive. Then Mary comes and says I’ve seen Jesus.

When something so incredible and unexpected is reported to you, it is hard to believe, even if you want to believe it.

When Thomas comes back and all 10 of the other disciples tell him, "We’ve seen the Lord," he probably felt just a bit left out. All the rest had seen Jesus, but he missed it.

Even though he still can’t believe Thomas may begin to hope that he will see this incredible thing – the risen Jesus. So even though Thomas says, unless I see and touch I won’t believe he is not without hope. He wants to believe.

It wasn’t that Thomas didn’t have any faith; it was that he wanted to base his faith on his own encounter with the risen Christ.

About a week after Easter, Jesus comes to the room of the disciples again and this time Thomas is there. Thomas encounters Jesus alive he says "My Lord and my God!" Thomas’ personal encounter makes Jesus’ resurrection real to this follower.

This is what Thomas was holding out for: his own encounter with Christ. He wanted his faith to be based on his own personal connection with Christ.

Centuries after Christ rose from the dead, we modern Christians develop our faith much like Thomas. A real and living faith comes from a personal encounter with the crucified and resurrected Christ. Encountering Christ personally makes faith come alive.

We may be attracted to Christ because of the faith of another. The leadership of a 25-year-old young man named Chris blesses my middle school ministry right now. Chris is a good-looking guy, who snowboards, surfs, and was a super jock in high school. Chris is cool. All the kids look up to him.

Our ministry together is a great combo. I lead the bible studies, show inspiring videos, and talk to the kids about Christian values. And cool Chris gets the kids to really think about these things b/c he believes.

The fact that Chris believes in Christ and shows up every Friday night when he could be else where inspires these young people to think that Christ is somebody to believe in. This may be just the thing to open them up to the possibility of Christ that then leads to their own personal encounter.

Mary, Thomas and the rest of the disciples had the benefit of "seeing" the Lord. They literally came face to face with the resurrected Christ, and they believed.

For the readers of John’s gospel and people today it isn’t possible to have this kind of face-to-face encounter with Christ, but it is possible to encounter Christ in a real and personal way. As John tells us, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

The faith story of a woman named Samantha witnesses to us of how a personal encounter with Christ can make all the difference.

Samantha had more than the normal challenges facing most teenagers when she was growing up. The husband of a favorite aunt sexually abused her and her sister. When Samantha told on him she was then the recipient of her family’s anger for ruining the aunt’s happy home life and disrupting the harmony of the entire family.

Samantha then learned that both of her own parents were unfaithful and their marriage broke up. Samantha’s mother married her lover, but later left him. It didn’t bother Samantha so much that she left him. What did bother her is that her mom also left her with this ex-stepfather.

By the time I met Samantha she was a grown woman with her own family, but she still felt deeply wounded by her family and being abandoned by her mother.

She didn’t go to church in her youth, but she told me that it was Christ who sustained her through all her heartache and painful aloneness.

One encounter she remembered vividly was one night when there was a terrific thunderstorm. She went outside in the midst of the rain and wind and thunder. She thought, "What does it matter that I’m out here in this storm – nobody knows I’m here, nobody cares.

In the midst of that despairing moment she heard a voice and she knew instantly that it was the voice of Christ telling her "I’m here with you…I care…you’ll be alright."

Christ was a powerful reality to Samantha because he had spoken to her and she knew she could trust her experience of Christ.

Eventually she found her way to church. Since all her experience of Christ was outside the church, she hoped, but she wasn’t sure Christ would be there.

Samantha had been married for 15 years to Todd who had grown up in church but who as an adult wanted nothing to do with it. On Samantha’s first Sunday in church she was overwhelmed by grace and acceptance she felt from the handful of people she talked with.

She went home and told Todd about her experience and to her amazement he joined her at church the following Sunday. They came every Sunday after that, attended every Bible Study, helped with mission projects and pretty soon Todd was teaching 1^st grade Sunday school and Samantha was in charge of the children’s Easter party.

Through their church Samantha and Todd found a purpose for their lives that had been missing. Samantha told me that it transformed their relationship. She said, "We don’t fight much anymore or sit around home with not much to do."

She felt like all her wishes had come true and she finally had the family that she had missed out on growing up. She knew that Christ had orchestrated this transformation through his powerful overwhelming grace that she experienced at church.

Witnessing the transformation of Samantha and Todd’s lives through the ministry of the church also gave me a glimpse of the risen Christ and made me feel honored to be a part of this ministry.

To have faith in Jesus Christ the resurrected Savior, each one of us has to make a personal connection. The church is the place for us to gather to seek this connection.

Some of us here have already made that connection and are proclaiming, "We’ve seen the Lord!" Others may be saying, "I can’t believe," and are holding out for their own encounter with great hope b/c of all those here who’ve made that personal connection.

I remember a sermon given on Youth Sunday by Mark, a High School Senior, he sounded like Thomas.

He said, "I don’t believe because you believe, I don’t believe because my parents believe. I believe because when I ride my bike in the park in our neighborhood, I feel God’s presence and I know God is real.

Some of us encounter Jesus like Samantha in a powerful experience where we see or hear Christ in a vision. It is so real; we cannot deny Christ’s presence in that moment.

Some of us make a connection with Christ like Mark. It isn’t a voice or a vision we see, but the experience is also so real we cannot deny that Christ is alive.

Both Samantha and Mark hold out like Thomas for that personal encounter with Christ that removes doubt and brings faith.

Perhaps you’ve been wounded, alone or abandoned, or wonder if Christ is still alive, perhaps those you know or love weren’t at home when Christ came to visit. I pray that the spirit of the risen Christ will touch you now in this very moment so that we can proclaim together: Christ is risen!