John 20:19-29

Bloomfield KY Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

April 16, 2023

            Today is a great day in the life of the church. That's right - Sunday, April 16, is a high holy day on the church calendar.  If it's not, it should be.  For you see, it was on the eighth day – Easter Sunday being the first day-- that the disciple named Thomas finally came around to believing:  “Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.”  (John 20:26)  At first Thomas doubted.  But when the eighth day rolled around he stood tall and made his good confession, "My Lord and my God!"  Let’s look today at Thomas’ journey from doubt to devotion.

            Thomas' journey to faith began in doubt.  But then again, many of the Bible's most faithful figures doubted at first. Thomas is one in a long line of biblical doubters. 

• Abraham and Sarah were the Father and Mother of Faith all right but they were also the first to doubt.  God told them they were going to be parents and their ancestors would be as numerous as the stars, whereupon Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?  Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Genesis 17:17).

• Then there was "Doubting Moses."  He stood before a burning bush that told him he'd be leading his people out of slavery to the Promised Land.  His response?  "You must have the wrong number, Sir.  I'm not the right guy for the job.  They don’t call  me Mumblin’ Moses for nothing." (Exodus 3, 4:1-15)  Call it doubt. 

• And what about the rest of the disciples?  They didn't believe at first either.  Luke tells us the women’s words “seemed to them to be an idle tale and they did not believe" (Luke 24:11).  Thomas is but one of  the Bible’s doubters.

            Evidently, a healthy faith can be seasoned with a measure of healthy doubt.  Paul Tillich said, “Doubt is not the opposite of faith but an element of faith.”  Frederick Buechner wrote: “Doubt is the ants in the pants of faith.  Doubt keeps faith awake and moving.” Many journeys from doubt to devotion include seasons of saying, “I can’t believe it!” 

            Think about it:  Do you really think the first words off Thomas’ lips upon being told of Jesus’ resurrection could have been, “I believe it!”  What are the kinds of things we say "I believe it" in response to? 

• Did you hear the cost of living is going up?  I believe it. 

• Did you read where there is unrest in the Middle East?  I believe it. 

• Did you hear the vote on that recent bill in Congress was divided along party lines.  Democrats voted one way.  The Republicans voted the other.  I believe it!

When someone passes on information that is to be expected we say, "I believe it." 

            But the resurrection of a man from the dead is not information that is to be expected.  If the disciples had told Thomas, "Jesus is risen from the dead and he appeared to us and said 'Peace be with you' and Thomas said, "I believe it," I bet the disciples would have responded, "Did you hear what we said?  We said raised from the dead!"  The only honest response to receiving word that Christ is risen and the promises of God are unfolding before our very eyes is "I can't believe it." 

            Last Sunday, Easter shouted its promises for all to hear: Christ is risen! Sins are forgiven! Failures are not futile! Death is not final! Grief is not forever! Fears are not to be feared!  But if you heard those promises, nodded your head and said, “I believe it!” I’d question whether you really heard what it was he said.  The only honest response to hearing the announcements of Easter is, “I can’t believe it.        

            So, what do you do when you can’t quite believe something?

            Do you investigate?  Inquire.  Ask questions.  How are you with asking questions?  Kids ask questions-- a lot of them.  Adults, on the other hand, tend to keep our questions to ourselves. Why? We’re afraid to appear ignorant so we say,  "This is probably a stupid question, but..."  I had a professor who told us the only stupid question is the unasked one because Jesus' greatest teachings were prompted by questions. If nobody’d asked the question, we’d never have benefitted from Jesus’ answer. 

            For instance, the question, "Lord, would you teach us to pray?" led to Jesus teaching the Lord's Prayer. 

            The question, "Lord, what must  I do to inherit eternal life?" led to the parable of the Good Samaritan. 

            John Chapter 3 begins with fifteen verses of questions and follow-up questions put to Jesus by a confused Pharisee named Nicodemus that culminate in Jesus’ offering a final answer in verse 16:  “For God so loved that world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosover believes in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.”

            Some of the Bible’s best teachings are responses to good questions.      

            Then again, some of us withold our questions because we picked up the notion that it’s some kind of a sin to ask a question. Questions = doubt.  Doubt = bad.  Therefore, Questions = bad.  I had a friend I grew up with from 7th grade all the way through high school.  I saw him several years ago at a reunion. We got caught up on what we each were doing and Eric said, “So you’re a pastor. I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t been to church for a long, long time. “

            “What happened?”

            “Well, I was going through confirmation class.  We were being taught all kinds of things about the Bible, about faith, about what Christians believe.  For the first time in my life I got to thinking, really thinking about everything they were saying and I had some questions.  So I asked them.” 

            “And?”  

            “And I remember being told after one of the classes, ‘You ask too many questions.’”

            “And when I got home, I told my Mom what had happened and she said, ‘Why don’t you just believe what you’re told?’

            What was Jesus’ response to Thomas’ questioning?  Did he say, "Shut up and quit asking so many stupid questions?” No, Jesus invited him to poke and prod to his heart's content: "Go ahead.  Put your finger here.  Look at my hands. Stretch out your hand and put it in my side.  Do not be faithless, but believing." (John 20:27).

            What that says to me is that our Risen Lord wants to be known by us. And if our coming to know him better and believe in him more fully requires our asking probing, prodding, pointed questions, bring 'em on.  "Go ahead," Jesus says, "Investigate.  Ask whatever you want."  Please, for the sake of growing in faith and understanding, feel free to ask questions. 

            There are, after all, only two types of people who don’t ask questions. 

            1)  Those who know it all (the arrogant) 

            2)  Those who don't care (the apathetic) 

            Jesus didn’t have kind words for either one.

            You see, Doubting Thomas finally came to faith.  He made one of the grandest confessions in all the New Testament,  “My Lord and my God!” But I want you to note when Thomas confessed his faith in the risen Lord: It was on a Sunday night, a full week after Easter. I call the faith Thomas had “eighth day faith.” Not too many people attain it.  Many people have “first day faith.” On the first day, Easter day, when the adrenaline is pumping and the lilies are abounding and a larger than average number of worshippers are attending, all systems are Go for believing and first day faithers’ faith burns bright.  They say "He is risen!" and "My Lord and my God!" and in response to the message of resurrection they say, "I believe it."   

            But eight days later, many first-day faithers are nowhere to be seen.  All that bubbly enthusiasm fades away right along with the drooping lily blossoms. First day faith is fine if it lasts. Thomas makes his confession a whole week later.  On a Sunday night. After the last of the lilies have been removed from the sanctuary.  And the parking lot is empty.  When all that's left in the Easter baskets is a few wisps of green plastic grass and a stale yellow marshmallow chick. After the out-of-town guests have gone home, the angel has returned to heaven and the goosebumps have long disappeared, Thomas makes his confession – on the eighth day,  a week after Easter.    

            The question is, “Are we able to say, ‘My Lord and my God!’ with the same enthusiasm eight or eighty days later as we are on Easter Sunday morning? Will we be as enthused about the Gospel on August 9th as we were on April 9th?  Some never get to eighth day faith. There aren’t near as many people in worship the Sunday after Easter as there are on Easter Sunday.  They don’t call it “Low Sunday” for nothin’. But your being here this morning suggests to me you may be one of those rare people with eighth day faith. In it for long haul.  Not just here for the mountain top experiences, but also for the valleys as well as the long stretches of ordinary days. 

            I want you to know God can do some great things with people who wrestle though honest doubt to become eighth day faithers.  A few years ago, I ate breakfast with an interesting man.  He spoke English with an accent I couldn’t quite place so I asked where he was from.  The south of India.  “Which church?” I asked.  He answered, ”The Church of St. Thomas.”  He then told me how his church traces its history all the way back to Thomas who, according to tradition, went to India as a missionary for Jesus and founded the church that today is known as the Church of St. Thomas.  How Thomas built a church there with his own hands to the point that his symbol is a carpenter’s square -- and a spear—for that which pierced his side as he followed his Lord into death for his belief.  To think that the man nicknamed “Doubting Thomas” died for his faith and planted and built a church that has produced 2,000 years worth of believers!

            So if you’ve got some questions you’ve always wondered about—about God, about Jesus, about the Christian faith—Great.   Don’t ever apologize for honest doubt-- for faith seeking understanding-- because there is precedent for God using a disciple such as you to build a church that can withstand the test of time.

            I have no doubt about that.

            Let all the people with eighth day faith say AMEN.