Doubting Thomas

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Doubting Thomas 1st May 2011: 8.00am and 10.00am

Revd Alison Camplin

• Psalm 16
• Acts 2:14a,22-32
• John 20:19-31

Last Sunday was a joyful time, a time of celebration as we finished our Lenten journey and came to Easter Day. We all celebrated the resurrection by affirming our faith saying the wonderful Easter greeting “Christ is risen”- “He is risen indeed” and now today as we continue our journey in Eastertide we come to the story of Thomas.

I always feel sorry for Thomas because I believe he has bad press. Thomas is remembered for his questioning, his lack of faith and his doubt. He is often called Doubting Thomas yet there was so much more to Thomas than one who doubted. I think we should change his nick name from Doubting Thomas to Honest Thomas as he is an encouragement for us all.

I can image Thomas as one of those children who always asked questions. You know the children and the questions “Why did that happen”, “How do you know”. And I can image his parents and teachers getting cross and frustrated and saying “I know just because I know, Thomas,” or “It is true because I say so.” Those answers would not have helped Thomas’ enquiring mind and they would not have stopped him questioning everything.

As Thomas journeyed with Jesus he was still asking questions. In John 14 Jesus was trying to explain what was about to happen. “And you know the way to the palace where I am going. Thomas, in his direct honest manner said to Jesus “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way” Jesus reply with one of his greatest statements “I am the way, and the truth and the life- no one comes to the Father except through me. V4-6 . Here we see that one of the most well known statements in Christianity comes from a question asked by Thomas.

So when the disciples told Thomas they had seen Jesus he just kept questioning and doubting. “How can some one be dead and then alive”. I need to see Jesus with my own eyes. I need to see the marks of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side.” Thomas didn’t believe the disciples he wanted to experience the touch and sight of Jesus for himself. When Jesus showed himself to Thomas, we don’t know if he actually touched the scars but we do know that Thomas cried out “My Lord, and My God”. Thomas was the first person after Easter to call Jesus God. What a fantastic prayer- “My Lord and My God”. These are words of a declaration of absolute faith from someone who has moved from doubt to faith.

As Thomas Merton said: “Faith is not the suppression of doubt. You overcome doubt by going through it. You cannot be a person of faith unless you know how to doubt. In the story of Thomas we see that he had both doubt and faith.

Jesus then said to Thomas “You believed in me because you have seen me with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who come to believe in me without having seen me. This is a message to us today. Jesus and his resurrection show us that God uses the hard places, the pain and wounds of life to transform us from the inside. This transformation for some happens very quickly, for others more slowly, but we are changed and we are given new life and hope.

The world today gives us many examples of unfairness which make us question and have doubt. We hear about the violence to young children, the natural disasters, the civil unrest, the sick, the hungry to name a few. As we cry out in horror and disbelieve we long to see and to catch a glimpse of hope in them. As people were interviewed about the tornado that hit parts of America on Friday a mother said” All I could do was to hold onto my family and pray God would keep us safe. In the mist of disaster she had hope. As we doubt we need to remember we have a God who knows and feels our pain, our suffering and our hurt.

We experience God’s love as we experience the love of community, and of people we can trust. It is as we walk alongside others that we can get and give encouragement. Today we see the risen Christ when we see the scars of others. The scars of life on people like us who are imperfect, people who struggle with doubt, people with a past, with regrets, and with disappointments. People who do what Jesus did and reach out in love and care for others.

Thomas is an encouragement to us all because he was a person who was honest in his struggles to understand. He was a person who needed to experience and find out the truth himself. Thomas was a person who believed not because others said he must but because he had experienced and witness God through the words and actions of Jesus. The story of Thomas helps us to know that it is Ok to question and have doubts. It reminds us to be honest with ourselves and with others. We need to ask and voice those deep hard questions. Those questions help us to have a faith that is strong, a faith that we own and proclaim to others, and a faith that is not blind. We will have a faith that is based on scripture, on the words and works of Jesus. We will have a faith with the resurrection at its heart. Remember Thomas has so much to teach us about life.

1.We learn from Thomas that we must move beyond doubt to faith.

2.We learn that life requires us to take that step of faith and trust.

3.We learn that resurrection is at the heart of our faith.

So no matter where you are on the road of faith let the risen Christ walk with you today, tomorrow, and every day.

Prayer: Jesus, like Thomas we want to see, we want to touch, we want to be sure before we believe. When we are not sure, help us to trust you; when we don’t see, help us to keep on walking with you; help us to stop doubting and to keep believing. Amen.