Faith in Doubt

In the world of religion, doubt is generally seen as a bad thing. Religious groups run much more comfortably when all the members share a common set of beliefs. When someone questions those accepted beliefs, or expresses an alternative understanding, they tend to be seen as a problem that needs to be solved. Through the long and tangled history of religion (and politics), very many people have been exiled, tortured or killed for expressing doubt. It is, unsurprisingly, a common feature of human culture that we keep our doubts to ourselves. It’s safer that way.

Thomas was one of Jesus’ core group of pupils, and the only one of that group who was not present when a surprisingly alive Jesus joined his disciples for supper just two days after his execution. It must have been very difficult for Thomas. While he was working through the first phases of grief following Jesus’ brutal demise, his best friends were bouncing around with unprecedented joy, claiming that they had seen Jesus alive. Thomas’s doubt is entirely understandable. His friends’ story was absurd. People do not calmly turn up to supper two days after their own (very public) death. It was a reasonable doubt.

I suspect that for the whole of the following week, Thomas was repeatedly criticised by his friends for not understanding things the way that they did. Since then, centuries of Christian tradition has looked down its collective nose at 'Doubting Thomas'. Jesus, however, did not criticise or reprimand Thomas for doubting; he simply showed his nail-pierced hands and feet and allowed Thomas time to recalibrate his understanding of reality.

There is nothing wrong with doubt. Doubt is a fundamental part of faith. It is what separates faith from certainty. And that is good, because certainty is brittle, whereas faith is robust.

Thomas wasn’t the only one of Jesus’ disciples to doubt the story of the resurrection. Matthew’s Gospel informs us that others did too. What marks Thomas out is that he was the one who was honest about his doubt. 

Most of us, like Matthew’s unnamed doubters, keep our questions and uncertainties to ourselves. We are secret doubters, afraid of how others will react if we admit the points on which our grasp of things is different from the prevailing trend. That is a weakness - both in us and in the communities to which we belong. It would be so much better if we learned to trust our uncertainties, if we could have faith in our doubts, and in the doubts of the people around us.

Servant of Servants - Sunday 30th April 2017

The resurrection of Jesus was not simply a matter of resuscitation. Jesus, after his death and resurrection, was different to his former self. For a start, he seems to have looked a bit different; people didn’t immediately recognise him (though that may have been because they were not expecting to see him). Also, the post-resurrection Jesus doesn’t seem to to have been subject to the laws of nature in the same way. He appeared and disappeared suddenly - even when the doors were firmly locked for fear of the Jews. In his resurrection, Jesus hadn’t returned to his old life; he had moved on to a new life.
But physical features are not that important. What really matters is character and personality because these are the foundation of our relationship with him. Was this the same Jesus as before? Or a different, heavenly version?
The story of Jesus meeting his disciples by the Sea of Galilee, early one morning after an unsuccessful night’s fishing, shows us that the post-resurrection Jesus was very much the same old Jesus. As he ever did, he surprised and confused his disciples. As he ever did, he cared for and provided for his disciples.
In his resurrection, Jesus hadn’t reverted to being an all-powerful super-being, to be treated with terrified deference. Far from it. After his resurrection, Jesus - who had once washed his friends’ stinking feet - cooked breakfast for them. Jesus hadn’t transformed into a king of kings. He remained, as he had ever been, the servant of servants. And so, we should assume, he remains to this day.

Forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness - Sunday 23rd April 2017

When Jesus returned from death on Easter Morning, he caused a lot of confusion. For most of that day his former disciples didn’t know what to make of it, or who to believe. Come evening Jesus finally met up with a group of his followers and demonstrated that the unbelievable rumours of his return were indeed true.
With that fact established, Jesus’ next task was to unfold to them what it had all been for. They had been through a deep trauma, and that trauma had had a clear purpose. Now was the time for him to make that plain (as much as was possible with a group of confused and frightened people).
Most often, when we think about the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection, we think in terms of life after death. That is the obvious conclusion to come to. But that is not the part of it that Jesus saw as being most important. In both surviving accounts of that Easter evening meeting Jesus’ focus was on forgiveness. Luke reports him saying, “forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in [my] name to all nations.” John reports him saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.” Forgiveness is the key to all that happened in those bewildering days of crucifixion and resurrection.
Christian people need to be Easter people. And the key to Easter is forgiveness. We carry on the work of Jesus, not so much by telling the story and persuading people of its truth, but by demonstrating forgiveness and promoting it in the world around us. We need to be campaigners for forgiveness, enthusiasts for forgiveness, champions for forgiveness.

Soaked in God - Sunday 10th April 2016

As soon as Jesus’ disciples had begun to come to terms with his resurrection, he gave them something to do - and it was no small task. He placed his whole mission in their hands. Up to that point, they had been his disciples, and he had been their rabbi. Now it was time for them to become rabbis and teach disciples of their own.
Our task as Christians is to teach: to teach what Jesus taught, and to teach how Jesus taught: in word and action; gently, passionately and with good humour.
In his typically colourful way, Jesus sent his disciples on their way using a metaphor: soak people in the knowledge of God as Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)
Jesus did not send them into the world to make converts, to win arguments, to impose new laws, to build a religion, or to establish a political regime. He sent them to soak people in the knowledge of a loving God.
In the same way, he now sends us.

Proof & Faith - Sunday 3rd April 2016

Jesus’ tomb being empty didn’t really prove anything. The discovery of the empty tomb only left Jesus' friends and family feeling frightened and confused. What made the difference was when those friends and family finally met Jesus - alive and well - two days after seeing him executed, certified dead, and buried.
In the 21st century it can be hard to hold up our faith under the demand for physical proof which our scientific age has come to expect. However the most important part of Jesus’ resurrection does not lie in the physical facts but in the restoration of relationship. This can be seen in the story of Thomas: when he met finally met with Jesus, he no longer needed the hard proof of putting his fingers in the nail holes in Jesus’ hands.
After that first Easter, Jesus made no attempt to prove his resurrection to the people who had rejected him. His consistent priority was to reestablish relationship with the people who loved and trusted him.
As we consider Easter, what matters most is our relationship with the risen Jesus. It is a relationship that is founded in love and trust more than on evidence and proof. And in the everyday realities of live, love and trust are the factors that really direct and motivate us.