Eternal Life For Impossible Doubters

Our Gracious God & Lord Deals With Doubt

4.11.21 [John 20:19-31] River of Life (2nd Sunday of Easter)

We live in a world of great and divisive doubts. Imagine for a moment you were tasked with writing a single chapter for a history text book and you had to cover the last decade. You see the value of writing without personal bias. And let’s say, you nailed it. Because you’re awesome. But would everyone else see the past decade your way?

Probably not. Not because they were inaccurate, but because they didn’t see eye to eye with you on some matter.

We live in a world of great and divisive doubts. So many people have great doubts about all kinds of industries and individuals that, at one time, we just kind of trusted implicitly. People have doubts about the governing authorities, politicians in Washington, medical experts at the CDC, police officers in our own community. People have doubts the news media, the entertainment industry, and professional sports. And those doubts are divisive. More often than not, when people with different doubts discuss some matter, it becomes somewhat argumentative. It can quickly get contentious.

You’ve likely had this experience. It was probably with someone you like or love, someone you thought you agreed with on a lot of important matters. You told them something important, something newsworthy, and they weren’t having any of it. Their minds were already made up about that issue. And it felt like, no matter what you said, no matter what evidence you produced, you weren’t gonna get them budge an inch. You gave them the facts, and they responded “Who says?” So you told them and they replied, “Who cares? You can’t trust so-and-so anyway?” And you felt like a dog chasing your tail.

That can be really frustrating, right? Sometimes, we want to throw up our hands, and shout “They’re being impossible!” and just give up the matter all together. But what do you do when the matter is too important to just ignore? What do you do when ignoring the truth comes with serious costs or consequences?

We have all had that kind of frustrating conversation, a time or two. Maybe a few more, a bit more recently. We live in a world of great and divisive doubts. And sometimes we find ourselves speaking with people who’s minds are made up, who are just impossible.

It might be worth pausing here for a brief moment and recognizing this reality. We easily see when other people are being impossible. When we are the ones being difficult, we have a different view, don’t we. We are being cautious or discerning. We’re not so gullible. We’re not so easily fooled. We demand iron-clad proof. Corroborating evidence, in triplicate, that stands up to our examination. We live in a world of great and divisive doubts, and they dwell within our hearts and minds, too. They just seem more reasonable to us.

To a large degree, living in a world of great and divisive doubts is frustrating and unhelpful. But today, it lays a lot of the groundwork for what we’re going to be taking a look at in John 20. Our Gospel text covers two separate Sunday nights 1) Easter Sunday evening, when Jesus first appeared to ten of his disciples and 2) a week later when Jesus appeared to the ten and Thomas too.

Among the appearances of the Risen Jesus, this is probably the best known. These verses are how Thomas earned his infamous Doubting nickname. But it would be somewhat unfair to single him out as if he were the only one with doubts.

On Easter Sunday, the disciples received testimony from the women that the tomb was empty and that an angel had told them Jesus was risen. To them this all (Lk. 24:11) seemed like nonsense. Peter and John had journeyed to the tomb and see that his body was not there, as we focused on last week. More than that strange absence of evidence, that missing body of proof, Mary Magdalene had returned to the disciples on Easter Sunday and told them (Jn. 20:18) I have seen the Lord! (Lk. 24:35) And the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, as well. Though the angels had made it clear what Jesus had done, the other ten disciples had to see it to believe it, too, it seems.

What sets Thomas apart is not that he had some doubts, but how he went about asserting his doubts. Despite the testimony of Mary Magdalene, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and the other ten disciples, Thomas refuses to hear any of what they are saying. He speaks in no uncertain terms, but rather in an almost combative manner. (Jn. 20:25) Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. I don’t care what any of you say.

And knowing how this all works out, we see how silly Thomas looks far before he beholds the Risen Christ. Thomas was being impossible.

But do you recognize yourself in Thomas’ doubts? Maybe you have actually said something similar to these words. Unless I see (fill-in-the-blank) I won’t believe that God is really (powerful, loving, real).

Or maybe you’ve presented an impossible question to God and his believers like If God is really real, how could he allow (such-and-such disaster, or personal experience of suffering) to happen? Where was he?

Might I ask you a question in response? Is that even a sincere question? In my experience, many skeptical people are really just trying to make God’s people feel or look foolish when they ask questions like that. In my experience, many hurting people are lashing out at believers more than they are looking for a cogent response to the reality of pain and suffering in this world. In moments like these, sometimes good questions are really just intellectual and emotional sleights of hand to make outright rejection look like honest doubt.

Maybe you’ve been that impossible person. Maybe you love someone who is impossible right now. Then you should recognize what Thomas is saying and doing here. But it should also feel familiar for another reason.

You see Thomas wasn’t just rejecting the idea that Jesus rose from the dead. But he was also doubting the testimony of Jesus, who told those people he was alive, and the Apostles whom Jesus had blessed with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. At times, we find ourselves doubting the clear testimony of Christ and the Apostles, too.

God calls us, as far as it depends upon our thoughts and words, actions and reaction, to (Rom. 12:18) live at peace with everyone. Does that guide your life? Or do you doubt whether or not that’s even a good idea? Living at peace with people who think like you is hardly everyone. Do you find yourself, instead of living at peace with those who disagree with you, trying to prove that you were right all along?

God call us to submit to so many people around us. He calls husbands and wives to (Eph. 5:21) submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. He calls children to (Eph. 6:1) obey their parents in the Lord. He calls the body of believers (Heb. 13:17) to submit to their spiritual leaders and (Rom. 13:1) citizens to submit to the governing authorities because they have been established by God. But in our lives, we demonstrate that we doubt the scope and the importance of all those kinds of obedience.

Though Christ and the clear teachings of the Apostles call us to be meek or patient, we doubt anyone who’s ever really accomplished anything has time for that. Though they summon us to be generous and not greedy, forgiving not vengeful, perseverant not quick to quit when the spiritual going gets tough, we repeatedly, and even aggressively defend our sinfulness. I worked hard for this, I’m not just gonna give it up. I was wronged, I’m not gonna be a push over. I’ve been through enough, I can’t handle anymore!

Though Christ and the Apostles implore us to let God’s Word dwell among us richly, to gather together with fellow believer regularly, and to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that we have, we accept weak excuses for why we aren’t in God’s Word, we point out all the problems at our local congregation and say that that’s why we’re not more involved, and we tell ourselves that evangelism is best left to the professionals.

For all these reasons and so many more, the defiant doubtfulness of Thomas should feel far too familiar.

Sometimes, our doubts are too bold for its britches. We act confident, even combative when we shouldn’t. Sometimes, our doubts are birthed by our latent fears. We demand evidence, when deep down we fear that even the evidence we’re demanding won’t erase all our doubts.

This is the plight of all Christians. We have faith, simple trust that God is who he says he is and does what he has said he would do. But we also have doubts, issues that make us impossible. It is in these moments that we must be reminded what faith is and does. Faith does not find its strength, its confidence, the answers it craves, in the one who has faith, but in the one in whom we believe. When we have doubts, we must not think or act as if anyone but Jesus has what we need.

Faith remembers how this account concludes. (Jn. 20:26) A week later, when Thomas was with them….Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Jesus did not come to ream Thomas out. He did not come to put the doubting, even combative disciple to shame. You and I probably would do that. But Jesus is our Great and Gracious Lord and God.

Jesus shows Thomas that he is great. He knows all the impossible demands that Thomas made of the disciples. And he provides himself as proof. (Jn. 20:27) See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. Don’t forget, there was only one disciple at the foot of the cross—John. The rest had been scattered when their shepherd had been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Thomas had not been there when Jesus was crucified, much less when he died. But he did not doubt that Jesus had been crucified nor that he had died. In fact, he believed that so strongly that those marks were what he demanded to see to believe that Jesus had really been raised from the dead.

Jesus takes impossible doubters to his side. That was his unique wound, in a manner of speaking. The wounds in his hands and feet were not fatal. But the spear wound in his side was the proof positive to the Roman soldiers that Jesus had really died. And now that wound was proof positive to a doubting disciple that Jesus had really triumphed over death. We live in a world of great and divisive doubts, but we have a great and gracious Resurrected Lord and God who loves us as he did Thomas.

Behind those locked doors, one week after his Resurrection, Jesus had you in mind. (Jn. 20:29) Blessed are those who have not seen my hands and my side, and yet have believed. When we are assailed by doubts, our risen Christ presents himself in his Word. Jesus is graceful and authoritative. He invites our doubting side to inspect his glorified side. When we are doubting, God implores us to gather around the Scriptures with our fellow believers. Even today, Jesus stands among us every time we read and learn his Gospel. (Jn. 20:31) These signs are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Jesus wants to bless you with life in his name and faith in his promises. That’s why he provided tactile evidence of his power and grace. In the Sacrament of Baptism, he attaches his powerful promises to something tangible--the water. In the Lord’s Supper he feeds and nourishes us spiritually for the full forgiveness of our sins. Graciously and authoritatively he invites us to inspect his risen side.

There may be times, like Thomas, you and I struggle with doubt. We live in a world with great and divisive doubt and we are not immune. In these moments of doubt, let us urgently and carefully look where our Lord and God may be found—in his Word. It is in his Word and Sacraments that our doubts begin to erode and ultimately wash away. We see that Jesus is who he says he is, the Son of God. Jesus has done everything God said he would do and he has earned eternal life for us all—even for those who have doubts. (Jn. 20:29) Blessed are you who have not seen, who have come face to face with your doubts, and yet have believed. Easter triumph. Easter joy. This alone can our doubts destroy. No matter how impossible they may be. Amen.