Jesus Deals with Doubt - John 20:19-31

Copyright November 21, 2021 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

It may seem on the surface, that a sermon on the appearances of Jesus is not a very good Thanksgiving message. And yet, what greater blessing do we have than to be forgiven and made new by our Lord who died and rose from the dead? The mercy, the grace, the new life, the living hope that is ours because of these events, are blessings so great, they are beyond comparison. I would go so far as to say that any “giving of thanks” that does not include some of what we are talking about today, misses the mark.

Last week we looked at the resurrection of Jesus. Mary and the other women saw Jesus. Peter and John saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes and are convinced He has risen. This morning we look at later in the day on Easter Sunday (remember all the events at the tomb happened relatively early in the morning). We pick up our text in John 20:19.

That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Apostolic Doubt

Isn’t it interesting that in spite of what happened earlier the doors are still bolted shut and fear still permeated the room? Let’s not be too hard on the apostles. They did not know they were all going to see Jesus. They did not know He was going to be around for 40 days to open their minds in a new way or that the Holy Spirit was coming or that the worldwide church was not many years away.

The focus of the disciples was on what the leaders of Israel MIGHT do when they really should have zeroed in on what God DID do in bringing Christ back from the grave. And isn’t this the same problem that we have? Our anxiety, our fear, our apprehension, and that feeling of impending doom enters our life because we look at the sinful decay and depravity of the world around us instead of focusing on God’s victory achieved at the cross and the empty tomb. We look at our weakness and vulnerability in a world becoming more hostile, instead of putting our focus on the fact that God lives in us through the Holy Spirit and is leading us to an eternal future that nothing in this world can touch!

As the disciples worried, Jesus entered the room. Some have concluded Jesus must have been able to walk through walls. That may be the case, but it also may be the case the God opened the locked doors so Jesus could join them. We must always be careful of not making the Bible say more than what it actually says. That is the recipe for false teaching!

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“Peace be with you” or “Peace to you” was the standard greeting of one Jew to another; even to this day, one Jew will say to his friend, “Shalom aleichem,” or “Peace be upon you,” and the other will respond, “Aleichem shalom,” or “Upon you be peace.”

Jesus showed his disciples His hands and the wound in his side. This is the same thing he does for Thomas a week later. He wanted them to know they were not seeing a ghost or part of some vision. The real, living, breathing, touchable, Jesus was alive and standing among them. He wanted to calm their doubts.

“They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!” Talk about understatement! I bet they could barely contain themselves. If someone you loved (say a parent, a spouse, or another family member) came into your room after you knew they were gone you would be so overjoyed, even the strongest of us would likely begin to cry. HOW MUCH GREATER the joy when that someone who returned was the One you believed was the Savior of the world but you had watched Him die! I imagine tears of joy.

The Commission Jesus said to the disciples: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” The image here is like a relay race in track. The first person takes the baton and runs at top speed until they reach the next person, and they pass the baton to them, and they run with all their might! Jesus has passed the baton on to us.

In 2 Cor 5:18-20 we are told

And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

Our assignment, given by our Savior, is to go and tell others! Proclaim the good news that God has provided a rescue plan. Think about this, “Who do you know that needs to know about God’s love for them?” What are you doing to build a bridge to these people? Is it possible to pick that person up for church some Sunday? If the answer is yes, then get to it! Life is oh so short!

22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

The power One of the best ways to nip doubt in the bud is to take a step of faith and let God use you. But that can be a terrifying experience. I think Jesus is addressing this reality when He breathed on the disciples. He was giving them intermediate power to motivate them to tell others.

Throughout the Old Testament men were given the Holy Spirit for a particular task. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to stay and reside in every believer. I believe Jesus gave these disciples the Holy Spirit in this Old Testament situational setting, until the Holy Spirit came more fully.

God doesn’t simply send us out into the world, He equips us for the work He has given us to do. Every believer is given the Holy Spirit to help, guide, and use us for the building of God’s Kingdom here on earth.

The meeting with Jesus ended with these words:“ If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” These are confusing words. We know we do not have authority to forgive sins. God is one offended so only He can forgive. However, as His representatives in the world, we can announce and proclaim the reality of forgiveness and new life in Christ. We can also tell someone who refuses to repent that they are not forgiven. We are HIS ambassadors, not mavericks making up the rules as we see fit.

The Reluctance of Thomas

The story continues in the verses that follow,

24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

We know Thomas best as “doubting Thomas” because of this account. However, listen to Luke’s account,

Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? 39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” 40 As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

41 Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder Jesus was standing right in front of the disciples and they still doubted.

Os Guinness describes the doubt of the disciples this way,

What they were seeing was the one thing in the world they wanted most. That was precisely the trouble. They wanted it so much that to believe it and then discover it was false would have been profoundly disillusioning. So, instead, they preferred the safety of doubt to the rick of disappointment. (Doubt p. 134)

This same thing could have certainly been said about Thomas. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to believe; he simply could not open himself up to another disappointment after the death of Jesus.

Earlier in our text today Jesus showed the other disciples His hands and the wound in his side. Why? Because the disciples were having a hard time believing it was true Jesus stood before them, they were guarded, protecting themselves from more heartache.

Several times Jesus chided the disciples for their doubt. We are told when we pray, we are to pray without doubting. In the book of James we are told to ask for wisdom without wavering. But if we are honest, we admit we sometimes doubt. We believe, but there is a part of us that wonders if we are being duped. This is when we need each other in addition to the power of God inside of us. We must trust the character of God even if the power of God seems to be taking us in a confusing direction.

When Zechariah was told he was going to have a son in his old age, Zechariah said,

18 “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” (Luke 1:18)

God’s response was to punish Zechariah for his doubt. He was unable to speak until John the Baptist was born. But just a few verses later,

Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you! (Luke 1:35)

They ask basically the same question. One is punished, the other is enlightened and honored! Zechariah apparently had trouble believing that what the angel said could be true. another words, he doubted the word of the Lord. Mary on the other hand, was questioning the mechanics of what was going to happen. She believed what the angel said was true, she didn’t know how it could happen.

What kind of doubt was that of Thomas? I can’t put Thomas in some neat box. Doubt is sometimes messy. When Thomas saw Jesus there was no holding him back. He was “all in.” He bowed before Jesus saying, “my Lord, and my God.” We can easily take this for granted. But we should not. Thomas was a good Jew. All his life he had been taught about blasphemy and the sin of calling any created being “God.” Thomas does not hold back. He now sees clearly and fully. He boldly declared Jesus to be God.

Jesus commended those who, like Thomas, believe even though they weren’t able to see and touch Jesus as Thomas did. Jesus was talking about us.

We have all wished, at times, that the Lord would appear to us or talk to us in an audible voice or some dramatic dream. But what we don’t recognize is God talks to us through His Word. If we listen, if we trust, we can push our doubts to the side and live joyfully before him.

John finished chapter 20 with these words,

30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

John said the whole reason he wrote his gospel was so we might be among those who “do not see, yet believe.” The personal accounts, the testimony of the signs Jesus performed, the power of His message, the transformation that took place because He entered a life, was all written down so you and I would believe.

Combatting Doubt

If we are going to combat doubt, that “paralyzing, I’m afraid to move forward doubt,” there are some things we can do.

1) Ask God to show you more clearly. If we are not sure God is leading us in a particular direction ask God to show you more clearly. If we ask, we will receive. But we must ask sincerely, with a desire to follow.

2) We must focus on the character of the one giving the commands. When God gives a command, His reputation is on the line. To ignore what He says is an offense of great significance. We need to learn to ask, “Is He trustworthy, or isn’t He?”

3) It is helpful to have “solid evidence” to turn to. This will help you regain your balance. One of those markers is the resurrection of Jesus. If you really study the resurrection and become convinced of it in the deepest part of you, you can return to these facts and evidences whenever doubt arises. When I field a question in my head that says, “but what if it isn’t true?” I do back to the evidence for the resurrection and remind myself that it IS true.

4) In times of doubt run honestly to the people of God. The worst thing we can do is withdraw.

Alexander Maclaren urges: “The worst thing that a man can do when disbelief, or doubt, or coldness shrouds his sky, and blots out the stars, is to go away alone and shut himself up with his own, perhaps morbid, or, at all events, disturbing thoughts. The best thing that he can do is to go amongst his fellows. If the sermon does not do him any good, the prayers and the praises and the sense of brotherhood will help him.” Of all the blessings that we miss when we fail to attend church, the most certain is the strengthening of our faith through the ministry of God’s Word. (Phillips Reformed Expository Commentary)

Conclusions

Doubts are not sin. Satan wants to get us to doubt. He whispers questions into our heart and soul continually. Sinful doubt is the doubt that makes us walk away from the faith. we can help each other by,

1) Being honest about our struggles with doubt.

2) Not freaking out when someone else tells us they have some doubts.

3) Reminding each other of what we already know about Jesus.

4) By immersing ourselves in God’s Word rather than surrounding ourselves with secular voices.

5) By maintaining fellowship with our other believers. When we are strong, we can help those who are weak, when we are weak we will be helped by those who are strong.

I hope we also see that when we really do believe (like Thomas) we will understand Jesus to be our Lord in addition to our Savior. He is the One we should follow. His commands are the ones we should set as the priority for our lives. If we do not embrace Jesus as the Lord of our lives, it is likely we don’t understand who He is as savior either.

Finally, perhaps we should stop referring to Thomas as “doubting Thomas.” No one wants to be remembered for their weakest moment in life. We know how difficult it is to break free of our past mistakes and failures. As a result, we sometimes become guarded so no one ever learns of our past. Tradition says Thomas went on to preach the gospel to India. He was martyred for his faith. He lived his life as a wonderfully faithful follower of Jesus. That’s how he should be remembered.

We can help and support each other by deliberately looking for the change that grace has made in us rather than constantly spotlighting the failures that show why we so desperately need God’s grace. In other words, let’s look for and celebrate the growth in each other rather than spotlighting the past. Let’s believe that we are really “new creations in Christ where the old has past away and the new has come.”

We are not only like Thomas in the fact that we sometimes doubt, we also can be like him in the way our doubt has been replaced by faith and we have left the doubt behind to move forward in joy and confidence in the One who gave His life for us.