Doubt Increases Faith

John 20:19 - 31

            Last week we received our Easter message and read about Mary’s encounter with the risen Christ; how Mary had confronted the gardener at the empty tomb concerning the whereabouts of Jesus’ body.  After a moment of discussion, the gardener called Mary by name and instantly she realized that it was her teacher and friend, Jesus, which stood before her.  Rabonni, she cried, which is translated as, “My Teacher.”  In an instant, at the sound of her name, all the worries of the world and the tears that distracted her from recognizing her Jesus were swept away.  Jesus had called her by name and Mary responded.

Then there is Peter and John.  They had rushed to the tomb when Mary had told them that it was empty.  Equally alarmed that someone had taken away the body of the teacher, they wasted no time in seeing for themselves what Mary had told them was true.  But when Mary later tells them of her encounter with the risen Christ, they do not seek.  There seems to be an abundance of time and a lack of urgency.  Why is that?  Why didn’t they go looking for him?  Why an apparent grave robbery was seemingly more intriguing than an apparent resurrection from the grave is beyond me.  Hadn’t Jesus taken the time to teach them about and prepare them for this event?

            These are difficult questions to answer.  Today’s scripture reading tells us that the Disciples were huddled together behind locked doors.  The door was locked.  Why would the Disciples be hidden away from the world behind locked doors?  Perhaps a stolen body would have been a little easier to digest than a resurrected Christ.  At least with a stolen body, there was still affirmation in the finality of death.  But a risen Jesus would call for some alarm.  The disciples knew that it was entirely possible.  They had, after all, seen Lazarus resurrected so to conceive that Jesus himself had defeated death was not outside of their understanding.  If Jesus was back from the dead, then I imagine the disciples believed that they were in for it. 

            Could it have been that they were afraid of running into Jesus himself?  Certainly Peter would have had reason to be afraid to run into Jesus.  The last time Peter had spoken to Jesus, his words had been full of confidence.  But then some hours later a rooster crowed and Peter seriously considered following Judas down a path of destruction.  It wasn’t just Peter who had denied their Christ and fled, but all of the other disciples had fled Gethsemane; frightened like sheep in a storm.

Yet all the while these ten disciples are hiding behind locked doors, our scripture reading tells us that Thomas was not with them.  Where had he been?  Possibly he was out looking for Jesus.  John’s gospel tells us that he was called Didymus which translates as Twin.  The very nickname itself implies that Thomas had a unique relationship with Jesus.

Though not biologically Jesus’ twin, it is apparent that the two shared a common spirit, closer maybe it seems than did the other disciples with Christ.  I have two brothers and two sisters and love them all unconditionally.  If you have brothers and sisters of your own, then you must know what I mean.  In addition, however, one of my brothers is also my twin.  Though I love him as unconditionally as my other siblings, there is a special bond that we share.  It’s indescribable to anyone who does not have a twin of their own, but it binds us in a way that no other relationship can.  I lost a sister a few years ago to a brain aneurism.  It is hard to lose someone you love and you never fully recover from that loss, but eventually you move on.  However, if my twin were to leave me without notice, I believe I would feel that my own life had ended.

The loss that Thomas felt must have been incredibly indescribable.  Maybe he was not with the other Disciples because he still needed time to sort things out or maybe he was desperately trying to find the risen Christ.  How disappointed and hurt he must have felt when he returned to the Disciples to learn that he had missed seeing his Lord.  His doubt was not his downfall.  It was reactive.  Almost like that of a child who reacts to not getting his way.  If I can’t share in the experience, then I will not accept that anyone has.  I will not believe unless I see the marks of Jesus crucifixion in His hands and place my hand into His side.  A pretty tall order, I think. 

But that is what doubt does to us.  It causes us to question all that we know and believe.  Sometimes our questions seem legitimate, and why shouldn’t they.  Many of us have found ourselves on the receiving end of some very hurtful interpretations of God’s Word and because we, for whatever reason, felt unable to question those beliefs, we denied ourselves an opportunity to learn for ourselves what God had in store for each of us.  Isn’t wonderful to know that God has a plan?  God can and will use our doubt to strengthen our faith.  Jesus let Thomas wait eight days before he appeared to the Disciples again and this time to Thomas, as well.  For eight days Thomas was forced to explore his doubt, to hear from the other Disciples all that had occurred that day as Thomas was apart from them.  Jesus could have appeared instantaneously during that first moment of Thomas doubt, but he didn’t.  And so it is for us.  Our doubts, our fears and our questions should be discerned; mulled over, if you will.  Jesus let that doubt work in Thomas and to strengthen all that Thomas had learned and saw during Christ time before His crucifixion and so, too, Christ allows us time to hash out our own beliefs and salvation.

There may be some here today who believe that they do not have doubt but it is reasonable to say that we all have had our doubts at one time or another.  Have you ever prayed something like, "O God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul, so I can go to heaven, if there is a heaven.”  Some of us may laugh, but doubt is usually not a laughing matter.  Dealing with doubt is difficult. 

A Christian businessman is laid off only six months before retirement and the company he worked for somehow managed to finagle it so that he lost all his retirement benefits.  He honestly expresses his anger to God, "God, that's not fair! I don't know if Christianity is worth it!  How can you say you love me when you allow something bad like this to happen."  Have you ever been there?  Have you ever wondered if God really did care about you?

You watch a news documentary about the devastating drought in a third world country.  There’s a mother cradling her dead baby crying out in anguish.  You can’t understand her words, but you imagine she is saying something like, “God, why did you let my baby die.  All we needed was a little rain?  Why did you let my baby die?”  You begin to wonder how a good God could do such a thing.  Or fail to be moved to prevent it.  Have you ever had these kinds of thoughts?

A man says, “I can’t imagine a God who would put anyone in hell for eternity.  I would never willingly torture anyone no matter how evil he was.”  You feel the weight of his words and begin to wonder about the doctrine of hell yourself.

Doubts; they can be nagging.  They can be overwhelming.  They can even devastate your faith.  But as we saw in our reading today, Christ is faithful.  He is faithful to be with us, to give us strength and to allow our doubts to work to our advantage, if only we continue to trust in Him.  Even a believer of the status of Thomas, a Disciple who had walked with Jesus, one who had heard his teachings, witnessed the healing of the sick and even saw Lazarus raised from the dead; had doubts.  He didn’t runaway because of his doubt but rather he persevered.

At the end of the week, when Thomas was in the company of the disciples’, Jesus appeared again to them.  Immediately he went to his friend (his twin) Thomas, and asked him to touch him, doubt no more – and believe.  Jesus did not reprimand Thomas for doubting nor did he ridicule him for reacting the way that he did to the news of His Resurrection.  He simply met Thomas where he was.

As a result of his perseverance, Thomas was blessed. Out of this experience, Jesus, being the great teacher that he is, teaches Thomas and the others another valuable lesson concerning his resurrection.  Verse 29 states, “‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’"

God delights in our humanity and through our relationship with Christ Jesus, delights in us – even when we stumble and question our existence – even when we doubt.  God is there with us, even when we cannot see or feel God; God is there, beyond our senses. 

Each experience of our lives, however minuscule or profound, allows us the opportunity for a fresh new start; a new hope for a new day and a new beginning.  Knowledge is important, but faith is what matters most.  Hold on to your faith when you doubt and when you believe.  Trust that God is working through the uncertainty, the doubt and the unanswered questions of your life.  AMEN.

Wait, Watch, Listen

Mark 13:24-37

We live our lives situated in between the two Advents of the Christ: The Advent that was long ago in Bethlehem and the Advent that is yet to be. In this meantime, Jesus urges us to be watchful. We need to always be living in the ways Jesus showed us because not only could Jesus return at any time, but we already live every moment in the presence of Jesus. The Season of Advent is not just about either looking to the past or looking to the future; it is about today, living in the present, living out our kingdom call right here, right now!

This is why we make such a big deal this morning about the rooster crowing. In our reading today, Jesus urged Peter and the others to wait, watch and listen to every moment as though it could be the last. Along the way, Jesus said that for all anyone knew, a moment of apocalyptic unveiling could happen at any time, even when the rooster crows at 1:30 in the morning. It is quite plausible that Peter heard all this and figured that if such a thing ever happened maybe he'd not even be around anymore when the end would finally come.

Then, just a few short hours later, a rooster crows at 1:30 in the morning and the full truth of Jesus came crashing down around Peter’s ears. Peter did not need to live to see the final Day of Judgment. In that single moment, in that single cry of that rooster Peter experienced his apocalypse, his encounter with the living God. What Peter perhaps thought was a long ways off when Jesus first talked about it turned out to be far closer, far more urgent than he ever imagined. As it turns out, for Peter and perhaps for many of us today, any and every crying of the rooster is a moment potentially full of God.

One God, One Love

One God, One Love
Mark 12:28 - 34

November 1, 2009

During the last few weeks we have been looking at Jesus’ final travels with his disciples.  The disciples have debated amongst themselves not only about who is the greatest amongst them, but also concerning who will have the pleasure of sitting to the left and to the right of the Messiah in the Kingdom that is to come.  Last Sunday, reminding us once again about the importance to serve others, regardless of our current state of awareness, we met up with Jesus as he was leaving the city of Jericho, on his way to the city of Jerusalem.  The blind beggar, Bartimaeus, devoid of the need to be seen, seeks to see again, not so that he may return to the life he knew before his blindness, but so that he may look forward to a life serving others, to be a disciple of the one true Christ.

We are aware through our recent studies that many are making their way from all over the region to the capital city of Israel to celebrate the Passover and so it is not unusual for Jesus to encounter large crowds of people during these last days of his public ministry.  Intermixed within these crowds Jesus also encounters the enemy, as characterized by the religious leaders of the time who are attempting to discredit Jesus through public debate.  We recall one such example of this in Mark 10 when the Pharisees asked “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”  Jesus responds to their inquiry by adamantly instructing them that man has no right to attempt to tear apart what God has joined together.  Jesus’ words were not only compelling because of his response to Mosaic Law, but because his words spoke to a deeper meaning of relationship and the authority to which we submit ourselves in our relationship with our God through Christ.  These increasing accounts of questioning and debate seem almost to serve as a prediction of the events that are to come once Jesus and his followers have spent a few days in the capital city of Jerusalem.

In our scripture reading this morning, we read of a scribe who has begun to question Jesus on the details of Mosaic Law.  There were 613 laws designated under the law; 365 were negative commandments and 248 were positive in nature.  Describes in terms of “heavy” and “light” it is important to note that while many of the laws were derived from scripture, many were part of oral tradition; tradition that had led to the development of these extra laws through a response to interpret the Mosaic Law.  Jesus does not respond with one of the Ten Commandments we have grown to be so passionate about in American Christianity today, but rather gives a response that is a combination of the Shema, a well known prayer that comes from the Deuteronomy 6:4-5 which reads, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” and a passage of scripture found in Leviticus 19:18 which reads, “'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”  And so with these two recitations, Jesus manages to sum up 613 commands.

It is not unlikely that the scribe find some comfort and understanding in the Jesus’ response.  In fact, Jesus commends and encourages him as one who is, “not far from the kingdom.”  With a basic understanding of such a simple construct, love, the scribe has found himself in favor with Christ and so we too can learn something about obeying God’s law through our understanding of these two commands.  Recall that Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law” and so we begin to see that Jesus is speaking of bringing life, love and relationship back to a lost and dying world.

In answering the scribe’s question, Jesus quoted from the Shema, probably the most important prayer recited by observant Jews.  In summarizing all the commandments of Scripture and tradition by way of the Shema, Jesus is simply following the teaching of his Word and the intent of the Mosaic Law.  Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord," recited in the Shema, is regarded as a confession of belief in One God, that is, we are reminded here first and foremost that there is only the one true God.  Immediately following these words, verse 5 instructs us to “Love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul and with all [our] strength.”  I can’t help but hear the words, “One God, One Love” ring out from these words from Deuteronomy.   All of Mosaic Law is summarized here by the command to love God and others.

So what do we mean by love?  I want you to know this morning that I love each and every one of you here today.  But the love I have for you is more than just a love we have grown to know cheaply in our world today.  In the musical, Moulin Rouge, the opening scene presents us with our main character, who ironically is named Christian, typing away frantically at his typewriter in an attempt to put into words a love that he has come to know; to verbalize on paper the important lessons of life.  “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn,” he writes, “is to love and to be loved in return.” 

Ladies and gentleman I must declare to you today that life and relationship is much more than that.  It is not to love in the way we as a culture and community have come to know through warm fuzzies defined by a feeling we have in the pit of our stomach whenever that special someone in our life enters into the room and it is certainly not about being loved in return, at least not in the since of defining our self worth by our relationships with others.  Our concept of self cannot and should not be defined by how others view us, by our relationship status or by how a nation defines legally recognized partnerships and marriages. 

The word most often used in the New Testament for God’s love is word agape, which means a love that expresses itself in practical and sacrificial service for others, regardless of their deserving.  Agape love is then a lot like grace, the grace given to you and I by an all powerful, all caring God.

In John 4:8 we read that God is love.  As Paul Scherer says, it is easy to confuse this statement with a definition of God.  But we can say a lot more about God than that he is love.  God is holy.  God is almighty.  God is wisdom.  So, love does not adequately define God, rather God in his infinite ability to provide us with all that we are undeserving to receive, defines love for us.  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son . . .” is another verse that describes the costly love of God.  It is a love that begins with and must come from God.  (Scherer)

God so loved that he gave and His love is given to us regardless of our interest in him our response to him.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all are saved regardless of interest or response, only that God gives His love to us regardless of our interest and response.  Paul in his letter to the Romans says God demonstrated love for us when we were powerless, ungodly and sinful.  In fact, he says God saved us while we were yet sinners and thus enemies of God.  Jesus response is often referred to as the Great Commandment; a commandment that calls us to love God with the same kind of love that God has shown us and to in turn express that love to others with the same kind of costly love.  “One God, One Love” takes us a long way from the sentimental notions of love as a mutual exchange of feelings and admiration.  Loving God is about action and our love for God gets expressed in ways that honor God and honor those who are made in God’s image.

Loving is call from God; a call to serve – a call to action.  It is also a call to awareness.  First to become a aware of those who we are called to serve and second and equally important, an awareness to love those we are led to in a way that is meaningful to them.  As Followers of God, it is important to love others in ways that are clear to them.  They need to know that our response to serve is indeed a response to love and not a response to charity, pity or a need to satisfy our own desires to be seen.  Simply stated, if the person you are called to serve is not aware of the love that supports that service, then your love cannot have the fully intended effect. 

It is easy for us to understand this in terms of romantic love.  We send text messages to our partners in the middle of the day, buy them small gifts when they least expect, prepare their favorite meal at the end of a hard day and sacrifice our time to attend to their needs.  These same sorts of responses extend to our community of faith, as well.  In order to show love to not only the people of this community of faith, but to those within our surrounding community, we must be willing to do so in tangible ways.  James wrote about his as he criticized the Christians who told the hungry and cold to “Go, be warmed and well-fed” without lifting a finger to five them something to eat or something to wear.  Love must express itself in ways that are understandable.

So as we move into the busy season of the Holidays that are fast approaching us today; seasons that for many of us will be filled with food, family, fellowship and giving, but for some will be void of many of these things we have grown to expect and in some cases even take for granted, let’s be reminded of the Great Command that Jesus has given us – Love God with all your heart, soul and strength and to love others as you would yourself (or your own).  Our call to action does not have to be a grand gesture of sacrifice; it can be small and humble.  It isn’t the size of the gesture, but rather the effectiveness of the gesture to meet a need.

When it comes to loving others, Jean Varnier, founder of a faith based ministry for people with intellectual disabilities, says that love must – reveal value in the other person, offer understanding, aid in communication, celebrate the life of the other person, provide people with a since of empowerment, offer an opportunity to part of a community and to assist in forgiving and forgiveness.  Love is not always about creating lifelong earthly relationships or about becoming solely responsible for the everyday well being of those around us.  It is about meeting a need, fostering self worth and being Jesus to a lost and dying world.  Love means I see value in you and tell you I do; I listen to you enough to understand what you are saying; I communicate with you and receive communication from you; I celebrate the wonder that is your life, no matter the difficulty of its present circumstance; I empower you to act on your own and to take responsibility for living up to your potential; I move with a community that includes you and others who are all seeking to love in the ways that God has shown us love; and, I forgive you and ask that you forgive me.  (Vanier)

Could we add one more component to Vanier’s list, an eighth characteristic of love?  Let’s add sacrifice.   This is, in fact, the kind of love God has shown us, “God showed great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8)  Recall that earlier I placed emphasis on the distinction between God loving us and our salvation.  That is, God does not save us regardless of our interest or response, but rather God gives His love to us regardless of our interest and response.  God loves each and every one here today.  It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, who you are or what you’ve done. 

Michaiel and I attended the Judgment house at Tom’s Creek Baptist Thursday night.  In all their effort to bring the love of God to those who attended, it was hard to see that they genuinely believed in what they were saying.  Our guide repeatedly reminded us that it doesn’t matter how good of a life we lead or how much we do to serve of families and others, but it is about accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Our guide summarized this up about half way through the event when she said something to the affect of, “it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in this life, instead it is about accepting Jesus as Savior.”  At that moment I had such an amazing realization; one that I sadly believe that many overlook.  You see, our guide was correct on a much deeper level that I think she even believed.  You see, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in this life; not only concerning the good deeds in life but also concerning the mistakes we may have made.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and I am sure there are others here, who have made quite a few themselves, but God loves me and God loves you.  Our community of faith decrees that all people shall have equality of access and opportunity which is free from discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, race, age, physical challenge, health status, gender identification, nationality or economic status not based on personal belief and ethics, but because this is how God has loved and does love us.

Reach out to God today and accept God’s gift of Love, the gift of eternal salvation.  If you are here today and have never known God’s love for you, know that today can be that day.  If you are here today and desire to renew your relationship with your Creator, know that today can be that day, as well. 

Amen.