ENCOUTNERS WITH JESUS: in the upper room (3) Reinbeck UMC 5/18/14

Encoutners with Jesus: in the upper room (3)

Reinbeck UMC 5/18/14

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a survey that discovered:
Amongst Roman Catholics, Mainline Protestants, and Orthodox Christians, 25% (1 in 4) of those church members had doubts about the existence of God. Among Jews, the ratio was 6 out of 10 doubted God’s existence.

These are people who “belong” to a religious group. They go to church, or the synagogue. They support a ministry financially and in other ways. But they have… doubts.

Do you believe? Well, not everyone does. Not even everyone who is here this morning believes.

That is exactly the situation in which the disciples found themselves. Not everyone believed.

This story takes place on the same day as the other stories we have studied so far in this series: the encounter in the tomb and the encounter in the garden. Today we continue with two post resurrection appearances that together are known as the story of Doubting Thomas. Today’s art is from Clint Anderson and after this morning, you will find it on this side of the sanctuary.

The story starts on the same night that the resurrection was discovered: Easter Sunday night.

That morning Mary had found the empty tomb. She ran to tell the disciples. She says “would you believe” that the tomb is empty. Not all of them believed. Remember? Peter and John had to run to see for themselves. Why? Because they couldn’t believe it without seeing it.

It was evening of that same day. The disciples were locked in an upper room. It might have been the same room in which they had supper with Jesus a few days earlier. For some reason all the disciples were there except for Thomas. Maybe he was at the store. Maybe he was running late after work. Maybe he was stuck in traffic. Maybe he was off pouting. Maybe he just didn’t feel like being there.

A husband and his wife arose one Sunday morning and the wife dressed for church. It was just about time for the service when she noticed her husband hadn't moved a finger toward getting dressed. Perplexed, she asked, "Why aren't you getting dressed for church?" He said, "Cause I don't want to go." She asked, "Do you have any reason?" He said, "Yes, I have three good reasons. First, the congregation is cold. Second, no one likes me. And third, I just don't want to go." The wife replied, wisely, "Well, honey, I have three reasons why you should go. First, the congregation is warm. Second, there are a few people there who like you. And third, you're the pastor! So get dressed!"

I don’t know what Thomas’ reasons were, but he wasn’t there that day. When he finally arrived all the other disciples said something like, Would you believe that Jesus’ tomb is empty. NO? Well would you believe that he is alive? NO? Well would you believe he was just here? Thomas answers, “No, I don’t believe.” Thomas tells them, “Unless I see it for myself, and can touch his wounds, I won’t believe.” I get the feeling that Thomas might have been fooled a couple of times by the jokes played by the other disciples. He wasn’t about to be fooled this time. “Unless I see it for myself, and can touch his wounds, I won’t believe.”

Now, I think Thomas has received a bum rap over the years. He apparently grew up with the nick name “Thomas the twin.” John tells us the he was called Didimus, which means “twin” in Greek. Now he was pegged with the nick name “doubter.” How would you like to be called “doubting <<< >>>” or “doubting <<< >>>” or “doubting <<< >>>.”

We sometimes do that with a person’s profession, you know Bill the barber, or Brent the Pharmacist. But no one would want to be pegged as the doubter, and I don’t think it is really fair.

There are two other times that Thomas speaks in the gospel. Once in chapter 11 of John. Jesus wants to go back to Judea after Lazarus’ death. The disciples are trying to talk him out of it and then Thomas speaks in verse 16. “16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." There is no doubt there, just pure courage and dedication.

The second Thomas speaks is in John 14. We will start in verse 1. 1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. 2In my fathers house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me that you may also be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going. 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through me." 

In this second story, there is no doubt, only courage. He has the courage to ask the question all the other disciples were afraid to ask. It is really too bad that the only thing Thomas is remembered for is his doubt because that is not the whole story.

Getting back to our story, one week later, the disciples were once again locked in the upper room. They must have been really afraid… this time Thomas is with them and Jesus appears again. He appears even though the doors are locked and immediately greets them with the standard Jewish greeting, “Peace be with you.” He immediately turns to Thomas and says, “Here, put your finger here, see my hands? Reach out your hand and put it into my side.”

Suddenly Thomas is standing face with face with the risen Christ and his doubt disappears. I think at that moment he is transformed from a doubter to a believer. From a skeptic to a supporter. Jesus goes on to say, “Stop doubting and believe.”

Christian tradition holds that Thomas set sail for India and was the first to spread the Christian message there. In the end, his doubt… his desire to know Jesus for himself, was what brought him faith. That faith gave him the strength to bring that message to so many others. If you go to India today, St. Thomas is the one who didn’t just doubt, but who believed, and who helped others to do so as well.

But he was lucky, right? I mean, he got to see Jesus, to touch Jesus, to know Jesus, in a way you and I don’t. Doubting Thomas may have become a saint, but what hope is there for me, or for you?

I preach this message today partially in hopes that I am not the only one in this church who from time to time suffers with more doubt than faith. I suspect that if I were to ask many of you in the privateness of your own heart, “Do you believe?” You would have to honestly respond that you have gone through periods of doubt as well.

We come from a tradition that embraces doubt and rests on the assurance that faith is not the opposite of doubt. The opposite of faith would be rejection. Faith is as a gift from God that comes to us in the midst of our doubt.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had a faith journey like an obstacle course.

He grew up in the church, his father an Anglican priest and his mother was probably a better preacher than his father, even though she was not allowed to be a priest. Yet he did not have faith. He tried to gain faith by self discipline and founding the Holy Club at Oxford, but he still didn’t find faith. He traveled to Georgia to be missionary hoping that his faith would grow, but he came home and still he did not really believe deep down inside.

Finally, at a meeting at Aldersgate Street in London he had the same experience that Thomas had, of meeting with the risen Lord. He recorded in his journal: "about a quarter before nine … I felt my heart strangely warm. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me." 

It was as though Jesus stood before him and said, “stop doubting and believe” and he received the gift of faith.

He went on to preach what I think is one of his greatest sermons called “The witness of the spirit.” He preached on Romans 8:16 “the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

There was once a woman in her 30’s who had an overwhelming spiritual experience. She knew God was present, and she felt God calling her to do something new, and scary, and hard.

The young woman went out, and for the next 50 years she did amazing things. But inside she doubted. She wrestled with faith. She had what Christian writers for centuries have called a “dark night of the soul”. Sometimes she even questioned the existence of God. Her lack of faith bothered her.

The other disciples may have called her, “Doubting Teresa”. But you and I know her as Mother Teresa.

 If Thomas, and John Wesley, and Mother Teresa all suffered with doubts what makes us think that we should be immune. Let me tell you again.  Doubt is not the opposite of faith.  Those of us who have faith, usually experience some degree of doubt.

1.     That’s OK. It is OK for us to doubt as long as we leave room for faith.

2.     It is OK to have doubt as long as, like Thomas, we seek that opportunity to stand face to face with the risen Lord Jesus.

3.     It is OK to have doubt as long as, like Wesley we continue seek that gift of assurance from God.

4.     It is OK to have doubt as long as, like mother Teresa we keep following our calling even in the times of darkness.

5.      

Gene Robinson, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire has a great image of journeying in faith while filled with doubt.

He says, we have an image that faith is like Moses lifting his arms and parting the red sea so the people could walk through on dry land. The reality, he says, was more like this: the people put one foot into the water, tentatively, and the waters rolled back a little. And then they put another foot down, and the waters rolled back more. And then they put another foot down, and the waters rolled back more. And then they put another foot down, and the waters rolled back more. And so on, and so on, until they found they had safely reached the other shore.

It’s the same with the Christian life:

·        you can’t see to the other shore from here, and you don’t have to. God is already there waiting for you.

·        You won’t always see the solid dry ground for your next step, but you don’t have to because God is with you in the waters.

·         The life of faith may have its seasons of doubt, but that is OK because God is with us in the darkness.

Today I tell you, doubt as much as you need to,

·        but leave just enough room for faith that Jesus really did rise from the dead.

·        Doubt as much as you need to, but leave just enough room for faith that God will show you the next right step.

·        Doubt as much as you need to, but leave just enough room for faith that God can warm your heart.

·         Doubt as much as you need to, but leave just enough room for faith that the spirit can assure you that you are a child of God.

The doubts may still be there at least from time to time, but just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Because that is what faith is all about.

AMEN