“Doubt…An Essential Ingredient of Faith”
Psalm 133 & John 20:19-31 ~ Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook ~ Northwood United ~ April 7, 2024
I would like to start this morning’s conversation in the wonderful world of Christian Art. The painting on the screen is called “The Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome and Dominic”. It was painted by Filippino Lippi in the later part of the 15th Century. It had the making of a masterpiece from the Renaissance era; however, critics could not get past some obvious mistakes. Perhaps you noticed them as well? As we take in the positioning of the characters they clearly look ‘off’. Look at the direction of Mary’s glance…off. Look at the awkward position of the kneeling saints…off. What could have been a Renaissance masterpiece seemed to have some real flaws and was disregarded for centuries. Until, recently, an art critic, Robert Cumming, discovered the story behind the commissioning of this work. This painting was meant to be viewed from a different angle than how it was displayed up on the wall. This was painted for a prayer chapel…not a museum. This painting was meant to be viewed by an observer who was not standing; rather who was kneeling in a prayer chapel, was kneeling in prayer. If we were to kneel in prayer to receive the gift of this painting, we would see the haphazardness disappear. And it suddenly begins to all make sense! I am going to suggest this morning that Thomas invites us into the adoption of a new perspective…an awkward perspective…a perspective we don’t rarely adopt or honour. Thomas helps us get a little deeper and a little more honest in our faith as we adopt doubt as an essential part of engaging with the Holy mystery of God.
We don’t have ample time this morning; however, I would like to suggest that you can’t understand Jesus without embracing all the key figures who surrounded him. Each of the figures around Jesus through the narratives of the Gospels provide an essential window into Jesus’ nature and the growth of the early church. It makes sense because Jesus hand-picked each of them, didn’t he? Walking by the seashore, he calls Simon Peter, James and John… “follow me and I will make you fishers of people”. Jesus proceeded to call the inner circle. Those closest to Jesus are the ones through whom we understand the Christ story. The sisters: Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus. And mixed amidst them all is this curious figure who we spend time with today named Thomas. And Thomas gives us the perspective of this essential ingredient of faith…doubt.
The lectionary, the 3-year cycle of readings we follow throughout the church year, does one common things every Easter. The lectionary encourages us to explore Thomas’ story on the second week of Eastertide. We first gather around Easter festivities in all the wonder, mystery and hope. We shout “Christ is Risen!” And then we reassemble the week following and examine the importance doubt plays as a foundation in faith of Easter people. We come this morning to ponder doubt as an essential element in faith. An important perspective to hold. As something to be embraced…never avoided.
Doubt used to be considered a bad thing. Platitudes like don’t doubt…have faith are well etched in our minds. We might prefer to hide it away and pretend we don’t, but we ALL doubt. We all have doubts about life and faith. It is what makes us wonderfully human. The early church questioned whether it was possible for the divine and eternal God to die and still be God. We all doubt. The medieval scholastics loved Thomas wondering if he might have asked questions like: “is the resurrection metaphysically and analytically intelligible?” We all doubt. The mystics understood doubt as that through which faith would birth. And St. John of the Cross penned the “dark night of the soul”. We all doubt. Enlightenment theologians doubted as they used rational arguments pondering: “who has actually seen the dead rise?” We all doubt. I observe doubt as a pastor as people share their transforming doubts and faith stories through their ages and stages. A youth champions rational forms of doubt; an adult holds out more analytical ones. And, as the years go on, there is increasingly room for a mystical doubt to bloom. And in the golden years, people find ways of reconciling their doubts and their faith. We all doubt.
What I love about Thomas is that he invites us to embrace the humanity in each of us, our doubting nature, to be held and honoured as a pillar of our growing faith. How many of you have faith doubts? How many of you would openly share those faith doubts with others? How many of you would delight in me turning things over to a shared conversation with a neighbour…and proceeding to share your faith doubts? I didn’t think so. We hide our doubts. You see, this is why Thomas is such an essential element to faith, of understanding Christ’s Way! Doubt is one of the pillars of our humanity, of our faith. Doubt should be embraced!
One of the most significant movements that occurs in this text is Jesus coming through the doubts and fears of all. The doors were locked for fear. They had closed off the outside and were huddled inside. It is like the painting we considered earlier. People were viewing it from the wrong perspective; they were closed off and it made no sense. Yet, what we discover in this passage is that God will not leave anyone alone in their doubt…in their fear and uncertainty. In the reading, what occurs is that Jesus comes to them. No locked door or wall or deadbolt will separate the Risen Christ from his people. As if the locked door did not exist, Christ enters and is present to them in their fear, in their doubt, in their uncertainty. Christ is there with them in their doubting.
This beautiful movement of God’s arrival amidst our doubts and fears is a consistent thread throughout scripture, isn’t it? We might think theologically about the people’s hope and prophecy of Emmanuel ~ “God with us” who would arrive one day. The God whom the generations yearned to be with us in time. We might think about God’s humble arrival, enfleshed in the Christ child, revealed in the mystery of the incarnation. And in the many ways in Jesus life…God’s reflection coming to the many. So many ways that God’s presence arrives. And here, reflected in the Risen Christ, where no barrier or separation can ever come between God and God’s people. Christ comes.
In this interaction, we are given two insights into the arrival of the Holy. Firstly, Jesus speaks the beautiful words “peace be with you.” Amidst our doubts, we recognize God’s presence in the moments when peace is offered; we recognize God’s presence in the moments when the peace which surpasses our understanding arrives; we recognize God’s presence when the stillness of God is there. Amidst the doubts and uncertainties, you (somehow) ‘know’ that God is alive and here. A peace, even amidst our doubts, that is with you.
The other realization occurs as Thomas is invited to place his finger into the wounds that Jesus suffered. When brutal violence is honestly acknowledged; sometimes touching on the pains and suffering of the past allows us to know that we are not alone. Battered and bruised, we know that we are not in isolation. God’s peace overcoming the brokenness of the past, we find a way to live through our doubts.
Psychologists like Thomas as well! Embracing doubt is, in fact, good for us! Embracing our doubt is even a way to turn anxiety into power. In her book Bold Move: a 3-Step Plan to Transform Anxiety into Power, Harvard-based psychotherapist Dr. Luana Marques teaches the importance of embracing doubt in order to overcome anxiety and achieve one’s goals. In her approach, she suggests a deepening of our awareness as it arises so that we can see the areas where we get stuck and anxiously spin out of control. As we pay attention to these areas, our brain learns not to take the bait as much. We become a little more skeptical about the doubts in your thoughts and are strengthened and empowered.
I think faith growth has some parallels. What if we saw Thomas as an essential part of faith? What if we embraced our faith doubts and paid deep attention to them? What if we honoured our humanity that doubts? I think what would continue to happen is that a more fully developed faith would be allowed to form. Not just the faithful belief that occurs on the good days. But, rather the deep belief that occurs in the darkness. In those moments when the holy comes to us through locked doors and closed windows. Somehow God arrives and brings us a deep peace. A peace that acknowledges the pains and suffering of the past. A doubt that is a part of our humanity. And we slowly find the Risen Christ in the midst of it all.
Somewhere in your heart and mind you have locked the door; somewhere you are hiding behind fear and pain…and it is in those places where the Risen Christ offers peace and assurance. Where faith meets doubt is the place where true faith begins.
Amen.