Today is the 2nd Sunday of Easter. Today is the day we hear about “Doubting Thomas”. Thomas is considered to be one of Jesus’ bad boys by many theologians today. Thomas traveled with Jesus and learned from him for three years. Church tradition holds that after Jesus resurrected and ascended to heaven, Thomas carried the gospel message to the east and was eventually martyred for his faith. Thomas’ Strengths: when Jesus' life was at risk by returning to Judea after Lazarus had died, the Apostle Thomas courageously told his fellow disciples they should go with Jesus, no matter what the danger. Thomas was honest with Jesus and the disciples. Thomas' Weaknesses: Like the other disciples, Thomas deserted Jesus during the crucifixion. Despite listening to Jesus' teaching and seeing all his miracles, Thomas demanded physical proof that Jesus had risen from the dead. His faith was based solely on what he could touch and see for himself.

After the death of Jesus we find the other disciples hiding for fear of the Jews. The disciples had returned to their “happy place” where they had felt safe, loved, comfortable. The last place where they had seen Jesus alive. The upper room around the same table where they had shared that last meal. They were cowering with fear in the dining room of that house. The doors were shut and locked; the drapes were drawn, the windows were closed and the disciples were full of angst and despair. They have just seen their Lord and Master crucified on a cross and buried. Then on the third day His body disappeared from the tomb. Although the angels at the tomb tried to reassure them, they were still afraid.

"Overwhelmed" is a good way to describe the disciples after Jesus died, huddled together in their fear and confusion, not knowing where to turn or what to do next. Their leader and teacher who had held them together all those long months was dead and buried, executed like a common criminal, and his body now missing from the tomb. What a disappointing turn of events! When Jesus was laid in that tomb, there went all their hope, their vision, their sense of direction and purpose in life. They were left only with an overwhelming sense of failure, loss, and shame, because they knew they had deserted Jesus in his hour of need. Were they more disappointed and disillusioned with themselves or with Jesus, who had raised their hopes so high?

What were they afraid of? I don’t think they were just worried that those who killed Jesus would kill them as well. Their fear went deeper. Maybe they didn’t want to deal with the scorn or ridicule of those who knew they had failed. They had even failed at protecting Jesus. They had denied knowing him. In spite of all their earlier bravado, all their zeal and conviction, they were afraid of the cross. And ashamed.

So on the night of the first Easter Sunday, the disciples were hiding together behind locked doors. They didn’t remember or wouldn’t believe Jesus’ promise of resurrection. Imagine the speculation which took place behind those closed doors:

The disciples were dealing with so many things. They feared those who caused the death of Jesus would come after them an that is not an unrealistic concern. They suspected someone had stolen Jesus’ body despite the angels reassurance. They worried that they might be accused of stealing the body. Certainly they were wondering where the body was. But most of all, they were crippled with fright because they did not know what to do or what was going to happen to them.

Amongst all of this fear I am quite certain they were feeling ashamed. Ashamed that they had not been able to save Jesus. Ashamed that they deserted and denied Jesus. For all one knows ashamed that they did not believe or have enough faith in Jesus to believe in his resurrection.

So maybe Thomas wasn’t the bad boy or at least not the only one in this story.

Here at the very center of the Easter story, when the mightiest act of God is occurring, when Jesus has just been raised from the dead by the power of God, when the blaring trumpets of Easter have exploded in celebration, we learn there is doubt. That there is plain, old fashioned doubt. On such a grand occasion as Easter morning, you would have expected the disciples to have been filled with awe and adoration. But the Bible tells us on that first Easter Sunday, there was doubt.

On the first Easter Sunday the disciples were gathered together, the doors were locked. Suddenly they became aware that Jesus was standing among them. The same thing happened the following Sunday.

On that first Easter Sunday, Thomas was the only disciple not in the upper room. He was out running the streets. We do not know for sure why he wasn’t with the rest of the disciples, but we are told that he was not.

Remember, Mary Magdalene had told the group that she has seen Jesus. Maybe Thomas couldn’t imagine hiding when someone has just reported seeing Jesus alive. Perhaps he was trying to find out the truth. Or maybe he was the only disciple with enough sense to recognize that this hiding thing could take a long time, and that he’d better go out and get supplies that he and the other disciples would need. We don’t know why he wasn’t there on that first Easter Sunday. But because he wasn’t there, when the other ten disciples told him that Jesus was alive and came to them, Thomas refused to believe it.

Have you ever had somebody come up to you and say, you should have been at the ball game last night, the Indians won in the 12th inning with a walk off home run. You should have seen it. You may not believe it if you weren’t there.

So it was with the early disciples.

They told Thomas “You should have been here last night, You missed it, Jesus came back to us and he was alive.” (John 20:25)

And what was Thomas’ reaction? “I don’t believe it. Unless I see the marks in his hands and side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25)

He didn’t go along with the crowd. He didn’t cower with the other ten disciples. He stood alone against the crowd and expressed his doubts and skepticism.

To many Thomas the poster child for unbelief because he dares to bring doubt into our lives of faith. Do you ever bring doubt into your faith? We all at one time or another bring doubt into our faith. Many of us are doing that right now as we deal with the current situation of our state and country.

Thomas merely spoke what so many have been thinking throughout the ages. Thomas did not believe just to believe. He wasn’t the kind of person who blindly accepted the faith without question. Thomas questioned, doubted, thought, pondered. He had a challenging and inquisitive mind.

We find two moments in the gospels where we meet Thomas and on both occasions he was asking questions:

1. In John 14 we hear about Jesus going to prepare a place for us, a heavenly mansion.. It was Thomas who scratched his head and asked, “Jesus, we don’t know where you are going and we don’t know the way.” Thomas did not understand what Jesus was saying so he asked Jesus questions. None of the other disciples raised their hands and expressed their curiosity. Thomas did.
2. And the second story about Thomas is in today’s gospel when ten disciples expressed wonder and amazement that the resurrected Christ had revealed Himself to them, Thomas didn’t go along with the crowd and say, “OK, that must be true. You all said so.” Instead, Thomas expressed his reservation and his doubt by saying “Unless I see him with my own eyes and touch his wounds with my own fingers, I will not believe.”

Thomas was not the kind of person who would rattle off the creed without thinking of what he was saying. He would not say “I believe in the virgin birth, descended into hell, ascended to the right hand of the father, the only Son of God, the same substance with the Father” without thinking them through.

Thomas wanted proof. And he wanted Jesus. When Jesus again appeared to his disciples in the locked room, Thomas was there. And far from rebuking Thomas, Jesus offered to meet his conditions.

"Put your fingers in my hands, touch my side." (John 20:27)

The Gospel story gives no report of Thomas doing this, and I don’t believe he felt any need to do so. The personal encounter made Jesus’ resurrection real to this follower.

In fact, Thomas’s answer, "My Lord and my God!" is the high point of John’s Gospel. When Thomas got it, he got it. No one else had offered such devotion or named Jesus as God. Thomas held out for an experience of Jesus on his own terms only then did he make his statement of faith.

So Thomas doubted. But when he saw and spoke with his Lord, when he heard the love and concern in Jesus’ voice, he believed.

We all should indeed be more like Thomas. Two-thousand years later in our complex and sophisticated world, we also have questions and we should express those questions. We shouldn’t hide them.

We need to look at the doubt in our faith. A doubter today is likely a person who searches for God and the godly way of life; the person is on a journey, a quest, a search to find God and the love of God. A doubter today is a person who has thousands of questions for God; questions about life, love, God’s existence, purpose, and many other questions.

We as a society are bombarded daily with violence, cynicism, cruelty, sickness, death and injustice Today a doubter is a person who may struggle to live a godly life, who may struggle to find the purpose of life, to understand who God is, not as an unbeliever but one trying to reconcile reality and faith.

So, what is the purpose of doubt in our Christian faith?

We need to accept that doubt is normal and perhaps healthy for human beings. All Christians, sometimes during our lives, have doubts, questions and disbelief. That is the way that God made us: to ask questions, to inquire, to think, to sort things out.

Doubts, questions and disbelief often lead to a greater faith. Centuries ago, Nicolaus Copernicus doubted that the earth was the center of the universe. He proposed that the sun was the center of the universe and stationary and that the earth revolved around the sun. Christians of his era were using and quoting the Bible to prove that the earth was the center of the universe. Copernicus doubted the validity of those peoples’ interpretation and his doubting of their interpretation of the Bible led him to a larger and deeper understanding of our place in the world and the wonders of God’s creation. Galileo took this further to his own excommunication from the church, but a strengthened faith in God. Doubt often leads to deeper faith.

There comes a time in life where we begin to doubt our doubts, question our questions, and become suspicious of our disbeliefs. We start to understand that our doubts, questions and disbeliefs are a phase of our life and that we can actually become fixated with our questions, doubts and disbeliefs.

Thomas was very much like each of us, wanting to believe and still unsure that Jesus has actually risen. He wanted to see the scars and touch them to assure himself that it was really true – Jesus was alive and had overcome death.

Just as Thomas wanted tangible proof, we, in our daily lives and seeing the complex and cruelty of the world, need to be reassured of God’s love and forgiveness.

And we can get that every day. Jesus is with us always, you may not see him or be able to touch him but he is always with us. He is with you now as you listen or read this message.

Jesus’ first words to his disciples after his resurrection were “Peace be with you.” and those words still ring out true today and everyday. That’s what he wants, when you start doubting your faith because of the circumstances around you or in the world, remember those 4 words “Peace be with you”

Amen.

‒ Pastor Pam