"Lord, I believe: help
thou my unbelief."
Sermon - S/Sgt. Mark T. CROWTHER
"I'll believe it when I see it" - Those words have made Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus, world-famous. Usually for the wrong reasons - like Judas we tend to think of him as one who got it wrong; people have given him the nickname, Doubting Thomas, as if those who call him that have never had any doubts in their lives!
But this morning I'd like us to think together about what Thomas said. "I'll believe it when I see it." - we hear that expression a lot. We all use it ourselves.
We might give some thought to the times we have used that expression. And we might ask ourselves whether it's been wrong or right to say it. I think if we do that - we'll learn quite a lot more about Thomas than we thought we knew. Because after all - Thomas was just someone like you and me - an ordinary person who found himself devoted to a most extraordinary person, Jesus.
We might also spend a while asking ourselves about our own doubts - our doubts about Jesus, perhaps, or perhaps doubts about ourselves. Thomas's story might help us to know what we can do with them when they surface; it might help us to understand how Jesus responds to those who doubt.
But first of all, "I'll believe
it when I see it." Thomas said it when
his friends
told him they had seen Jesus, back from the dead. We might say it when we
hear the police say they're going to put more officers on the beat, or when our
politicians promise "to lower taxes." Or there may be deeper, more
personal
things we say it about, more crucial times in our lives. I'll tell you about a
few
times
when I've had serious doubts it my life...
When on the North Labrador straight one evening returning by police boat from Davis Inlet, alone on the sea - the waves were getting larger - it was cold -how I prayed that God would help me find my way out of the fog. The further I went.... the worse it became. For hours I prayed. A wife at home with a newborn son. If you have ever experienced being lost on the sea, I can tell you those were some of the loneliest hours of my life. What have I done to deserve this Lord?
,2] So many times I have questioned at how some of god's children can be so cruel to one another. I've claimed witness to some of the most frightening crimes imaginable, and I've seen the human side of misery first hand - drugs & alcohol -children crying. I've seen the end result of good people no longer being able to cope. How little eyes have a way of peeking from their bedrooms when I show up in the middle of the night. Why do you continue to let this happen Lord?
Sometimes people of faith will doubt. Like the motley slave Moses, refusing to
believe that God was asking him to be leader of the people. Like the Psalmist, wrapped up in darkness and waiting for God to bring light, singing "How long, O Lord?" Like Galileo whose investigations led him to challenge the view that the Sun rotates round the Earth, and who died broken-hearted, accused of heresy by the church.
We might look at these examples, and ask did their doubts mean they had they lost their faith in God? Or were their doubts normal, questions which actually helped them to grow in their understanding of God, and themselves and the world?
How did Jesus treat Thomas the doubter?
Of all the disciples Jesus only let Thomas touch him.
Mary in the garden? - "Do not touch me."
Disciples in the upper room ? - He showed them his hands and his side; he
breathed on them.
But, he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your
hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
Jesus shared more intimacy with Thomas than with anyone who saw him risen from the dead. He must have had special feelings for this man bold enough to express his doubts.
In a way Thomas was no different from any of the other disciples. They all believed it because they saw it. When Jesus said, "Because you have seen me, you have believed;" that applied to all of them really.
Quite often Jesus' words here are taken as some sort of criticism or rebuke; but they needn't be: I like to think he wanted to emphasise the second part of what he said: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
And that's us. We share the blessing Thomas and the disciples had that day. Though we didn't have Jesus breathe on us, like they did, he does give us the Holy Spirit just as he gave it to them. Though we don't have Jesus voice speaking directly to us, like they did, he does give us the words of scripture to guide us on our way:
"These are written," says John, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
Perhaps what we've heard and read today will help us be faithful even in our doubts. Jesus helped me through the fog that cold and dark September evening, and as we stand to sing in a few moments we might also say in our hearts, a prayer which Thomas might have said, "Lord, I believe: help thou my unbelief."