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What Does It Take To Believe? He is often called ‘Doubting Thomas’ because of this story and he was given this label because he found it impossible to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead without the concrete and visible evidence the other disciples had received namely the wounds in Jesus’ hands and feet. This is not an unusual view point. It is pretty much what we all like to have, i.e. evidence for what we are being told to believe. This is also not the first time we come across Thomas. He pops up as the disciple who encouraged Jesus to go to Lazarus when the others tried to discourage him on account of the personal danger to Jesus’ life. It is also Thomas’ question asking Jesus about the way to get to heaven, which prompts Jesus’ famous reply: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me’. So we see from this that contrary to some popular belief, Thomas was not weak man. Thomas was a courageous man someone who was not afraid to ask the hard questions or take a courageous step. The story of Thomas is the third in a series of stories in John’s Gospel relating to the way people responded with doubt and skepticism to Jesus’ resurrection.
These people whom Jesus blesses are people like you and me who have not had the privilege of seeing Jesus in the flesh so to speak and yet are called to believe in him. Those of you who were able to be here on Easter Day may recall that I preached on the fact that many of us find it difficult to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. I went on to point out that doubts were nothing to be ashamed of and should be acknowledged, but that at the end of the day we are faced with a choice, to believe or not to believe. So it is that
Today I would like to explore this theme of where doubt fits into believing and faith a little more. Let’s take a few moments. Think on your own past experiences. What did it take to make you believe in God? What set of circumstances led you to a place where you decided to choose to believe in Jesus Christ? What experience or body of evidence made you decide to convert your life to God; to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour? The answers to these questions form the narrative of your personal testimony and I would love to hear your testimonies some time. Now if you are not as yet in this place, perhaps I could reframe the question for you. What might it take for you to change tack and become a believing follower of Jesus as your personal Saviour? You know faith is an unfolding story, it is not something that is static that some are born with and others not. Faith is a dynamic growth process that forms an integral part of our relationship with God. Neither is it linear. In some sense it is experiential. It is a movement from one experience to another through which we learn to trust God. Looking back on my own life I see as a child my whole family involved in a life threatening car accident and feeling God present for me then, following on to the divorce of my parents and God present there; Going to boarding school and God present there and so forth and so on. Through each experience of God’s presence in my life I learnt to trust God. So you would think that by now I’d have a faith that can move mountains. Not so, my faith still feels as delicate as a butterfly’s wing in some circumstances and I can still relate to Thomas skeptical response to Jesus’ reported resurrection appearance. I wonder whether some of you can relate to what I am saying. Growing in faith can sometimes feel like we are taking one step forward and two steps backwards. How we would all like to have the faith that says to Mt Ruapehu, “come and be in Auckland so that I do not have to travel so far to get to the ski fields!” To understand why this is commonly not the case we need to understand something else about the nature of faith. Faith is only partly based on personal experiences. There is another developmental dimension to faith which we ought to look at. John Westerhoff a professor in theology speaks of the stages we all go through in the development of the beliefs that make up our faith. He uses the analogy of rings in a tree to describe faith development. Each ring he says remains as another ring grows around it. He explains four rings or stages in the development of our faith. These rings of faith can be experienced at various stages in one’s life and perhaps you might like to reflect as I describe them to you, which stage of faith you currently find yourself in. 1.The first stage is known as Experiential Faith. At the core of each of our beliefs are the beliefs that we were gifted by the person or persons who nurtured us spiritually. This is the faith of the messenger or evangelical who molded and influenced our lives and made an indelible impression on us and so created the foundation of our own faith. In this first stage we find ourselves imitating the faith of others without fully understanding it. We are dependant on others to fuel and inform our faith. Young children and new Christians often find themselves in this stage of faith. 2.The second stage of faith is known as Affiliative Faith This is when we start to display the beliefs and practices of our family, our friends or church. So another ring is formed. We start to take on the distinctiveness of the community with which we have identified and aligned ourselves. The sense of belonging is key in forming our faith during this period. 3.The third stage is known as Searching Faith In this stage we become aware that our personal beliefs or experiences may no longer be identical to those of the family or church or group to which we belong. At this stage we begin to question some of the commonly held beliefs or practices and search for a faith we can authentically call our own . This is a stage of experimentation and challenge. 4.The fourth stage of faith is known as Owned Faith. This stage only comes through the searching stage. After exploring the question: Is this what I believe? We come to the place where we declare this is what I believe. In this stage personal conviction comes to the fore and we personally own our faith. During this stage we make our personal commitment to the faith in a profound way. We reorient our lives and take responsibility for our faith. This is God’s intention for all of us that we reach this stage of faith. In order to move from stage three to stage four we must ask questions, raise our doubts and work through them. This is where Thomas found himself. He was asking questions. He would not blindly accept what the others had told him, but needed to find some certainty for himself. He was moving from stage three to stage four. The scene ends with Thomas making a powerful personal confession: “My Lord and my God”. Perhaps we should not call him ‘doubting’ Thomas but ‘searching’ Thomas. This is the stage where we add the head to the heart of the earlier stages. This is the strong personal faith that one witnesses to and one is willing to die for. We could say that Thomas doubted in order to become sure. Perhaps we should call him “Confessing Thomas”. Too often the church has viewed doubts and questions as spiritually problematical instead of seeing them as a normal part of faith development. People have been forced out of the church during this stage and sadly some never return. Questioning is actually an indication that one’s faith is growing. Jesus did not scold Thomas for his doubts. He showed him the nail prints just as he had shown the nail prints to the other disciples the previous week. God is open to our uncertainties. All of us experience times of doubt and it is best to admit that and share our struggles honestly and openly. Furthermore, we must also be careful not to become critical of those in our community who air their uncertainties or we may hinder their spiritual growth. It is our task as the Church of Christ, to respond as Jesus did,
Questioning God is an aspect of faith. If one is asking questions of God or seeking answers from God there has to be some kind of faith that God exists and can respond. Thomas’ questioning, his desire to be sure revealed a growing and deepening faith that he would own and that would take him on an evangelical mission, if oral tradition has it right, to places as far flung as India. So let’s model our responses to each other on Jesus’ response to Thomas. Let us support each other as we grapple with our questions and our doubts so that together we can grow a faith that we can each own and that will enable us to be an evangelical faith community that will spread to good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with authenticity in what we say and do. Let us ensure that in the one on one conversations we have, in our home groups and in all our gatherings we gather in such a way that we safely accommodate each other in which ever stage of faith we find ourselves at any given time. |
