Good Company

Scripture:  John 20:19-31

For Hollywood actors who love the craft and art of acting, one of the biggest potential career pitfalls is getting typecast.  This happens when an actor has some success in a particular role and then future projects only want to cast them in the same type of role.  Daniel Greg has gone on record in multiple interviews, about his frustration that playing James Bond seemed to brand him for years as only an action movie actor.    To avoid being type cast, some actors walk away from big roles.  For instance, after two successful Batman movies Michael Keaton turned down a lot of money to don the mask a third time because he did not want to get typecast.   Other times actors try to break out of typecasting by pursuing radically different roles.  Sometimes this work and other times it does not.   It worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger who starred as a muscle-bound action star but successfully managed to go against that type casting with several successful comedic roles.  Other times it has not worked out.  Clint Eastwood might be one of the most typecast actors as the perpetual tough guy, but early in his career he tried to avoid being typecast in that role by starring in Paint Your Wagon, his one and only attempt at a musical.     Since musicals did not work out, Eastwood eventually embraced being typecast. 

            It is hard for actors to avoid being typecast, because people tend to try and reduce other people to the lowest common denominator.  So, if an actor stars in a couple of romantic comedies, then it becomes easy to think of her as an actor who only does romantic comedies.   This morning’s scripture shows that typecasting happens in the bible as well.   Because of this morning’s scripture he got stuck with a label for all time.   Even today, the term “doubting Thomas” is used in a somewhat derogatory nature when someone is a skeptic.  There is a good chance that people who do not really have a church background are familiar with and use that phrase.  Thomas was more than a doubter though.  In this morning’s scripture he asked Jesus for proof.  Thomas may have had a moment of doubt, but he is probably in good company.   During the messiness of lives, many people find their faith tested, they find doubt creeping in.  Like Thomas we can have doubts in our own faith, but those doubts do not define our faith or our lives.  Doubt is not the absence of faith, and even amid uncertainty and doubt faith can flourish. 

It is unfair to label Thomas as doubting for all time, because that is not a full assessment of what we know about him.   There are other places in scripture where Thomas displays amazing faith.  For instance, in the eleventh chapter of John, Jesus decides to go back to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead.  The disciples though are concerned about this because the last time Jesus was in Judea people tried to stone Jesus.   Many of the disciples are afraid, but it is Thomas who speaks up in 11:16: “Then Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  Thomas did not lack faith or conviction. 

Yet Thomas has been shackled with the label of “doubting” because of a single instance recorded in scripture.   Again, this is not fair because we are likely not that different from Thomas.  If we were in the place of Thomas, would we believe the others or would we also demand proof?  If we put ourselves in his shoes, we can see that Thomas had a reason to be skeptical.  Before the crucifixion he had put his hope in Jesus.  He had given up everything to follow him.  Based on his statement in John 11, Thomas clearly believed that he was willing to follow Jesus to death.  However, when put to the test, Thomas found his faith weaker than he thought.  Like all of the disciples he fled and hid when Jesus was arrested.  Thomas would have been grieving at the beginning of this scripture.  He was grieving the loss of his teacher and friend, but he was also grieving his hopes and dreams which he also believed died on the cross.   Given all that Thomas had gone through and given all the pain that he probably experienced, it was not that unrealistic for him to demand a little proof that he can have hope again. Thomas is in good company, because most of us probably would have done the same. 
  Many of us may have found ourselves in the same boat as Thomas.  Many of us have likely been in a place where the circumstances of life rocked a faith that was perhaps less solid than we thought.  There have been times that we, like Thomas, wanted a solid and tangible assurance that God is with us; that we can still have hope.    If we were honest with ourselves, we have probably all had moments in our faith journey where we may have felt like our faith is lacking.   We have all had moments when we felt like we could be considered doubters.  The question we should be wrestling with is, where do we go from there?   In answering that for ourselves I think there are two points we should consider. 

First, having doubts about our faith does not necessarily diminish our faith.   Thomas did have serious reservations about what he was told about the resurrection.  Jesus did acknowledge this, and he did say, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  Jesus does essentially say that Thomas had room to grow in faith.  However, it is also worth noting what Jesus did not say.  Jesus did not tell Thomas that his doubt is because he just does not pray enough.   Jesus did not critique doubt has obvious proof that Thomas was backsliding to immorality.   Jesus did not tell Thomas he was now unworthy because he doubted. Jesus did not know do any of those things.   Instead, Jesus met Thomas where he was at.  Jesus took the time to address Thomas’s concerns.   Could Thomas have been a better disciple of Jesus and had greater faith?  Yes probably.  Did doubting, disqualify him from following Jesus?  Absolutely not, and Jesus himself sought to help Thomas overcome his doubts. 

It is my experience that a shallow faith is one that has no doubts.  Doubts are nothing more than questions to our beliefs that do not have answers.   If we are taking our faith seriously, then we are going to ask questions.  If we ask enough good questions we are going to find ones without clean answers, and wrestling with those questions can and will lead to doubt.  However, I would rather have questions without answers than answers that cannot be questioned.   When we put absolute faith in our answers, then our faith is not in God our faith is in the answers we have come up with to define God into a box.   One of the beliefs I am most sure of is that God is bigger than any of my questions.  Doubt is not the opposite of faith, doubt is the space created by questions, and it is in that space that our faith can grow.   Without space to expand our faith will stay small.  However, when we question, that gives space for God to show up.  That gives space for Jesus to say “Put your fingers here.  See my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it in my side.  Stop doubting and believe.”   By being open to doubt, we give God the space to meet us where we are and grow our faith.  

 Second, it is important that we do not let doubt define our faith.   Unanswered questions can grow our faith, but we must be cautious that we do not get hung up on them.  Faith is our ability to believe despite not having all the answers.  If we get so caught up on answering everything then instead of questions creating space to grow, they can become a stumbling block.  Instead of doubts and questions pushing our faith forward, we can fixate on them and let those doubts define our faith life.  Not being defined by the stumbles and questions in the past of our faith development is a lesson we can really learn from Thomas.  Because of a hopeless moment, Thomas earned the label doubter.  That is not the only label he has in the bible though he also has the label of apostle.   He was one of the ones chosen by Jesus to carry forth the gospel.   He was one of the ones responsible for Truth taking root in the world.  Between the two, that is the label that Thomas claimed for himself and it is the one that defined his life.  

This morning’s scripture might be the scripture that Thomas is most well known for, but it is not the end of his story.  The book of Acts records how the original disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit and led the early church.  Thomas was one of these apostles.  In the beginning of Acts Jesus instructs the Apostles to take the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.   According to church tradition, this is exactly what Thomas did.  In fact, tradition remembers that Thomas took the good new of Jesus Christ further than any of the other apostles.   Tradition remembers that Thomas traveled East to share Jesus with others.  This took him beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire.  Because of his missionary work, the Assyrian Church of the East remembers Thomas as its founder.  By American standards this is an obscure branch of Christianity.  It is currently centered in modern day Iraq, and despite intense persecution in the 20th and 21st centuries still has over 500,000 members.

 Thomas did not stop preaching the good news in just the modern-day middle east, but he went even further.   Tradition remembers that Thomas traveled as far as India to share the message of Jesus.   Tradition also remembers, that because of his bold witness the Christian faith took root in India.   Today there is an ethnic-religious group in India that calls themselves St. Thomas Chrisitans, who remember the evangelism of Thomas as their starting point.  This is not an insignificant group of people, and numbers around 6 million today.  In our Western Christianity culture, Thomas is most remember as doubting Thomas, but to millions of our siblings in Christ around the world he is remembered as the apostle that founded their church.  

Thomas did not let his doubts define him, and he lived out a vibrant faith despite a moment of doubt.  Hopefully, Thomas finds himself in good company because we can follow his example.   Thomas did not let his doubts hold him back, and neither should we.   The question we should all confront is are we?  

Serving in vocational ministry a sentiment I hear regularly is “I doubt I could ever do what you do?”   On the one hand I get it.   I have a brother and a sister, and if you were to go back to a high school version of me and say that some day one of the three of us is going to be in a pulpit, I would not have bet on myself.  On the other hand, I have to wonder if when people cast doubt on themselves if they are letting their fears, their uncertainty, and their doubt hold them back.   I realize that not everyone is called to vocational ministry and not everyone is called to preach.  But I do believe that all who follow Jesus are called to love their neighbors, all who follow Jesus are called to share the good news, and all who follow Jesus are called to be disciples who make disciples.   There is a way that you are being called, there is a way to bring about transformation in this world that you are best equipped for.   And if you are not fully doing that right now, is it because you doubt you can?   Instead of living into the bold calling God has for us, are your more likely to tell yourself all the reasons why you can’t?   If that resonates with you, then may you be in good company with Thomas.  Thomas had real doubts, and Jesus met him where he was at Thomas listened to that voice.  Because Thomas listened to that voice, he took the good news to the ends of the earth as he knew it.   I still believe that Jesus meets us where we are at, and his voice is the one we should be listening to. 
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Because of this morning’s scripture Thomas has been unfairly typecast as a doubter. Thomas did not let those doubts define him or is faith, and may we follow that example.  If we are serious about following Jesus and living a life of faith, then it is inevitable that we will have doubts.  May we not let those times diminish our faith.  May we honestly wrestle with them and may seek the voice of Christ throughout them.   If we do, then I have confidence that just like Thomas we will emerge with a stronger faith and we will be able to follow Jesus wherever he is leading, all the way to the ends of the earth