From Doubting
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From Doubting
John 20:24-29
“Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Before we dive into our passage today, I have a quick game for all of us. It’s called “Do You Believe it, or Do You Doubt it?” Raise your right hand if you believe what I’m saying is true. If you doubt it, just leave your hands down. So here are the questions: Did you know that dentistry is the oldest profession in the world? Did you know that penguins can smell toothpaste hundreds of miles away? Did you know that you cannot buy Coca-Cola in North Korea and Cuba? Did you know we have fewer twins than ever before? Did you know the entire world’s population could fit inside Los Angeles? Even if I give you the answers, you might still doubt them. After all, I didn’t research them extensively. I just had one website tell me whether these things are true. So I guess you would just have to trust me, right? The last pair of questions for us today is, do you fully believe, or do you doubt that God loves you?
With our message, we will be talking about doubt. What comes to your mind when you hear this word? First off, we need to have a basic definition of doubt. According to the Brittanica dictionary, the noun form of doubt is “a feeling of being uncertain or unsure about something.” In its verb form, doubt is “to be uncertain about (something): to believe that (something) may not be accurate or is unlikely. It is to have no confidence in (someone or something).”
With these definitions in mind, does doubt have any place in our Christian walk? Have you ever doubted whether your faith is genuine? Many of us would reject and deny doubt entirely. Many are so sure of their faith and condemn those who might not be as assured. Others fully embrace doubt and reject Christianity because of it. Today, I would offer us a different perspective, and hopefully, we’ll be able to both handle doubt and know what we can do with it
In our passage, we see an event where doubt was specially present. I believe John put this in his gospel so that his readers may realize that Jesus still offers Himself even for those who doubt. So, if you are here today with questions and doubts in your heart, I hope you will encounter and experience Jesus like Thomas. I pray you will believe in Him and His words for us today.
I. Doubt is Unavoidable.
V. 24-25 “Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
In chapter 20, John writes the different scenes wherein the apostles encountered the risen Jesus. We find that the resurrected Christ revealed Himself first to Mary Magdalene, then to the other disciples on Sunday, the first day of the week. This event was when Jesus commissioned and sent the disciples to the great commission. As the Father had sent Jesus, so was He sending them to preach the Gospel of forgiveness through the Holy Spirit (20:21-23). This occasion was when they officially became apostles. Apostles simply mean “ones who are sent off.” However, one of the disciples missed out on this commissioning service. Thomas was not there to personally witness Jesus. Later that day, the apostles tried to tell Thomas that they had seen Jesus and He was alive. However, Thomas did not believe his fellow followers.
Thomas was so distrustful of the other disciples. He will only believe if he can see the nail marks on Jesus’ hands and place his hand on His side. In the original language, Thomas was using exaggerated language. If we take it literally, Thomas said he’ll only believe if he can shove his whole hand on Jesus’ side. So why was Thomas so doubtful of the others’ testimony, and where did his doubt come from? In this passage, I believe we can see some critical principles about doubt and how we can relate to Thomas.
First, doubt can come to anyone. The fact is, Jesus saw something in Thomas that He picked him personally to follow Him. Believe it or not, many men and women of faith have expressed their doubt in the Lord. Abraham and Sarah doubted the Lord would bring them a child (Gen. 17:17-22; 10:10-15). Moses doubted the Lord’s call upon his life (Exodus 3). During his imprisonment, John the Baptist doubted if Jesus was actually the Messiah (Luke 17:18-23). The Scriptures record the doubts of great men and women of faith. This was not to diminish them, but for us to realize the reality of doubt exists for everyone, and we are not immune to it.
Second, doubt often comes from our painful experiences. For Thomas, he saw firsthand the crucifixion and death of his beloved Teacher and Friend. He saw when the soldiers struck Jesus’ hands and stabbed him on the cross as he was left there to die. His pain and grief might have been so intense for him simply to believe his fellow disciples' testimony. We often doubt not just because of the lack of evidence but because we’ve experienced tremendous pain, which challenges our trust in God to the core. This is why we need to be very gracious to others, especially those who doubt because we might be unaware of their painful stories.
Third, doubt thrives in isolation. We can see that Thomas wasn’t with the others when they met the resurrected Jesus. He was doing something. Many times when we don’t have people of faith with us and around us, it will be so easy to sink into our doubts. One good thing that Thomas did was he expressed his doubts honestly to his community. In turn, they did not shun Thomas, but they were gracious enough to continue still to walk with him.
If we try to live in this fallen world, we will experience doubt. We doubt our faith; if you never have before, just wait; it will come. Our world openly incites this mindset. Our culture heavily challenges our faith. However, I want us to realize that doubt can prove we do have faith. Doubt starts because we believe in the first place. We don’t doubt something we never believed in. In his book, Faith and Doubt, John Ortberg writes,
“Doubt is not so much a dividing line that separates people into different camps, as it is a razor’s edge that runs through every soul. Many believers tend to think doubters are given over to meaninglessness, moral confusion, and despair. Many doubters assume believers are non-thinking, dogmatic, judgmental moralizers. But the reality is, we all have believing and doubting inside us. For ‘we all have the same contradictory information to work with.”
We are continually teetering between believing and not believing. So what should we do with our doubts?
II. Doubt Cannot be Our Identity.
V. 27-28 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
The following Sunday, the disciples were with each other again in an upper room. This time, Thomas was with them. You might be asking why they’re there. We should remember that Jesus was treated like a criminal of Rome, and many are still looking for the followers of Jesus. So the disciples meeting here might be hiding from the authorities. And then, Jesus comes in and tells them, “Peace be with you.” Jesus then turns to Thomas and talks to him. Jesus knew about Thomas’ doubts even though He wasn’t present when he first said it. Jesus was so gracious to oblige him of his demands to touch his nail-scarred hands and pierced sides. He then tells Thomas not to disbelieve but to believe finally.
As far as we know, Thomas never touched Jesus’ hands and sides. Seeing Jesus was more than enough. Thomas then gives one of the most excellent proclamation of faith in all Scriptures. Thomas tells Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Here, Thomas acknowledges his faith in Jesus and accepts Him for who Jesus truly was. Thomas’ life belongs to Jesus as the Lord over his whole life, and everything bows down to Him as the God Himself. Even when Thomas was late in seeing that Jesus was resurrected, he was the first to proclaim his faith entirely.
When we talk of Thomas today, it can be a little unfair. The first thing on our mind when we describe him is that he’s the doubter. I think we need to have a change of perspective here. Yes, Thomas doubted, but he is much more than just a doubter. He did not let his doubts define him. After his encounter with Jesus, Thomas was forever transformed. According to tradition, Thomas became one of the few apostles who left Jerusalem and brought the Gospel all the way to India. There, he was martyred, leaving a legacy of faithful service to the Lord. Today, there are still churches in India that trace their beginnings to the ministry of the Apostle Thomas.
So how does Thomas impact our lives today? Like Thomas, we might doubt, but it should never take hold of us. In Christ, there’s no need to despair because of our doubts. But we shouldn’t be defined by them either. Jesus is more than able and willing to handle any doubts we give Him. He understands us fully and is more than merciful and gracious enough to meet us where we are. He leads us in this faith journey even amid our most profound doubts. However, we cannot do this just by our willpower. We need His help as we surrender everything to His hands.
With this in mind, I remember an honest father who asked Jesus to help heal his son from an unclean spirit. Instead of telling Jesus of his unwavering trust in him, he asks for help despite his unbelief. We see this event in Mark 9:23-24. It says, “And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” I believe this is the prayer we all need to have. When we direct our doubts to Christ, He will know what to do with them as he guides us in His loving arms.
III. Doubt Can Bring us to Believe.
V. 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
In the last section of our passage, we see Jesus telling Thomas that he believed because he has seen Jesus personally. Now, after Thomas and the others witnessed Jesus, there’s a promise for those who aren’t able to see Jesus in the flesh. Those who have put their trust in Jesus despite not seeing Him will be happy and blessed. In a way, Jesus was talking about us. We don’t have the same privilege as the 12 disciples, yet we believe in Christ and are blessed for it.
So how did we come to believe in Him? It’s because we trust in the words of those whom Jesus sent. We trust in the Apostles' words and witness because they have personally seen, touched, and experienced Him. 1 John 1:1-2 was alluding to this fact when it says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—”
Even if we haven’t seen Him, Jesus does not diminish our faith. On the contrary, he says we are more blessed because we don’t need to see Him just to believe. We can trust in Him today, and He will prove trustworthy and true. So if we are doubting the legitimacy of Jesus today, we need to read the Gospels more, and you’ll see how He can work and deepen our faith through His word. We trust the testimony and writings of those who have walked with Jesus. As a result, we find the truth about Jesus.
I believe this is ultimately why John intentionally put this narrative in his gospel account. He wanted to show that despite our doubt, Jesus can still work wonders, and He will lead us to a deeper and stronger faith in Him. John 20:31 says, “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Isn’t it amazing that Jesus used Thomas’ doubts, turned them around, and made it possible so more could get to know Him? Only Jesus can turn our doubts into a stronger, more robust, and secured faith in Him.
In his book The Reason for God, Tim Keller writes,
“A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic… And, just as important for our current situation, such a process will lead you, even after you come to a position of strong faith, to respect and understand those who doubt.”
I relate to Thomas a lot. When my family was in Cambodia serving as missionaries, I experienced my most poignant encounter with doubt. There, my parents got into a severe accident, leaving my mom with a broken and infected leg. She was in so much pain that I could still remember her cries and screams of pain through all of it. In those days, I questioned God and doubted His plan for us. We sacrificed so much just to serve Him in Cambodia. And yet, He is just letting my mom experience all that pain and suffering. However, in those moments of questioning, I surrendered it all to Him.
He quieted my heart with His Word. This is the passage the Lord directed me to through everything. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Today, I now have such a more secure faith because Jesus met me and worked in my troubled heart the only way He can.
It’s one thing to live in doubt and a whole different thing when we bring our doubts to our Loving Saviour. I hope we find ourselves like Thomas and discover that Jesus is more than enough. In the end, I pray we can call Jesus “My Lord and My God!”
As we end, I would just like to give us some practical tips on handling our doubts when they come into our lives.
Be honest with your doubts. Let God know about your doubts and find a faithful community to walk with you through your doubts. Doubt will thrive in isolation and secrecy. Bring our doubts to Jesus’ feet. He knows what to do with them.
Learn to doubt your doubts. Find out where our doubts stem from. It might be a challenge in intellect, then don’t settle for easy explanations. Research and study these challenges to your faith and find out how our Christian faith can stand against any intellectual or philosophical challenges. If our doubts stem from painful experiences, please reach out to someone who can help you process and find hope in the Lord.
Don’t settle with your faith. Our faith is often formed by what we are taught in childhood. We become complacent and think that what we’ve retained from our younger years is already enough. Continue to grow in our spiritual disciplines. Let God’s word strengthen our faith. Meet Christ every day by reading through the Gospels. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Talk about Jesus. One thing that helps our doubt is when we can express to others why we believe what we believe. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” When we tell others about Jesus and how he’s changed us, He helps us to depend on Him more. We may hear of other people’s doubts, but we get the opportunity to let them know the reason for our hope. Our faith in Him becomes much more real during those moments when we can be a witness to this life-changing Gospel. Our faith becomes fortified when we see one life changed by Jesus’ grace and love.
-Rev. Jerusalem Ona