Did Jesus really appear to his disciples after he died? If they didn’t recognize him, how did they know it was him? Can we doubt AND have faith simultaneously?
Thomas the Twin asked these questions the week after Jesus was resurrected. We are still asking them today. They are particularly relevant as we baptize an adult into the body of Christ this morning.
When we baptize children, their parents and godparents profess faith on their behalf and we join with them in promising to bring them up in faith.
When adults decide to profess their faith and seek baptism as a way to join a community of believers, they, like most of us, are grappling with their own questions about how to understand and live with faith and doubt. The Episcopal Church offers a typical Anglican both/and answer.
As explained by 20th century Episcopal author, mystic, and poet, Madeleine L’Engle, a life of faith is a life of many questions. The kind of questions some call ‘doubt.’ Faith anchors us in certainty that we are deeply and forever loved by God, a truth we will spend our entire lives trying to comprehend. That same abiding and unshakable holy Love frees us to question, to doubt.
L’Engle contrasts the question-filled life of faith with a life of faith that is filled with blind certainty. If we believe in a God who is always inviting us into new life and new possibilities, we face the possibility of constantly growing in faith. And what about learning and growing is ever filled with certainty?
In The Episcopal Church, we revel in our questions, following threads of curiosity about how we understand and live the complicated dynamics of God, life, faith, our purpose, the future. Questions stimulate our spiritual life and growth. Because when we have questions, we look for answers. The quest to know more leads us to continually seek to know our God more fully. Doubt, therefore, is an integral part of growing in faith.
Thomas doesn’t let his doubt and questions keep him away from his friends and his community. We don’t know where he was that first Sunday night, when the risen Jesus first appeared to his frightened disciples. But he hears about it, “Hey, Thomas, you’ll never guess what happened at dinner on Sunday.” And so, when they gather again the next Sunday, he’s there.
Even though he’s not sure he believes his friends, or that Jesus will show up again, Thomas comes. He brings his questions and his desire to know more.
Jesus appears with a singular message to his uncertain disciples: “Peace be with you.” No scolding for their fear. No ridicule for their questions. He invites their curiosity about his wounds. He breathes the Spirit of God on them. The breath of life. New life in his name. Life that binds us together to continue the ministry he began.
And then he sends us out – together - to do the work God has given us to do, proclaiming forgiveness and healing to the world, breaking down the walls that separate us, and living as one humanity.
So what is our proof? The holes in the hands, the hand in the side kind of proof? Well, it’s 2,000 years later and we’re still gathering, in community, to remember that Jesus appeared to us while we were eating and he sent us out to do God’s work in the world.
Of course, we still have a bazillion questions and doubts. That’s normal. We should. It means we still want to know more about God. And that’s a sign that we are growing in faith.
Living with questions means that when we find an answer that fills our soul with hope, when we recognize the risen Christ revealed to us, we too can respond with joy and delight and amazement, “My Lord! And my God! It’s really you!” And, in doing so, we help others recognize Christ among us.
This morning, as we welcome Steven into the Body of Christ, we renew our own promises to bring our questions, to show up for dinner, to keep trying when we falter, and invite others to learn and do and wonder with us. And, as a community of faithful doubters, we all pledge to support Steven in his life in Christ as friends and companions on the Way.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
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