The Trouble with Jesus
by Constance Hastings
Holy Doubt
April 5, 2021
Could it be that faith is not actually a fully convinced mindset? Could it be that to truly have faith an element of doubt, perceptions that rest in possibly not as much as possibly so, is necessary? Do faith and doubt exist not as opposites but as integral parts of each other?
The door was locked. The women had told them they’d been to the tomb, but Jesus’ body was not there. Instead, Mary Magdalene ran and found them with her message, “I have seen the Lord!” The disciples gathered, but still they locked the door. Likely, they had doubted her. Mary Magdalene had once been possessed with demons, so the story around her goes. After the trauma of three days ago, it would be easy to think she had relapsed into her old sickness, seeing what was not really there. Doubt was rational.
Rational except when the door of it was blown off. Despite the bolt holding it shut, a locked door was of no consequence when suddenly Jesus in the flesh was among them. “Peace be with you,” he said, showing them his scarred but fully healed hands and side. What had never been done before, what could never be explained with rational proof, had happened. His demise by brutal execution was now secondary to this new life that reversed death and its finality.
Joy doesn’t adequately express what happened to these friends who had hunkered down in fear for their lives. Certainly, they were thrilled to see Jesus alive again. But would they have reacted in ecstasy if they had in the least believed that Jesus would do as he had told them, die and return alive in three days? Instead, their doubt had slammed into their faith.
They weren’t alone. Thomas, one of the original twelve, wasn’t with them that night. When told Jesus was alive, he wouldn’t buy it. Furthermore, he wouldn’t accept just an appearance but declared he had to actually touch Jesus’ hands and sword-pierced side to believe it had happened. No ghost was going to change his mind.
Jesus delivered eight days later. Again, despite locked doors, Jesus appeared to the disciples, this time including Thomas. Like before, Jesus greeted them, “Peace be with you.” Peace: don’t be afraid. Peace: this isn’t like anything else you or the whole world has ever known. Peace: prepare to have all your assumptions and expectations reversed. Peace: lean in, accept what I have done. “Peace be with you.”
He invited Thomas to touch him literally in his points of pain. Jesus knew this was the place where Thomas’ doubt as well as so many others’ questions have had to pause, sort out in mind and soul if this could be. Only by fully accepting Jesus’ death can there be as well an acceptance of resurrection. One won’t have significance without the other. Faith must be linked with doubt for the two to become belief.
Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” He was the first to declare the divinity of Jesus Christ, not just as one who is a Savior whose death and resurrection bought a ticket to heaven, but as ruler over all that life may bring to us and all in life that needs reversal, even as we wrestle with our doubts.
Jesus acknowledges to Thomas, “You believe because you have seen me.” But there are those who perhaps have even more of a blessing than a physical revelation. To those who did not know him then and even more so to all the world that will come later, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Blessed are those who have not had the benefit of miracles and heavenly revelation. Miracles help some, but those who “come to believe” without them very likely have the greatest miracle of all, the miracle of a faith that has acknowledged doubt.
Jesus blessed all those -- from Thomas up to now -- who have managed to believe without the benefit of direct experience; all those, that is, who have managed to come to a faith that is not the opposite of doubt but which lives with doubts and yet still finds a way to believe.
It is in the not knowing how God does what God does that faith is centered, stretched and filled. But it usually starts with some honest doubt. Honest doubt leads to honest belief because the journey of faith is just that, a journey where we come to believe.
John 20:19-29
Don’t you dare criticize him for what he said. Honestly, you’re no different than he when it comes down to it. You claim you believe in God, but when push comes to shove, rubber meets the road, and truth be known, you’re as big a wuss, a real live phony, as Peter.
Names matter. Names aren’t just labels. They’re status badges. What people call you shows where you stand, who you roll with, how much respect you get. Jesus knew this game. By asking his disciples the question, it was more than checking his street reputation. Public response was consequential to power and impact.
Let me tell you straight: if there’s a portrayal of Jesus I hate reading, it’s this one. The one that makes you squirm, makes you hunt for excuses you know don’t exist (like who could ever excuse the Son of God?), or forces you to wrestle with the truth, swallowing stuff you never want to admit...
When the road breaks open and unthinkable obstacles appear on the path, when innate ability and skill are erased and “No Way” is the biggest sign in the road, when risks feels like it’ll cost your whole soul, what then? Inevitably, storms hit, flip your whole world, and what was a smooth sail gets tossed like a toy...
It was a long day, and in wanting to care for their rabbi as well as dissipate the crowd, the disciples tell Jesus to send them into the villages to buy food for an evening meal. That’s when Jesus snapped...
You can’t say Jesus ever made it easy...He required challenge, debate and wrestling with his teachings beyond what makes you feel comfortable.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” The two seeds, good seed and the bad seed which would choke out the good seed, are permitted to exist side by side until end of the world....If you’ve read this parable story as one of God’s condemnation on the evil in the world, slow down. Be very careful....
“I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” Ephesians 1:16
If you push past some religious snobbery and gatekeeping here, Jesus’ parable about a farmer who scatters seed is going to be a real challenge on more than one level…. Anyone out there ever thinking, “I’m saved, I’m good,” ticket to heaven punched, you’re in, and that’s all you need? Then this parable is NOT for you
You’re either going to love it or hate it. And trust me, you’re not the only one wrestling with it. The Bible, Holy Scriptures, God’s Word, Gospel, or whatever name you want to slap on it, isn’t built for folks who want a warm blanket and a bedtime story...
Don’t you dare criticize him for what he said. Honestly, you’re no different than he when it comes down to it. You claim you believe in God, but when push comes to shove, rubber meets the road, and truth be known, you’re as big a wuss, a real live phony, as Peter.
Names matter. Names aren’t just labels. They’re status badges. What people call you shows where you stand, who you roll with, how much respect you get. Jesus knew this game. By asking his disciples the question, it was more than checking his street reputation. Public response was consequential to power and impact.
Let me tell you straight: if there’s a portrayal of Jesus I hate reading, it’s this one. The one that makes you squirm, makes you hunt for excuses you know don’t exist (like who could ever excuse the Son of God?), or forces you to wrestle with the truth, swallowing stuff you never want to admit...
When the road breaks open and unthinkable obstacles appear on the path, when innate ability and skill are erased and “No Way” is the biggest sign in the road, when risks feels like it’ll cost your whole soul, what then? Inevitably, storms hit, flip your whole world, and what was a smooth sail gets tossed like a toy...
It was a long day, and in wanting to care for their rabbi as well as dissipate the crowd, the disciples tell Jesus to send them into the villages to buy food for an evening meal. That’s when Jesus snapped...
You can’t say Jesus ever made it easy...He required challenge, debate and wrestling with his teachings beyond what makes you feel comfortable.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” The two seeds, good seed and the bad seed which would choke out the good seed, are permitted to exist side by side until end of the world....If you’ve read this parable story as one of God’s condemnation on the evil in the world, slow down. Be very careful....
“I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” Ephesians 1:16
If you push past some religious snobbery and gatekeeping here, Jesus’ parable about a farmer who scatters seed is going to be a real challenge on more than one level…. Anyone out there ever thinking, “I’m saved, I’m good,” ticket to heaven punched, you’re in, and that’s all you need? Then this parable is NOT for you
You’re either going to love it or hate it. And trust me, you’re not the only one wrestling with it. The Bible, Holy Scriptures, God’s Word, Gospel, or whatever name you want to slap on it, isn’t built for folks who want a warm blanket and a bedtime story...
