SEEING 18 BELIEVING APREL 16, 1972
JOHN 20:19-29 JOHN M. BUCHANAN

There is an ancient legend about Thomas the disciple found tn an old book

called the Acts of Thomas . The book {s certainly not authentic history, but in

that legends ordinarily do have some basis in historical fact, the story it tells
intesting for what it infers about the character of the man.

Tradition has it that the disciples gathered in Jerusalem after the resurrection
and divided the world among them for their misstonary efforts. Thomas was assigned
fo india, but would not go. Jesus himself intervened, howevever, and arranged for
Thomas to be sold to an Indian King as a butider and carpenter, When he arrived in
India Thomas received money from the King in reguar installments to bul!ld a new
palace, But instead of buying building materials Thomas gave at! the money to the
poor and sick, One day the King calted for Thomas and wanted to inspect his new
palace. When he discovered that the work had not begun and that his money had been
given away he had Thomas thrown in prison under the penalty of death. Thomas's word
to him was: “Thou cans't not see if now, but when thou departest this life, then
shalt thou see it.!

In the meantime a brother of the King died and when he arrived In heaven was
shown about and asked wherehe would Fike to reside. He saw a grand and glorious pal .-e
and requested to tive in its humblest room. But he was told that the Patace was
reserved: "That is the palace which Thomas the Christian bufllded for thy brother".
The brother understood: he requested and was granted permission to visit his brother
the King In order to explain. As a resuft Thomas was released from prison, the
King was baptized a Christian, and the disciple tived to work in India Til? his
death as an old man.

That's tha legend, and it fs a charming one. In fact, the Gospe! was preached
In India quite early, When Vasco da Gama and his Portuguese explorers arrived in
India about §,500 A.D. they found the Christian Church already there, with a
tradition attached to Thomas, That traditlon has it that Thomas traveled as far
as China. In any case, we are sure that there were Christians on the sub continent

that is known as India as earfy as 500 A.D.: how they got there: who preached the

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Gospel is all a matter of speculation. But all the traditions and legends lead to
Thomas personally - or to his influence tndfrectly. (This information from Wm.

Barclay, The Master’s Man P. 47-56)

Mot bad credentials for someone histery remembers as the '‘doubter": not bad
lar someone whose name, “doubting Thomas" has become synonymous with skepticir .
ond unbelief.

The first three Gospels tell us nothing about Thomas except hls name. In the
fourth Gospe! a more complete portrait emerges.

He was, first, a man af considerable courage and joyaity. in John 11, Jesus
is preparing to go to Bethany at the death of his friend Lazarus. To the disciples
the proposed trip was suicidal given Bethany's proximity to Jerusatem, and the
protested, and almost backed out on him. {+ was Thomas, according to John's Gaspel
who said: "Let us also go, that wo may dic with him". (John [f:16) And so they went.

He was, second, a brutally honest man. I!n the Fourth Gospel account of the
Last Supper had told the disciples what has become one of his best loved sayings:
"...frust in God: trust also in me. There are many dwelling places in my father's
houSe se... where | am you also may bu: and my way then is known to you." It was
Thomas who broke fn; “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know
the way": to which Jesus reptied: "1 am the way: | am the truth and | am the life.”

‘she 14:1-6)

It takes a great deal of courage to be that honest under those circumstances.
How often have you sat in a meeting and not understood what was mid, or what was
done, and found it easter to remain silent rather than asktng an embarrassing
question? | have ~ but f try not to. A senior high student once asked me about
the way we begin our service: “Why did God create us? To Praise him forever" Is
that true? Do we really believe that? she asked, And | think the ensuing
conversatiohelped her to understand a little bit about liturgy and symbolic
language. Thomas was honest, and it is to his everlasting credit that he asked
that question of our Lord.

Third, he was a skeptical man. Some people are like that by nature: some learn

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to be skeptical as a protective devise: some enjoy the role of resident skeptic
because jt makes others feel vain and gullible. Far whatever reason Thomas was
skeptical. He wanted to see before he believed: he wanted a ninety day trial
period before he bought. We heard the story this morning. Briefly - he wasn't

present when the Risen Christ appeared to the disciples: and furthermore he wr: .

about to buy it when they breathtessly told him about tho experience. {| confess to
a great deai of sympathy with Thomas at this point. 1 wouldn't have believed It
either. | had a telephone cail from a woman one time who felt that hcr house was

inhabited by spirits: and 1 had to restrain myself from saying what i was feeling:
namely ~ | don't believe it. My daughter came home from her first and last experience
in a neighborhood prayer and Bible study group for children talking about someone
seeing an ange! and the head of Christ appearing on the side of a mountain through

the fog and a miraculous healing from burns suffered at a Charcoal grill - and my
response put me shoulder to shoulder with Thomas. | don'ft believe ft.

Untike Thomas's experience, however, | do not expect these stories to be
confirmed: and | fervently wish that the sponsors of these activities would do some
“ard thinking about the ethics involved in exploiting childhood imagination an’ ‘ -

sittié more concerned about the work of Jesus Christ rather than their celectial
scorecard of souls saved.

In any case, for Thomas, seeing was believing. And he would not believe until
he could see and feel and test with his own senses the vatidity of the proposed
theses that Jesus had risen from his grave.

History has dealt unfairly with Thomas, [| believe. J have already revealed
my sympathies with him: and, in fact, he sounds tike a lot of people | know.

Thomas could well qualify for the title Patron Saint of Contemporary America.
Let's think about that for a minute.

There has always been a degree of skepticism built into the American character.
Potitical scientists have suggested that totalitarianism could never happen here
because it depends on the people swattowing, hook, fins snd sinker, avery word the

dictator breathes. And Americans are notorious for not believing much of anything

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their pojitical feaders tel! them. Hitler couldn't have sold Hein Kampf tn
America becuase people would have said, "Oh yeah? Prove it!:
That peculiarly American skepticism is, In my Opinion, one of our greatest
natural resources. Of course there are extremes. Some people will watch the
Appollo [6 shot today and believe that it's all staged in a Houston laboratory.
But even that excess is healthy at heart. Ina day of nearty unfathomable bigness
in Corporations and Governmental Agencies, Labor Unions, and the Press Establishment -

skepticism may be the only thing that preserves our system. For who but the skeptic

will Think to question the Pentagon reports of progress in $. E. Asia, or the
arrangements between the oil industry and Senators of both parties? Who but the
doubting Thomas wit] save us franthe kind of economy that cuts the heart out of

education and public welfare and pena! reform in the name of saving us money. We
need the skeptic who will respond to tax reform proposals: ‘Prove it = show me”.

On the other hand there is a kind of skepticism that is unhealthy and
demeaning and ultimately destructive: the kind that wlll not believe anything:

That focuses a jaundiced eye on every effort - every promise - every commitment:

the kind that indulges in that ultimate delusion that ‘it doesn't matter whether

“ou voteor not because they're ail crooked. Skepticism Is healthy until tt becomes
~-Spair,

In matters religious skepticism can play a very creative role. When Thomas
told Jesus he didn’t understand, he opened the door for clarity and growth. For
Jesus went on to point out that the way may remain unknown - but that he, Jesus,
was going to travel it with them and for them. Jn that context, | think It is
incombent that we learn to say to each other: | don't understand that: please
explain . and | think the healthiest thing that can ever happen to a preacher is
Tor one of his peope to challenge him: to tell him ‘that wasnit clear’, or "J
don'+ think | believe that.

| think it is essentiatly 'vcry healthy for the world to be a little skeptical '
when it looks at the church: to say to the church: “show us: prove that you are

really for peace and forgiveness and love and not something else. On the other

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side of it | think it is very healthy for a Church to be just a ilttle skeptical
about the verbal commitments of its own members, and to say to them “prove it: be
a member tn someway other than a name on a roje.-

| think a tittle skepticism is healthy, but at this point we need to see that
there is another dynanic operating in the realmd retigion: that is, a need for
certainty. Ina dy of general uncertainty people wan? vory badly to believe some-
thing that is stable and unchanging. Sensing this need and this want, there are a
growing number of churches that are making fantastic numerical progress, and a lot
of noise, creating the conditions under which religious certainly may be confirmed
and religous experience may be felt by all. That, | belicve is the great appeat
of the Jesus movement: of the Campus Crusade for Christ: of thc speaking in tongues
movement, and to a degree, of Billy Graham himseift. {f somehow we can find tn
retigion something that is certain. if we can find one area in life where all doubts
may be put aside: if we can do it in a way that fs mutua}ly felt by all. That is 4
contemporary formula for ecclesiastical success. And it bothers me: but what bothers
me more is that churches that play it straight, that try to be honest when it
would be convenient to lieg a little bit, come off feeling inadequate. What bothers
me is That peopte, like you and me, who have not had one of these staged and
intensly emotional experience sometimes feel as if we are a sub-category of Christian
when tatking with someone wo tas.

And so |l'd like simply to measure that against Thomas and his experience.
Jesus did not criticize Thomas for wanting proof. Never once did Jesus admonish

his disciple not to doubt. And | conctude that doubt plays a role in faith: that

if there is no doubt in faith then we're not talking about faith at all: we're
talking about knowledge. | have come to belicve that a Christian who realizes his
integrity wlll learn to tive with doubt: that ho will learn’ that to trust fn God

means to trust in the face of doubt: to have faith in Jesus Christ means to have
that faith in spite of the skepticism that keeps welling up inside.
Finally, Thomas's faith was confirmed in the fellowship of beiievers. I'd

fove to know why he -wasn'it ther: the first time around: where he was when the

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resurrection appearence happened to the others. Skeptic that he was | can imagine
him watking the city streets, disallusioned, recklessly endangering his own life,
because the one thing that was certain was gone. Well, wherever he was, he was
enabled to believe when he returned to the fellowship of believers. That's important.
it is difficult to belicve fet's admit that. Thure are times when we can think
of more reasons not to believe: when the only honest thing to do seems to be to
withdraw from the feilowship and go our bnely way.

That's one of the most important functions of the church. We help each other
believe here, In hymns and prayers, we help each other affirm what on a given
Sunday we can't affirm alone. in personal relationships that transmit love and

care we tell each other the Gospel, and support each other in times of doubt.

I've had seasons of doubt: I'd be less than honest if | didn’t admit that. f've

had mornings when the prospect ef worship and preaching was less than thrilting. But
inevitably something happens here. | can betiave because you can believe: {| can
rejoice because you rejoice | can praise God because the congregation of which

| am a part is praising him,

} don't think [ have said that very wel!. But | think that's part of what
happened to Thomas when he returned to the. fellowship of believers. The reality of
Jesus Christ was scaled and confirmed for him in a way that would never have
happened alone, on the street. So, it happens for me and | trust for you.

As is the case with you and me, Thomas was no stained«glass saint. He was,
rather, an honest, skeptical, totally human disciple of Jesus Christ: the one to
whom our Lord said,"because you have seen me you have faith" -: the one to whom our
lord said ~ about you and me - 'Happy aré they who never saw me and yet have found

faith. AMEN,

Father, help us to belleve when we have not seen. Help us to support each
other as we struggle with the perpiexities of our faith. Through Jesus Christ our

Lord, AMEN