Monday, April 25, 2022

Faith that allows. April 24, 2022. The Rev. David M. Stoddart


John 20:19-31

William James was a prominent 19th century American philosopher. A story is told that after a lecture he gave on cosmology and the structure of the solar system, James was accosted by a little old lady.

"Your theory that the sun is the center of the solar system, and the earth is a ball which rotates around it has a very convincing ring to it, Mr. James, but it's wrong. I've got a better theory," said the little old lady.

"And what is that, madam?" inquired James politely.

"That we live on a crust of earth which is on the back of a giant turtle."

Not wishing to demolish this absurd little theory by bringing to bear the masses of scientific evidence he had at his command, James decided to gently dissuade his opponent by making her see some of the inadequacies of her position.

"If your theory is correct, madam," he asked, "what does this turtle stand on?"

"You're a very clever man, Mr. James, and that's a very good question," replied the little old lady, "but I have an answer to it. And it's this: The first turtle stands on the back of a second, far larger, turtle, who stands directly under him."

"But what does this second turtle stand on?" persisted James patiently.

To this, the little old lady crowed triumphantly,

"It's no use, Mr. James—it's turtles all the way down."[1]

 

An infinite progression of turtles. People believe many interesting things, from the sublime to the ridiculous. And we cling to our deepest held beliefs tenaciously and passionately. And that is never more true than in the whole arena of religion. In fact, in our culture, we have made “religion” and “belief” almost synonymous. Do we believe in God, do we believe in Christ, do we believe in heaven . . . how we answer such questions defines our religion, at least in the popular mind. And certainly what we believe is important. Every week we recite the Nicene Creed together, beginning with “We believe in one God.” But our religious life is about more than just belief. If being a Christian, a person in Christ, just means intellectually assenting to a set of beliefs and doctrines, we are missing something crucial. And I think this story about Thomas illustrates what that something is.

 

On the surface, it seems pretty straightforward: Thomas doesn’t believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead; he sees Jesus; and then he believes. But this is John’s Gospel, and John’s Gospel always dives below the surface, and there is a lot going on here that is not so straightforward. For example, is the message here that Jesus will give us all physical evidence so that we will believe in his resurrection? Clearly not: only a handful of people saw the risen Christ: the vast majority of Christians have not. Is the message, then, that we should believe the witness of that small group of people? Well, we can believe them, of course, but that may not be sufficient: remember, even Thomas didn’t believe the other disciples when they told him that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and they were his close companions. If he didn’t believe them, why should we? And besides all that, what brings Thomas back to that locked room anyway, what keeps Thomas engaged enough to even want proof? There is something at work here that goes deeper than belief, and the best word we have for that something is faith.

 

Faith is openness to God, a willingness to live towards God. Psalm 46 says: Be still, and know that I am God. Such knowing is more fundamental than any belief or doctrine. It is faith that keeps Thomas coming back, faith that allows him to raise the doubts he raises. We see a similar dynamic in Mark’s Gospel with the father of the epileptic boy. It is faith that allows him to say, I believe. Help my unbelief! And it has certainly been my experience that it is not belief that has caused me to have faith, but rather that faith has led me into belief. After all, we are not born with a belief in the Incarnation or in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, but we are born with a capacity for God, a natural orientation towards God. The seeds of faith have been within us from the beginning. And it doesn’t have to be great faith: Jesus says that faith the size of a mustard seed is all we need. And we all have it — we all have it — which is why Jesus can connect with everyone, even with sinners, Gentiles, and non-believers. He touches that core of faith within all of us. And it’s because of that core of faith that Jesus can say in today’s Gospel: Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. Blessed are those whose faith has led them to believe.

 

I want to encourage you this Easter season to use the faith you have within you. And we do that by any act of intention, any act that consciously points us to God. That could be a prayer, a word of thanksgiving, an act of trust, an expression of repentance, a deliberate decision to love. Whenever we do anything for the sake of God or anything that is directed towards God, even crying out “Help me believe!”,  it nourishes our innate faith. And the more we nurture and cultivate faith, the more our faith will lead us into deeper belief. That’s true no matter where we are on the spiritual journey. It’s true if we are committed Christians who are convinced that Jesus is risen and alive; it’s true if we are struggling to believe that there is a God at all. God will meet us where we are and lead us into deeper belief, if we are willing to act on the faith we have, even if that only means asking questions and raising doubts. God will help us to know that Jesus is alive, not as a creedal box we check off, but as a living reality. God will help us to know that the Spirit of the Risen Christ dwells within us, not as a doctrine we are supposed to believe in but as something we actually experience. It is God, working through our faith, who will show us these things, far more than any creed, book, class, or sermon could ever do. And may God continue to do that for each and every one of us.



[1] J. R. Ross, Constraints on Variables in Syntax, 1967[

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