John 20:24-31: Glory, Part XIII – Doubt
Saturday, July 30, 2022
We hear this story often on the Sunday after Easter, when the pews that had been overflowing the Sunday before now stand strangely vacant. The story logically follows the Easter event because it gives each of us an opportunity to explore – and to doubt – what we say we believe. Perhaps there is a bit of Thomas in each of us.
Today’s lesson on Glory: We each have the choice to believe or reject the amazing story of God’s love for us. We ought not shy away from doubting and exploring because it is often after doubting that we come to believe all the more firmly.
We call Thomas, Doubting, but we might better think of him as Questioning. Thomas insists on proof, much like a child, much like each of us. Thomas asks for the real presence of God, as do many children and as do many of us. Thomas refuses to follow blindly, as might all of us. Before we bring Jesus to others – as we are asked to do – we must argue, probe, doubt and finally believe genuinely as Thomas does. We must say, as Thomas does, “My Lord and my God!”
We would be false apostles as those we read about in Revelation 2:2-3. “I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked; you have tested those who call themselves apostles and discovered that they are imposters. Moreover, you have endured and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary.” The writer of Revelation, John of Patmos, also cautions that we are to repent, warning that the light of our lampstand will be extinguished if we lose the love we had at first. We must realize who and what we are, we must repent and repair, forgive and ask forgiveness, heal and be healed, question and discuss. We must seek so that and we will ultimately find God’s eternal, healing and inexplicable glory.
Using a search engine, we look for images of Doubting Thomas and study this story as we consider the questions we present to God . . . and the answers we receive.
Image from: http://www.stmatthewcr.org/parish/2014/04/23/3004/ or https://www.pinterest.com/pin/387168899190994789/
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