“The Doubters”
Text: Matthew 28:16-20
6-4-2023
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If I were to ask you to pick just one name from ALL the disciples of Jesus who was the biggest doubter, who would you choose? My guess is that the great majority would say Thomas, since he has been saddled with the incorrect label of “Doubting Thomas.” Why do I say that? Because Thomas had a much deeper crisis of faith than merely doubting. Remember how the other disciples told him that the risen Lord Jesus had appeared to them? Thomas didn’t say, “Well, I doubt that!” No, he said, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will neverbelieve.” When Jesus appeared a week later, Christ answered that unbelief by saying to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe!” So really, it’s inaccurate to call him “Doubting Thomas.” It was far worse than that. His faith was in a bad way. However, it’s important to recognize up front that doubting can certainly lead to unbelief.
Okay, so if it wasn’t Thomas, then which disciple was the biggest doubter? Well, surprisingly enough, a superficial look at the evidence points to Simon Peter. In Matthew 14, the disciples were in a boat and Jesus came to them, walking on the water. Peter saw it and asked if he could join Jesus. When Jesus gave him the green light, Peter stepped out by faith and was actually walking on water too! He was doing fine until he started focusing on the wind and waves. That’s when he began to sink and called to Jesus for help. The Lord reached out and pulled him up. But listen to what Christ said to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Notice that it’s possible to have faith and still have doubts.
The Greek word there for doubt is very interesting. It only appears two times in Scripture. Once in Matthew 14 and the other is in our Gospel reading for today. It can literally be translated as “two or double stances.” It’s a picture of someone paused at the fork in a road, uncertain which way to go, wavering back and forth between the two. Sometimes that fork is having to decide whether we believe something or not. That helps explain Peter’s dilemma out there on the sea. He truly believed that by the divine power of Jesus he could do something that was supernatural and totally defied logic. But the danger of the wind and the waves created doubt in his mind. Suddenly he was double-minded, and at a figurative fork in the road. Unfortunately, his human logic won out and he literally was sunk. The good news is that his faith was still intact and he cried out to Jesus for help.
Okay, fast forward to our Gospel reading. Peter was there among the 11 disciples who went to Galilee as Jesus had instructed them. And that same word, “doubt,” comes up again. So, was Peter the biggest doubter? Well, no. Verse 17 tells us there were others in that state of mind. It says “some doubted.” And the fact of the matter is that all eleven of them had doubts. About what, you ask? Oh my, take your pick. Sure, they had seen the resurrected Jesus, but His appearances were unusual to say the least. He materialized out of thin air. Were they just imagining it all? Jesus had spoken to them quite plainly about God the Father and the Holy Spirit as separate persons of the Godhead. And yet, He also spoke about the 3 of them being united as one. And the disciples surely had doubts about what the future would hold for them. If Jesus sent them out like before, would they again have supernatural powers to heal and cast out demons? Jesus had told them that they would be his witnesses and with that would come persecution. How would all that play out? And if Jesus was going away as He had said, then who would give them their marching orders?
There were probably a million other questions like that which raised doubts in their minds. The fork in the road for them was whether they would push those doubts aside and embrace these mysteries, walking boldly by faith or not. The good news is that they obviously had faith despite their doubts because they fell down and worshiped Jesus. Which is comforting for us to know.
Considering all that, I’ll ask you once again: If you had to pick just one name from ALL the disciples of Jesus who was the biggest doubter, who would you choose? Well, as we’ve seen, Matthew makes it quite clear that all eleven had doubts. So, is that the answer? The 11 disciples were the biggest doubters? Actually, the correct answer can be found by simply looking in a mirror. YOU are the biggest doubter amongst all of Jesus’ disciples because just like all the rest of us doubts plague your mind. Like those 11 disciples, you surely have faith and worship Jesus even though you have doubts about some things. Those doubts are the figurative fork in the road as we ponder the mysteries of God and the supernatural ways that He interacts with us. Here are some examples:
We confessed our faith in God using the long, detailed description from the Athanasian Creed. But can you really say that the doctrine of the Trinity makes total sense to you? If you said yes I’d have to call you a liar. The truth that there are three persons in one God is impossible for our puny brains to logically accept. Also, in the Old Testament lesson you heard how God created everything out of nothing with just a word form His mouth. How is that possible? And how could the almighty Son of God, who is present everywhere, take on human flesh as a tiny, human baby and be limited by space and time? Or how can the eternal Son of God, who cannot die, go to the cross and die for all of our sins? And for that matter, since the 3 persons of the Trinity are inseparable, how could the Son die and not the other two?
If that’s not enough to make your head explode, then what about the grace that God dispenses through His Church here on earth? Do you have doubts about that? I bet you do. When you hear your Pastor announce that all your sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, do you believe that’s true and valid not just here on earth but also before God in heaven? Do you have secret sins that are so awful that you doubt that God has covered those too? It doesn’t seem possible that God works through His spoken and written Word to convert souls. And through that Word the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and also assures us of our forgiveness. Do you have doubts about that? And for that matter, how can you be sure that the Bible really is the inspired Word of God, without any errors, since human beings were used to compose it? Does that leave a doubt in your mind?
When you witness a Baptism, do you have doubts that the Triune God is really there, working through that water to wash away sins and create faith? Do you ever doubt whether your Baptism is still effective for you now? What about Holy Communion? The Church declares the divine mystery that in the bread and wine Jesus comes to us with His very body and blood. And with it, He bestows forgiveness and nourishment for your soul. But that defies all human logic. How can Christ be here at this altar and at the same time be truly present in the Lord’s Supper everywhere else on the earth that it’s being celebrated? The list of things that can raise a doubt in our minds about God and salvation goes on and on.
But don’t be discouraged! There is a solution to the problem. First of all, let’s make it clear that just because you cannot fully comprehend these mysteries of God that doesn’t make you a doubter. They are, after all, mysteries and many of them won’t be fully revealed this side of heaven. It’s okay to discuss them and state what we do know. However, don’t get frustrated and allow doubts to develop simply because you can’t unravel the complete mystery. We accept them by faith which trusts that since God said it is so, then we must believe it is true. Doubts will surely attack that faith and confidence in the mysteries of God. Doubts are the devil’s favorite weapon, going all the way back to his temptation of Eve in the Garden. Your protection from those assaults can be found in the Great Commission that Jesus gave: Make disciples of all nations by Baptizing and then teaching. And that’s precisely what the Church is here to offer. The Christian Church has been established by God to teach His Word and distribute His Sacraments to all of us incessant doubters and sinners, which includes you and me. Through these Means of Grace, our Triune God creates and sustains faith in our hearts. Through these Means of Grace, He instills confidence in Christ’s work of salvation, our forgiveness by His blood, and our eternal home in heaven. May God keep our faith firm amidst the swirling doubts around us, so that with confidence we may embrace the mysteries of His love, forgiveness and free salvation. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!