When did doubt become a bad thing?

My sermon this week was based on John 20:19-31.

To download an audio of my sermon, click here.

I LOVE preaching about Thomas.

When I was in seminary, a female colleague noted that it was difficult for her to relate to Jesus sometimes because he was male and she was female.  This opened up a really interesting discussion about how easy or difficult it was to relate to Jesus, and as it turns out, even though Jesus and I share a gender, we really don't have that much in common.

I am white, he was of Middle-Eastern descent.  I am Christian, he was Jewish.  He lived in the Middle East, I've never been further East that Germany.  He lived 2000 years ago, never saw a car, a cellphone, read a blog, used a microwave, and all these things are daily events in my life.

All this to say, I really don't have much in common with him either.

Perhaps the thing that most makes Jesus difficult to relate to, at least for me, is his divinity.  He performed miracles, was perfect in every way.  I go to the corner store to buy 3 things and forget what 2 of them are by the time I get there.

But the Apostles...those are guys I can relate to.  From impulsive Peter to traitorous Judas, I can relate to their all-too human impulses, thoughts, words and deeds.

Thomas is perhaps my favourite Apostle.  History remembers him as "Doubting Thomas", and this epithet seems to be construed my many people as an insult or a criticism.

When did doubt become such a bad thing?

We are curious, questioning beings gifted with the skills of reason and critical thinking.  Do we really think that God did not mean for us to use them?

But the problem is that we often get deeply entrenched in our ideas: if we decide on something, we naturally gravitate towards people, institutions, thinkers and writers who espouse what we believe to be true.  It can often be next to impossible to change our minds, even in the face of empirical, incontrovertible, overwhelming evidence.

And this is what I find so redeeming about Thomas.  When told about the Resurrection (something which is, by its very nature, nearly impossible to believe), Thomas says, "I will not believe until I see and touch the holes in his hands".

Lo and behold, some time later he gets the opportunity to do just that, and he changes his mind.

Thomas didn't want to be foolish.  He didn't want to believe in something without a purpose.  He wanted proof.

Doubt prevents us from being taken advantage of.  Doubt is actually something that pushes us to greater wisdom and knowledge.  Doubt is that which allows us to sift through the flood of information we now as human beings receive daily, to find the nugget of truth, to find that which really matters.  Without doubt, trust would be meaningless.

Today, I invite you to doubt everything.