Do Not Doubt But Believe

By The Rev’d Dawn M. Frankfurt

Glory to the Holy and Undivided Trinity; God who is Three in One and One in Three; Who is beyond us, among us, within us; Who was, and is, and is to come, world without end. Amen.

John is the only book which tells the story of the apostle who is often called “Doubting Thomas.” This episode does not appear in Matthew, Mark or Luke. But it is not the only book in the Bible which tells us about doubt. Stories which include doubts, disbeliefs, and questions are everywhere in Scripture. It appears often because it is part of human nature to doubt. There was a man, Charles Caleb Colton, who once said, “Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.”

Remember the story of Sarah who laughed when she heard something she doubted?

“… I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. ¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure? … The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. ²Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. ³Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him … ⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ⁷And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age”” (Genesis 18:10-12, 21:1-7).

Wilson Mizner once said, “I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.”

Later in Genesis when Jacob’s sons first told him that Joseph was still alive, he couldn’t believe it.

“Then … Joseph made himself known to his brothers … Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence … So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. ²⁶And they told him, ‘Joseph is still alive! He is even ruler over all the land of Egypt.’ He was stunned; he could not believe them. ²⁷But when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸Israel said, ‘Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die’” (Genesis 45:1-3, 25-28).

In his beautiful style, Robert Browning once wrote, “I show you doubt, to prove that faith exists.”

In the First Book of Kings we are told about a skeptical Queen of Sheba. She had been told about King Solomon, but she did not think such a wise and prosperous person existed.

“When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon … she came to test him with hard questions … when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. ³Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. ⁴When the queen of Sheba had observed all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his valets, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. ⁶So she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your accomplishments and of your wisdom, ⁷but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. Not even half had been told me; your wisdom and prosperity far surpass the report that I had heard” (1 Kings 10:1-7).

About doubt, Rollo May said something very important, “The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it's not without doubt – but in spite of doubt.”

One of the first examples of doubt we get in the New Testament comes when the Angel Gabriel announces the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah, his father. Zechariah didn’t believe.

“… There was a priest named Zechariah … His wife was a descendant of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. ⁶Both of them were righteous before God … But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years. ⁸Once when [Zechariah] was serving as priest … there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. ¹⁴You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵he will be great in the sight of the Lord … even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶He will turn many people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” ¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” ¹⁹The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur” … After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion … ⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. ⁶⁰But … [Zechariah] asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John” … ⁶⁴Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God” (Luke 1:5-64).

And of course, we heard the best-known story about doubting in the Bible when we heard the Gospel reading from John this morning. Did you happen to notice, though, which stories of doubt I’ve left out so far this morning? In each of the gospels, the disciples are doubters when the body of Jesus goes missing from the tomb. Those who were not first to go to the tomb were told of Christ’s resurrection and they did not believe until they had seen the empty tomb, or Christ himself. The disciples who did not believe what the women reported to them. They ran to the tomb to see for themselves. Their doubt was lifted once they saw. Eventually they believed.

The important thing to notice about all of these stories is that none of them ends there. In each story, doubt was a step along the way to believing. Once she was pregnant and she gave birth to Isaac, Sarah certainly did come to believe what God had said was true. Jacob, even in advancing years, could still take a leap of faith. He came to believe that Joseph was still alive. All of the Queen of Sheba’s doubts about King Solomon were erased once she met him and saw all that he had under his rule. In one of our New Testament examples, Zechariah learned the hard way that doubting the Word of the Lord was not what he was supposed to do. Eventually, what he had doubted occurred right before his eyes.

The story of the disciples slowness to believe the resurrection appears in all four gospels. The story of “Doubting Thomas” appears only once, in the gospel of John, yet the story of “Doubting Thomas” is the one which we remember – and it is always with a negative connotation – as if Thomas was the only one who ever doubted. That’s not the way it was.

I believe God wants us to think through our faith – and this is the Anglican tradition. God created us to be intelligent, thinking people. Our hearts and minds were given to us for our use. And the truth is, a tested faith is far stronger than one which has never been tried. We shouldn’t feel guilty in times of doubt. When we ask questions about faith and about God we shouldn’t be ashamed.

The thing you want to remember is not to get stuck in doubt. Don’t let doubt discourage you. God continues to speak to you. Doubt is the posture you take when you have an open mind at work. When God moves in your heart, listen to what is being said. I believe Christ is only a few steps on the other side of your doubts. A dweller on the threshold today can be a resident of God’s eternal kingdom tomorrow. Doubt is one of the steps you take on the way in.

AMEN!