(John 20: 19-31)
The other day my granddaughter Eva called about a school project she was working on. She was conducting a survey of people’s favorite indoor pastime. She asked what mine was and I immediately responded that I loved to read. I do love to read, and I usually have two or three books near my easy chair that I am reading at any given time. My tastes vary but I really like history, but the type of history that really interests me are accounts of extraordinary times and how people responded. A book I read several years ago entitled; The Worst Hard Time, by Timothy Egan, really stuck with me. It was about the one-two gut punch America was dealt by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. A cataclysmic combination of epic proportions that gripped the entire country. The stories were heart-wrenching, and at times I would have to set the book aside, just to collect my thoughts. Stories of men losing their jobs and walking away from their families. Some reduced to begging on the streets or working for just a meal. Stories of long bread and soup lines where people hoped to just get enough to eat to last them a day or two. Businesses closed and life savings lost. Farms covered in mounds of endless, blowing dust. Mothers holding their children in their arms as they slowly suffocated from the dust filling their tiny lungs. Despair leading to suicides. And then there were the stories of how governments and elected officials acted or failed to act. People asked questions and pointed fingers. People wondered where God was in all this. Would it ever end? How will we survive. What will the world be like when this is over, if it ever ends? Will I even live to see it? People were full of doubts?
And doubt is where we find ourselves in our scripture reading for today. The Apostle John tells us that on the evening of the first day of the week, the disciples were hiding in a house behind locked doors, fearful that the Jewish authorities were looking for them. Even though the two Marys told them Jesus was going to see them in Galilee, they were filled with fear, apprehension and doubt. John tells us that Jesus suddenly appears among them saying; Peace be with you, showing them the wounds to his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw their Lord and Jesus again said to them; Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said; Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
We are told that when this happened, Thomas, one of the original 12 disciples, was not present. When the other disciples told him what he had missed and that they had seen the Lord, he said; “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” John tells us that a week later, Jesus reappears and stands among them saying; Peace be with you. He then says to Thomas; Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe. Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus then said to him; Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.
Jesus wasn’t hard on Thomas for his doubts. Despite his skepticism, Thomas was still loyal to the believers and to Jesus himself. He just had doubts, which is a natural part of our human nature. Thomas, and we ourselves, are in good Biblical company when it comes to doubters. Abraham doubted when he was told he would be a father in his old age, and Sarah too, doubted when she was told she would conceive in her old age. Moses was a doubter when he was told to return to Egypt to lead his people. Whenever the Israelites faced difficulties in the desert, they doubted. Gideon doubted when he was told he would be a judge and a leader. And, Zechariah doubted when he too was told he would be a father in his old age.
I like what the Apostle James, Jesus’ brother, says about facing adversity In James 1: 2-7. He says to think of the various tests we encounter as occasions for joy. After all, he says, you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let this endurance complete its work so that you may be fully mature, complete, and lacking in nothing. James doesn’t say if you face trials, but whenever you face them. He rightly assumes that we will have trials and that it is possible to profit from them. James continues by saying; But anyone who needs wisdom should ask God, whose very nature is to give it to everyone without a second thought, without keeping score. Wisdom will certainly be given to those who ask. Whoever asks shouldn’t hesitate. They should ask in faith, without doubting. Whoever doubts is like the surf of the sea, tossed and turned by the wind. James tells us to turn our hardships into times of learning, as tough times can teach us perseverance. As Christians, we really can’t know the depth of our character until we see how we react under pressure. It’s easy to be kind to others when everything is going well, but can we still be kind when others are treating us unfairly, or when we feel compelled to put our own self-preservation interests first?
In 1 Peter 1, the Apostle Peter tells us to rejoice in the hope we have in our salvation, even if it’s necessary for us to be distressed for a short time by various trials. He says; This is necessary so that your faith may be found genuine. Your faith is more valuable than gold, which will be destroyed even though it is tested by fire. Your genuine faith will result in praise, glory, and honor for you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Peter is reminding us that life can be hard from time to time, even for us believers, but it is our faith that will get us through our darkest hours. He knows, he was right there behind locked doors with Thomas.
It was during these dark hours that people came together in their fight for survival during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Some leaders rose to the occasion while others failed. In The Worst Hard Time, much of the book is devoted to what ordinary people did under extraordinary hardships to persevere. The author points out that many elected officials put aside partisan politics, some grudgingly, and did what was best for the people who put them in office and the country. You have to remember, there was no Social Security, no Medicare, and what public assistance there was, was overwhelmed. There were no food banks, only long bread and soup lines. There were no jobs, but the Roosevelt Administration, with the support of Congress, created programs such as the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps to put people back to work, giving them income, hope and a promise of better days ahead. Hard lessons were learned, and laws were enacted to insure against such a calamity ever devastating the country again. We can only hope that our elected officials put partisan politics aside just as was done in the 1930s and do what is in the best interest of not only the American people, but the peoples of the world, as we are now a global community. As we’ve seen, what happens in another corner of the world can impact any other corner of the world at mind boggling speed and ferocity.
During our worst hard time, we must remember to thank God for his promise to be with us in the roughest of trials and tribulations. We must go to him in prayer asking him for help in solving our problems, or to give us the strength to endure them, and the patience to see it through to the end. God will not leave us alone with our problems during the worst hard times. He will stay close and help us grow stronger so that we can do his will and his way for the last, the least and the lost.
I’ll leave you with the words of Jesus Christ from Matthew 17: 20 where in response to the disciples lament that they failed to do something on their own, he said; I assure you that if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.
Don’t be “Doubt Full”. Be “Faith Full”.
Please pray with me.
Gracious and loving God, we know that when the storms of life are raging, you are standing by us. When we feel like the world is tossing us about like a ship upon the sea, you who rule the wind and water are there to calm the waters and still the wind. Compassionate Father, calm our fears when we are filled with doubt and don’t know which way to turn. Hold us in your loving arms and reassure us that you will not forsake us nor leave us alone in the dark. We pray for the firm hand of your Son, Jesus, who will walk beside us through the darkest of valleys bringing us safely through to the other side. Through our strength and perseverance may we bring glory and honor to you. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.