The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



The Second Sunday of Easter, Year A, 2008, March 30, 2008, Church of Our Saviour Gallatin

“Then he said 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’" (Jo. 20:27).

Doubt is sometimes seen as the opposite of faith, but like many opposites they are closer than they first appear. Who’s better off: a person who never reflects on the ways of God but just accepts the world as it is, or the person who reflects and questions? The life of faith is supposed to involve the whole person, and so the person who questions and doubts may have engaged in relationship with God at a closer range and with a greater vigor.

In fact, doubt may be just the thing that moves us on from our complacency and propels us forward into the life of faith. If you have questions, at least you are looking for the answers. Some atheists, I’m convinced, have a spiritual fervor that will only ever be satisfied by looking on the face of God, and in his presence is the place we are supposed to be. A person who has rejected God may be closer to the life of faith than someone who is indifferent to the whole question. Show me a person with questions and I will show you a person who is on a journey, a person who may yet arrive.

The trick is not to get stuck on the journey. Though we don’t want false answers to our questions, the kind of easy and trite answers to the great questions of faith that never satisfy, at the same time there is no virtue to the unanswered question or the endless journey. “Who am I?” “Why is the world the way it is?” “What is my destiny?”: all of them good questions, perhaps the most important ones that are before us; questions that Christian faith attempts to answer. We ought not to hide behind our doubt, clutching it like a security blanket, because we need to make commitments. Christians don’t leave doubt behind, but they do commit to the life of faith that seeks the answers: that is, to belief.

This is why Thomas the Apostle, in our Gospel today, is a good example for us. He was not present on the day of resurrection, and he would not believe unless he saw the evidence that the Lord had risen indeed. Doubt propels him forward, you see; he doesn’t just accept a story that he might want to believe without going a little deeper and probing a little further. A week later, he literally comes into close range with the Risen Lord; and, it seems, he’s in the prsence of God. Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jo. 20:28). Doubt has led to the deepening of faith and to its most profound expression. Doubt has led to belief.

Thomas was not “dead certain”, but who wants to be? We want living faith, faith in things we can rely on, but not the deadly certainty that never ventures forward or questions the state of things. “Who am I?” “Why is the world the way it is?” “What is my destiny?”. Those are the questions.

During the Easter Season, we are like the disciples who come to the empty tomb to seek the answers. We make a commitment to the life of faith, to the journey that leads to the presence of God. We decide to believe, to put our trust in the Risen Lord. All the questions are not answered at once, but they are not supposed to be. As Jesus tells Thomas, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ (Jo. 20:29). Belief is the gift of grace. In the midst of doubt, we are invited to believe. The Eucharist we celebrate, the Confirmation that takes place today, are signs of faith in the Risen Lord. As you come to the altar rail, you might ask yourself, What have you come to believe in? In whom do you put your trust? We have not seen him but we have come to believe. 

The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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