John 20:24-31 *
Dear Friends in Christ,
When my wife was going to nursing school she liked to come home and share some of what she had learned with me and the children. She would say things like, “this patient was ‘npo,’” and, “that one was ‘copd.’” As her family we had no idea what this medical jargon meant. We would have to stop her conversation and ask her to explain these terms and she would say, “npo means nothing by mouth which means the patient is probably going to have surgery and can’t eat or drink anything.” Copd means chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which means the patient is probably having a hard time breathing.” So, gradually over time we began to pick up some of the standard medical abbreviations so we could also pretend that we were medically knowledgeable.
Maybe some of you also know some medical terminology. I’ll bet that many of you have heard the term, “the dt’s.” When you heard that some one had the dt’s you thought to yourself that means delirium tremens. And you thought to yourself the person who has delirium tremens probably has done some pretty serious drinking to the point where it has damaged his brain and caused the tremors.
The dt’s are not only a bad thing in the medical world. Many people in church circles know the story of Doubting Thomas so we could say in the world of the church the dt’s, the doubting Thomas syndrome is also not a good thing to have. I think we all know if some one labels us as a doubting Thomas they are not giving us a compliment.
I’m glad that the Apostle John put the doubting Thomas story in his Gospel so that we could take a look at it. You may have thought this story was intended to be a warning to us. It can be used in that way but I would like to look at it with you today as a story to give us insight and encouragement. So let’s look at
“Curing the DT’s”
today. Let’s look first of all at what causes the kind of doubt that Thomas had. Let’s look secondly at what cures that doubt.
I remember when I was going to preach one of my first sermons I was standing in the sacristy with a fellow seminarian who was going to do the liturgy. He turned to me and asked me if I was “ok.” Even though my stomach was churning and I felt like barfing and my hands were sweating, I said, “Sure. I’m ok. I’m fine.” Now, why did I say that? Well, I didn’t want to give the impression that I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t want anyone to think that I had any doubts about getting my message across or losing my place in my manuscript. But maybe it wouldn’t have been such a bad idea to be somewhat honest and admit that I was a tad nervous.
I like the fact that Thomas is honest about his feelings. When his fellow disciples tell him that they had seen Jesus and Thomas can’t imagine that such a thing could be true, he doesn’t pretend to agree with them. He understands their excitement and their joy and he wishes he could share it with them but he says honestly, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands I’m afraid I just can’t believe what you are telling me.”
What I would like to know is what could have caused this kind of doubt in Thomas? Maybe it will help us to think back to what it was like for Thomas to come to know Jesus. Like the other disciples, Thomas had found that following Jesus had changed his life. To live with Jesus every day. Around the camp fire. Eating together. Talking together. Listening to how Jesus talked to them and to the crowds. His wisdom. His compassion. His power. There wasn’t anything about Jesus that Thomas didn’t like. There wasn’t anything about Jesus that didn’t impress Thomas and each day it just got better and better and Thomas found himself loving Jesus more and more. Imagine the person in your life to whom you are most attached and then multiply that by a hundred and you begin to see the depth of the attachment that Thomas had for Jesus.
Now imagine that attachment being torn away. Brutally. Quickly. In the space of a few hours Thomas saw his Jesus arrested, tried, convicted, and crucified. Thomas was burned big time. Thomas’ heart was broken. Thomas’ world was shattered. Such an experience obviously had a lot to do with his doubts. How could he risk taking a chance of believing that Jesus was alive only to have his heart broken all over again if he found out that it wasn’t true?
Have you ever been burned? Have you ever had your heart broken by the hard knocks of life? I know we adults laugh about teenagers and their falling in love. Puppy love we call it. But I remember when I was fifteen and was in love for the first time and my girl said to me, “Steve, I think we should stop dating. But we can still be friends, right?” “Friends?” I thought. “How can we be friends when you have just broken my heart?” I was inconsolable for weeks. I swore I would never date again. Well, obviously I got over it, but it was a time of doubt.
Some of you have experienced doubt when your company downsized and your job was eliminated. You thought that your hard work and talent made you indispensable and it was more than humbling to find out that this wasn’t the case.
Some of you have experienced doubt when your marriage came to an end. If it caught you by surprise and you didn’t realize how unhappy your spouse was then it was extremely heartbreaking for you.
Some of you have lost your spouse and you never would have believed how lonely it could be. How grief physically hurts. How nothing seems to matter. How tired you are. How hard it is to do your work and concentrate.
Some of you have retired and feel like a fish out of water. You don’t know what to do with your time. You feel out of the loop. You feel the world passing you by. You wonder where do I fit and what could I do to make a difference?
Some of you are losing your health. It is getting harder and harder to get
around. Every step seems like you are
climbing
Every stage of life, every place in life, every twist and turn in the road can throw you for a loop. It can break your heart. It can humble the strongest and most courageous. We understand Thomas well. It isn’t just life that makes us doubt. When we doubt life we know in our hearts that we are also thinking, “Lord, I don’t get this. Lord, I don’t understand. Lord, I’m hurting and you let this happen. Lord, I’m finding it hard to believe that you are alive and around and on my side.”
What is the cure for Thomas and for us when our world is shattered and our hope is gone? There is a little sentence in the Thomas story that deserves our attention as we ponder the question of what is the cure for the dt’s. It says, “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.” Anything strike you about that sentence? Anything smack you in the face as you look at these words? Thomas was with them. Doesn’t it surprise you that Thomas was with the other disciples? I could see myself being one of the disciples and after expressing my joy to Thomas and having him pour cold water all over it and doubting my testimony saying to him, “Well fine then! If you don’t believe me don’t hang around with me! I’ve had it with you. I don’t need your negativity. I don’t need your bull headedness. I don’t want you to be a part of my nice little group here.”
But the disciples allow Thomas to stay with them in that room. They don’t shut him out. They don’t reject him. That says two very powerful things to me. First of all it says that they have some compassion and understanding. They understand Thomas because they felt the same way before Jesus appeared to them. They didn’t believe the women who had seen Jesus. Their own hearts were crushed and broken and they had hidden behind closed doors because they didn’t know what else to do. They knew what doubt and despair felt like. So they put their arms around Thomas and hurt with him and for him. Secondly, they had hopes that if Jesus had come to this room before, He could very well do it again. Whenever He would choose, He could bring the evidence that Thomas so desperately needed.
Those of us who know Jesus and believe and rejoice in the power of His resurrection need to take a look at those ten disciples and how they reacted to Thomas. Do we find ourselves getting angry at the doubters we meet in our lives? Do we judge them as weak? Do we look down on them as being pathetic? Do we want them to stop raining on our parade? Then we need to ask ourselves, where did our compassion go? Have we forgotten what it was like when people bore with us in our moments of doubt? Or, is it possible that we have had one of those charmed lives where nothing crushing has ever happened to us so we can’t understand what it feels like to not know what to think or believe? Then, maybe we need to get out of our nice comfortable pew and rub shoulders with those who are in the pit not only for our own insight and growth, but so that we might indeed be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
Those of us who are in Thomas’s shoes at this moment. Who came today because your mother said, “You are going to church today and there will be no more argument.” Who are here today because you are searching, but you aren’t very hopeful, I hope that someone who is sitting by you will let you know that they are glad you are here. They are hoping that here or in the weeks to come, Jesus will manifest Himself to you in a way that will help you to overcome your grief and you pain.
I think we need some help making this story concrete in our own lives and I would like to share with you an experience that I had a few months ago that may be of help to you. I was at a gathering and was talking to a man and he got to talking about one of his sons. He was telling me that his son had just gone through a divorce and had come home to be with his parents for a while. This man had gotten up in the morning and came downstairs and found his son at the stove making breakfast. He said something like, “Good morning. How are you doing today?” And his son looked at him and started to cry. This man took his son in his arms and his son began to sob uncontrollably. Father and son slid down the side of the cupboard until they were on the floor. Dad didn’t know what to say. Dad didn’t know what to do, but he didn’t kick his Thomas out of the room.
I don’t think that dad knew that he had done the right thing. I don’t know if I affirmed him as he told me that story because I hadn’t looked at this text at that point. But, I have no doubt that his love and support have been crucial to his son getting through this time in his life. I have no doubt that if that son has found life and hope again, if God has helped him learn from his mistakes and he has found another person to share his life with, then he knows God does live. God does care. God does show His presence and power and goodness in His time and in His way. And it happened because this dad let his son into his room.
Is there room in your heart, your home, your family circle, your work circle for a doubting Thomas? Do you see how our Lord needs a place to come so He can cure the dt’s? Amen.