SEEING IS BELIEVING?

Image result for doubting thomas

 John 20:19-31

 One Maundy Thursday night, several years ago, two men were involved in a drunken brawl in an alley down the hill from the church where I was serving as a student pastor.  They were so intent on beating the crap out of each other, that they did not notice the group of men approaching them from the church until they heard one of the men shouted at the two brawlers.  Imagine their surprise when the two of them looked up to see Jesus and his disciples.  Granted, the group was our drama team in costume for the Maundy Thursday drama they were performing in, but that's beside the point.  The last person they expected to see was Jesus.  

 The same was true for Christ's disciple tradition has dubbed, "Doubting Thomas."  Seeing is believing, but can believing also be seeing?

 It was either the most tasteless, cruel, and inappropriate joke, ever, or his fellow disciples were suffering from a mass hallucination induced by their grief.  Either way, it couldn't be true.   "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands and put my hand in the wound in his die, I'm not buying it," he told his friends after they told them that they had seen the Lord.

I'll believe it when I see it.

In the 2004 movie, "Polar Express," a young boy struggles with believing in Santa Claus.  He can't find any tangible proof.  Even after boarding the magical train, he still has his doubts, a fact revealed when he meets a hobo on top of one of the train cars.

Seeing is Believing

Like Thomas who had a  face-to-face encounter with the risen Christ and finally believes that Jesus has indeed risen from the dead as he had promised, after seeing and meeting Santa, the boy's faith in Christmas and Santa Clause is renewed.

Seeing is believing, but in the movie, the train conductor tells the boy something after the child's conversation with the hobo that we, as Christians, should keep in mind.  "Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we cannot see."

Jesus said to Thomas, "So, you believe because you've sen with your own eyes.  Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing."  (John 20:29, MSG)

We may not touch his hands and feet or walk with him beside the Sea of Galilee.  So, we walk by faith by faith and not by sight.

There are times when the circumstances of life and the chaotic voices of the world will make hearing God's voice.  It is during those times we remember his promises, the stories we've read in the Bible and the witness of Jesus with us in our lives and in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ and trust that his presence is with us.  We walk by faith and not by sight.

We will come to crossroads in our lives where common sense and what we see and hear tells us to keep going straight.  But the Holy Spirit says to take the road to the right.  Against our better judgement, we turn right as our spirit witnesses to the truth of God's future for us unseen, but assured.  We walk by faith and not by sight.

We walk by faith and not by sight.  May we continue to call on our Redeemer and Savior and seek with eyes of belief where he is found.

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