By the Way: Lessons of doubt

By Rev. Dr. Nancy Cocks on April 27, 2019.

We called it Holy Week in churches around the world, yet it was filled with unholy events. Notre Dame Cathedral devastated by fire as the week began. More than 350 worshippers killed Easter Day in Sri Lanka. In between, many other individuals were enveloped by tragedy including the Green Party candidate and his son in P.E.I. who drowned. Too many sorrows to name. A radio commentator mentioned that some lay such tragedies at God’s door. It’s no wonder, then, that this Sunday many churches will read the story of “Doubting Thomas,” the disciple whose broken heart would not let him trust the story of Jesus’ resurrection.

It’s curious to me that the ecumenical calendar of weekly Scripture readings features this story of doubt on Easter Sunday every year. Perhaps the international scholars who plan this calendar recognize that believers struggle with doubts, even on the Sunday after Easter, especially in the face of terror and tragedy. The story of Thomas’ doubts unfolds with the risen Jesus appearing to him, inviting Thomas to put his finger in the nail marks on Jesus’ hands, and place his hand in Jesus’ wounded side. Thomas can be sure it’s Jesus risen from the dead by touching the marks of crucifixion. This story reminds us that God doesn’t inflict terror and tragedy upon humans. No. God in Christ has borne the same terror and tragedy which afflict us so we can trust God’s love remains with us, no matter what the world throws at us.

The ancient Church had a simple teaching: “What we can say of Jesus, we can say of God.” Then as now, terror and tragedy raised doubts about God’s goodness. Why do bad things happen to good people? Jesus’ suffering and death tell us that bad things happen to God, too. But bad things never have the last word. People often mistake the claim of God’s omnipotence, God’s all-powerfulness, to mean that God makes all things happen. But as a student of mine once wrote, omnipotence doesn’t mean that God has all the power in the world. Rather, she argued, it means God has power in all situations. And God’s power is the power of love.

Love saw my student through the death of her twin sister, a diagnosis of cancer and life with MS. Love will see Notre Dame rebuilt. Love will embrace those who mourn in Sri Lanka and shame those whose pride has caused such grief. Love invited Thomas to touch the wounded Christ, wounds not erased in resurrection but wounds which allow resurrection hope to touch others whose lives are wounded.

Friends, do you carry wounds as Jesus did? Then even in your doubt, trust love. Love is God’s power to see you through whatever troubles you face. As the old song says, Nobody know the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody knows but Jesus. And because Jesus knows, God knows, too. And God will never let you go.

Rev. Dr. Nancy Cocks is a retired Presbyterian minister & professor of theology.

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