Father Brendan Flynn: “You haven't the slightest proof of anything!”
Sister Aloysius Beauvier: “But I have my certainty…”
This series of quotes is from the recent movie “Doubt.” Based on a Tony and Pulitzer Prize award winning play, “Doubt” centers around the conflict between the principal of a Catholic school, Sister Aloysius, and the new priest assigned to the parish, Father Flynn. Specifically, they are at odds over the truth about what happened to a student in the school. More broadly though, their disagreement is about old and new, the status quo and change, conviction and uncertainty.
The presence of doubt in a world of certainty is part of the human condition. When confronted by the witness of his fellow disciples about the resurrection of Jesus, Thomas had his doubts (John 20:24-30). He insisted upon having physical proof—the ability to not only see but also touch the wounds of his crucified master. Thomas got more than he bargained for—an encounter with the living Christ, a Spirit-filled confession of faith and a label that has stuck with him ever since—Doubting Thomas.
Poor Thomas. How would you like to become a cliché, a nickname associated with every person with who persists in being a skeptic? Thomas doubted. Don’t be like Thomas. Doubt is bad. Belief is good.
We often champion giving each other the benefit of the doubt. We recognize and protect another person’s uncertainty--his or her need for more information. There is perceived advantage in not rushing to judgment. Suspending belief for the sake of more investigation is a sign of prudence, isn’t it?
Why then doesn’t Thomas get the benefit of the doubt?
Interestingly, Thomas does not get the short shrift outside the church. For outsiders to the faith, for skeptics and those disenfranchised from the church alike, Thomas is a breath of fresh air. Thomas represents the permission to question, to have reservations and to remain uncertain. Maybe, just maybe, the more pointed question that Thomas’ story draws out for us is this, why is there no benefit for doubt in the church?
We in the Christian community pride ourselves on writing and signing faith statements as a basis for membership and even employment within the church. Much of our evangelism is built on the principle of evidence that demands a verdict. Belief in God, belief in the risen Jesus, belief in the presence of the Holy Spirit is often reduced to small, simplistic equations.
We rarely if ever, invite let alone provide space for doubt. Can you imagine putting an addendum on a faith statement for listing the doubts of the community? Much of popular Christian apologetics offers no quarter for skepticism. Like the other disciples, we tell the Thomases in our lives, “We have seen the Lord!” The proofs, we argue, are obvious, all one has to do is accept and believe. We frown disapprovingly as Thomas turns to us and says “I have my reservations, my doubts. I need to see more.”
Such unbelief is very unattractive to many of us. Skepticism carries negative connotations within the body of Christ but are doubt and unbelief the same thing?
Is Jesus rebuking Thomas when he says “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” or is there something more to his words?
Maybe we need to listen a little more closely to the dead man who is walking among us--the risen Jesus Christ. I don't perceive a rebuke in his words, I perceive a beatitude--a word of blessing. Jesus blesses those who will wrestle with doubt, who will not have the point of contact that Thomas does. They will not be rebuked for their doubts, they will be blessed with belief in the midst of their doubts.
Resurrection life is not divorced from doubt, it emerges from out of uncertainty. This world of skepticism that we live in, this world that many of us lament over, is just the kind of world that God is looking for—it is just the kind of world that Jesus brings resurrection life out of. Belief is not a human effort, it is a response to a divine gift. Belief is not a possibility apart from the revelation of God in the risen Christ.
Blessed are those who realize that there is not as much distance between their certainties and their doubts as they might have expected. Blessed are those who discover that the burden of proof is a heavier weight to carry than the benefit of doubt. Blessed are those who when confronted by the living Jesus, are empowered to confess with Thomas, even in the midst of their skepticism, "My Lord and My God!"
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