Thomas and the "Show Me" State

April 19, 2009

Thomas and “The Show Me State”
John 20:24-31

Part of my growing up was in Nebraska…”the Cornhusker State.” I can’t explain that nickname. I guess when Nebraskans see corn…which happens quite a bit…they just want to pull the husks off. Our university teams are even called the Cornhuskers. The previous university team nickname was “the bug-eaters” so Cornhuskers (while not very exciting) is definitely a move in the right direction.

Nicknames are funny things. Missouri is “The Show Me State.” The history of this is shrouded in mystery but some say the nickname was a derogatory reference to some Missouri lead miners who worked in Leadville, Colorado. The men from Joplin, Missouri were brought in to work the mines during a strike and being, unfamiliar with Colorado mining methods, required frequent instruction. The bosses would say, "That man is from Missouri. You'll have to show him."

The most popular story references a speech made by United States Congressman Willard Vandiver. Mr. Vandiver was questioning the truth and accuracy of an earlier speech. And in his own conclusion said, "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."

Regardless of its origin, “show me” has stuck and can be found on our Missouri license plates. The motto has come to represent Missourians as having a stalwart, conservative, and noncredulous" attitude. Non-credulous…that a nice way of saying that we assume people are not truthful…as “Show Me State” Missourians, we’re doubters.

So we live in a state known for not believing the statements of others until we are shown it’s so. Missouri is a wonderful place to live, but doubt is a difficult place to live. It’s ok to visit, but you don’t really want to stay there.
· If you always doubt others, it’s hard to trust…and that makes it difficult to get things done.
· If we doubt ourselves, it’s hard to make decisions…we want to make the best choice, but we don’t know what to do…and because we don’t trust others we don’t ask for help.
· If we doubt family members we may either try to control them, or we spend a lot of time making sure we don’t have to depend upon them.

Doubt throws a wrench in the works of almost every endeavor. And if we doubt God, or His goodness, or his power, or doubt his love for us, or His grace, those doubts play out in similar negative ways in our lives.

Wouldn’t you rather set doubt and its negative consequences aside?

Now Thomas never lived in Missouri but Thomas was definitely in the “show me” state in this passage. “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails,” he said, “and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.” He wanted to be shown. And he not only wanted to be shown--he was withholding his belief until he was shown, until he got proof. And he not only wanted proof that was “good enough”, he wanted proof that was irrefutable. Quite a demanding guy, Thomas.

Have you ever demanded a proof from God? Alice’s aunt is a woman of amazing faith. A family story she was a girl of about 11 or 12 years old, my aunt looked into the big nighttime South Dakota sky and said, “God, if you are real, make the star I’m looking at fall from the sky.” The star did fall, and, as far as I know my aunt Shirley’s faith hasn’t wavered since that night.

So, after hearing that story as a girl, Alice decided she would like that kind of proof, so one night she looked into the big, nighttime Nebraska sky and said, “God, if you are real, make the star I’m looking at fall from the sky.” And guess what? …It didn’t. It just stayed there, with narry a twinkle…it just burned steadily on, clear and bright.

Have you ever asked God for proof? I have. I’ve asked for God to prove himself to me any number of times through the years. I have asked for signs to help make decisions, or looked for other ways for God to offer me proof—proof that he’s there, proof of his love.

I think all of us have a little “Thomas” in us at some point in our lives, or at several points in our lives. Some people even take a kind of pride in their doubts—they think it proves that they are intellectual or something. Some people are just naturally pessimistic, and take a dim view of everything. I think Thomas was like that because he has a little bit of a track record in the gospel of John. In John 11, Thomas, along with the other disciples is trying to keep Jesus from going back into Judea. But when Jesus says he must go to awake Lazarus, Thomas says to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” And though it’s not in the text, I think it was Peter that turned to him and said, “Thomas aren’t you a little ray of sunshine today!” (kidding) You can hear the resignation, the hopelessness in his statement. Then in John 14, in that well-known passage, Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them….and, Jesus says, “You know the way where I am going.” Thomas says to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” You see, doubting Thomas had doubts long before Jesus died on a cross.

Usually, our doubts aren’t earth-shattering things. They’re more like Thomas’s pessimism or just niggling things, questions that pop up now and then. And we wonder, “Is God…? Could God…? Will God…? Did God…?” Sometimes we can just dismiss our doubts, refuse to think about them. But sometimes something so radically contrary to what we imagined God would allow happens and our entire faith foundation is shaken. I think the crucifixion was radically contrary to what Thomas thought he knew about God and it brought everything into question. His hopes were dashed. And to hope that Jesus was alive again was to risk another crushing disappointment. He was not willing to take that risk.

For a week, this is where Thomas lived. In the darkness of doubt. And through that week, he wasn’t just doubting God, he was also doubting his friends—the other disciples. When he said he wouldn’t believe, he was basically calling them liars, wasn’t he? Do you know what it feels like when someone doesn’t believe you? …I mean when you’ve actually told the truth? You see, we don’t even like being doubted when we’ve lied, and it really bothers us when we’re being truthful.

In 1993 FBI agents conducted a raid of Southwood psychiatric hospital in San Diego, which was under investigation for fraud. After hours of reviewing medical records, the agents had worked up an appetite. The agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza parlor to order a quick dinner for his group of officers.
This is an actual transcript of the telephone conversation:

Agent: Hello. I would like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of soda.
Pizza Man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital.
Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.
Pizza Man: You're an FBI agent?
Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza Man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza Man: And you say you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent?
Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.
Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this?
Agent: I have my checkbook right here.
Pizza Man: And you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.
Pizza Man: I don't think so. (click)

Thomas listened to his friends and said, “I don’t think so.” And so the disciples went through a week with Thomas not believing them as they spoke about seeing Jesus. (Maybe their not being believed is sort of poetic justice for the disciples…because they had not believed the women on Easter morning.) Anyway, there is that uncomfortable distance between Thomas and the others because he didn’t believe them.

That’s what doubt does. It creates distance. When we doubt God, often one of the first things to go is a vital prayer life. Or we doubt, and we begin to neglect reading the Bible. Lack of trust creates distance between whomever we don’t trust and us. I know a family who got in a fight over money. One side accuses the other side of lying. The two sides of the family haven’t spoken in many years. When we feel we can’t trust someone, we tend to cut off communication, hang up the phone, click, like the Pizza Man.

I think it’s a lesson for the church today, that Thomas’ friends, the disciples, didn’t cut off communication with Thomas, just because he was doubting. He was still with them a week after he’d as much as said they were lying. He was still welcome in their gatherings. Perhaps they were willing to leave Thomas and the settling of his doubts to Jesus.

And what’s Jesus’ solution to closing the gap that Thomas’ doubt has opened? He does nothing…for a time. Like my star continued to hang in the sky, Thomas’ doubts are allowed to just continue to hang out in the open. Jesus doesn’t rush to reassure Thomas. He allows Thomas to live with the doubt for eight days. Then when he does appear, he doesn’t reassure so much as he commands. He commands Thomas: “Put your finger here. See my hands. Put out your hand. Place it in my side.”

What Jesus is inviting (or really commanding) Thomas to do is to reverse the effects of doubt. Doubt creates distance and Jesus tells Thomas to draw close. To touch and see and experience the reality of Jesus’ life. Jesus wanted Thomas to take the necessary steps to reverse the doubt. You see, it wasn’t just up to Jesus to turn Thomas’s doubt to belief. Thomas had a part to play. Jesus wanted Thomas to literally get in touch with him.

I think this is key for us when, as the old hymn says, “doubts arise and fears dismay.” We need to get in touch with Jesus. We need to do our part to experience the reality of Jesus’ living presence. Do you believe Jesus wants you to see him? Do you believe Jesus wants you to experience the reality of his life? His way of coming to us may be different than his way of coming to Thomas, but he still seeks us out. I truly believe he is seeking each one of us right now. And our part in closing the gap of our disbelief is to take advantage of what Jesus has given—those things that help us experience his life. Things like prayer and Bible reading and fellowship with believers. Disciplines like fasting and silence and service.

I know you’ve heard all this before and I can guess how few church attenders spend even 15 minutes in prayer or Bible study every week. But maybe the reason the church struggles… maybe the reason so many Christians are weak, maybe the reason you and I experience so little victory over sin, or worry, or doubt is because we aren’t really getting in touch with Jesus.

Take advantage of my presence, Do not doubt but believe, Jesus said.

Thomas’ response to Jesus is a little surprising. He had been very straightforward when he declared he would not believe unless his conditions were met…now that they were met, Thomas’ reply was, “My Lord and my God.”

Wait a minute! Thomas said he wouldn’t believe that Jesus was risen unless he touched him…who said anything about him believing Jesus was his Lord and his God? Shouldn’t Thomas have said, “Ok. I believe it now. I guess you are alive after all.” Instead Thomas leap-frogs right over that, to a place of faith… “Jesus is My Lord.” “Jesus is my God.”

The old saying is “seeing is believing”…but that’s not really true. Seeing is just seeing. Thomas went right on past seeing to believing all on his own. I think that’s why Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Because seeing is different from believing. Jesus doesn’t just want us to see, he wants us to believe.

It’s certainly not by accident that the Gospel writer John follows the story of Thomas with this:

“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Your belief is the reason behind the gospel of John. Just as Thomas came to believe and experience Jesus not just as alive, but as his Lord and his God…John wants that same result for every reader. These things are written so that you will believe…and that by believing you will have life in Jesus name. It’s not seeing that brings life. It’s believing that brings life. But it’s not just any belief that brings life….it’s a specific kind of believing. Believing in Jesus.

Howard Hendricks points out that you can believe a little in thick ice and you will survive. You can believe a lot in thin ice and you will drown. Christian faith is always dependent on its object. What or whom your belief in is vitally important. Thomas correctly placed his belief. He didn’t just believe Jesus’ heart was beating again. He believed that Jesus was his Lord, his God.

I’d like to encourage you to combat doubts by doing the things Christians have always found helpful to get in touch, and stay in touch with Jesus. Prayer, Bible Study, fellowship and those other means of grace mentioned earlier.

Through the centuries, the church has also used affirmations of faith to help clarify what we believe, and to set aside doubts and draw our faith close, to help remind us what and whom we believe. So I’d like us to join in an affirmation of faith this morning.

#882 Apostle’s Creed
Do you believe and trust in God the Father?
I believe in God the Father Almighty....etc

Do you believe and trust in his Son Jesus Christ?
I believe in Jesus Christ His only son our Lord...

Do you believe and trust in the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit....