If Faith Means We Have Doubt, Why Are We Still Trying To Prove What We Believe?
Good Morning Friends,
Earlier this week my Catholic friends celebrated the feast day of the Transfiguration…Typically, in the reformed tradition, we focus on the event in our liturgical year just before Lent. Many Catholics for a variety of reasons are moved by this feast they celebrate on August 6th. But the timing of it may not be all that important. As we look deep into today’s scriptures we see the account of Jesus who stood looking into the mystical portal of time. He is standing on the mountain, even though he is visited by two men from the past, Moses and Elijah, Jesus is really looking into the near future. After he had spoken with Moses and Elijah, Jesus looked ahead in time and saw the road to Jerusalem and predicted his death on the cross, but that did not sway or break his strength of will or his fortitude of purpose. Jesus was not weakened by the mission that was ahead of Him, but he was more determined and sure than ever that he was going to carry out God’s plan of salvation and save the world from its sin. He sees the road to Jerusalem and the glorious fulfillment of God’s plan. Read then what comes next. Together they form the meaning and power behind the Transfiguration. It is a matter of perspective, trust and conviction. Still, over time the future becomes the past and we can then experience that mountaintop experience with the assurance that the valley does not last forever. Still, I wonder whether Protestant or Catholic, If Faith Means We Have Doubt, Why Are We Still Trying To Prove What We Believe?
Scripture: And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’ Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, ‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ He said to them, ‘Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.’
Mark 9.1-13 (NRSV)
14When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. 16He asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ 17Someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; 18and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.’ 19He answered them, ‘You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ 20And they brought the boy* to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it threw the boy* into convulsions, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21Jesus* asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. 22It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ 23Jesus said to him, ‘If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.’ 24Immediately the father of the child cried out,* ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ 25When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You spirit that keep this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!’ 26After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand.
Mark 9:14-27 (NRSV)
He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
Philippians 3:21 (NRSV)
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
2 Peter 1:16-18 (NRSV)
Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:24 (NRSV)
Message: A lot is happening in the scripture surrounding the Transfiguration. The account is in all the Gospels as justification of its importance. Here we read passages of Jesus telling His disciples, as they travel in Galilee, that He was going to be betrayed, murdered and that He would after three days rise, alive. We go from a light-radiant cloud, a wave of energy, to the earthly reality of a boy writhing on the ground in a seizure, to the core of what we are to believe as Christians. Here in our misgivings, we make the journey from waves of light to particles of dust. Here we are moved from seeing in our mind’s eye and from there to believing. But on the way we must move to a place of truth. And here we confess our beliefs… “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” Friends, it is crazy to deny the truth. We are to acknowledge our fears. Lord, I believe, help me, help us all in our worries. So it is silly to deny this reality, still perhaps our best response is to own up to our doubt. Now if I asked you if you believed it all, practiced it all as perfect examples of our Christian faith, how many would raise your hands? How about if I asked you how many have ever doubted our faith? Come on be honest. The truth is pretty clear. There is a faith and a lack of faith in all of us. But there is a deeper reality here and it is that in the love among believers there are to be no “ifs”. It is absolutely silly to ask if God can help us; ‘If” God can heal a child with epilepsy; “If” God can remove the evil in our lives. Friends, “If'” God can rise from the dead, all the rest is easy! So forgive me for pointing out the obvious. We all doubt and it effects our performance. But perhaps the best way to get faith is to admit we do not have it. And then realize that it is always in our best interest to believe. One of my friends, put it this way. “Faith is a gift, believing is a gift and God is in control of the journey.” So trust in God to deliver. Receive the gift. Trust in God. Know that when we trust in ourselves we are doomed to disappointment. Know that when we trust in even our friends, they fail us. Know that when we trust in money it falls through our fingers. Know that when we trust in our reputation, a slanderous comment may explode in our face. But trust in God and we will never to be confounded. So, doubt all you want friends but never stop doing, never stop trusting anyway. Believe that doubt is natural but can be overcome. Friends, do not be powerless. Know that God is not powerless but in control. Know that it is insanity to try to control what is in God’s preview. Friends, there will be moments in your life when it seems like something falls away, and we see deeper, below the surface of everyday attention and it becomes real to us that God is calling us to transform the world for Christ together. Here we have to overcome our doubt and have faith to act against all the odds.
Pray we make a commitment to trust God more. Pray we are honest about our faith. Pray we express our desire. Pray we express our hopes. Pray we fess up to our hesitant hope, wavering wisdom and faltering faith. Pray we bring our weakness to Him so He can use it for His purpose. Pray we let Him make us strong. Pray we make up our mind to let God’s solution prevail. Pray we realize Jesus is the way to growing strong. Pray that God use our doubt as a means of making us stronger in our faith and drawing us closer. Pray that we realize that the struggle is necessary. Pray we survive our periods of doubt by honestly acknowledging them in the community of believers. Pray we turn to God for help and receive what He offers in that moment. Pray we are not double-minded. Pray that we thrive because we listen to Jesus. Pray we become people of integrity that are consecrated to move in the power and the might of a victorious God. Pray we over time and even in our doubt become eyewitnesses of Christ’s glory.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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