...But Some Doubted.

I'm indebted to the work of several bloggers and preachers for this sermon, including R. M. C. Morley, Craig R. Koester, Stephen M. Crotts, and E. Carver McGriff.

Doubt isn't the enemy. Complacency is.

Genesis 1:1-2:4a
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. God made the two great lights — the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Matthew 28:16-20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

Our Gospel reading this morning places us in the final moments of the disciples’ time face-to-face with the risen Lord. Think of it: they had seen Him appear in the Upper Room on Easter Sunday, they had spoken with him repeatedly since then; they had felt his breath as he blessed them and said, “receive the Holy Spirit; they’d eaten fish for breakfast with him on the beach, and watched as he’d strolled down the beach with Peter. According to the Apostle Paul, over five hundred people had seen him at once! How could there be any question in their minds, this was Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, conqueror of death, Hell, and the grave!

And on that day they go to the Galilean mountain to once again see their Lord, and our Lord. And they see him, and they worship him… and then the three strangest words I have ever read appear in the text.

“…But some doubted.”

I confess to you that I spent years reading this, listening to preachers speak on this text, and never noticed what it was saying. I had the same habit that many readers have; I get going at a comfortable reading speed, and especially with what I think of as a familiar text, the Great Commission, I find myself thinking I’m paying attention, but not really. But one day these three words jumped up and caught me by the allegorical ankle, and brought me up short.

Think of it! They are right there! Looking at Jesus, real as can be, clear as day, big as life, no special effects or computer generated graphics, no smoke or mirrors, Just them and Jesus on a mountaintop.

“…But some doubted.”

When the travelers meet the living Jesus, some worship. Others doubt. Amazing! Here, on the mountaintop, we see in the same group worship and uncertainty, devotion and hesitancy. Certainly, in the presence of the living Christ, there would be something clearer and unequivocal.

“…But some doubted.”

I want to suggest to you this morning that these three words are not a puzzle to be unlocked by theologians. They aren’t simply a tossed-off comment intended to give the account some color. These three words are a powerful declaration of hope for everyone.

What does the risen Christ, preparing to ascend to the Father, say to this mixture of faith and doubt, this amalgamation of wholehearted commitment mixed with careful reservations?

He gives them the same commission, all of them: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

If it was me, I might have told the uncertain ones to go and get things figured out. I might have instructed the hesitant ones to go get answers for their questions. But not Jesus. No, Jesus speaks to them all in the same way, "Go and make disciples."

These disciples were called away from the security of their fishing boats and fig trees and tax collection booths to an uncertain future, following a traveling Rabbi across the countryside. Now Jesus once again called them into an uncertain future. There is no guarantee that they will survive, much less if anyone will listen to their message of hope.

And there’s no mistaking the fact that these disciples have issues. Peter, as just one example, is a mixture of headstrong courage and waffling cowardice. Even after Pentecost, he goes from a powerful proclaimer of the Good News to thousands to a guy who the Apostle Paul has to call out for trying to act like a good Jew around other good Jews, when he knew full well that the Gospel was meant for the Gentiles as well! And lest we think that Paul, who isn’t even with the disciples on this mountaintop, has a corner on perfection, remember that he and Barnabas had a falling out halfway through the book of Acts, and couldn’t stand to work with one another after that.

Whether they believe or they doubt, these are not the flawless vanguards for Truth-with-a-capital-T that we might have expected.

“…some doubted.”

Nonetheless, the word is "go."

And isn’t that a relief? After all, if Jesus chose those wobbly, cracked, imperfect vessels to carry the Gospel into all nations, making and baptizing and teaching disciples, then it is safe to assume that you and I, as imperfect as we may be, are just as called as those disciples?

If you’re like me, doubt has always been a bad word. Somehow, I’ve lived under the impression that if I had enough faith, I wouldn’t ever doubt. If I prayed enough, read enough, spent enough time in church, then I wouldn’t find my certainty coming up short, I wouldn’t be plagued with nagging questions.

Yet there it was, leaving me feeling inadequate and unworthy of the title “disciple.”

What I’ve come to learn is that doubt is a normal phenomenon, and it could well be a healthy one. George Buttrick called doubt "the reverse side of the coin of faith." He wrote: "Everybody doubts, skeptic and believer, pulpit and pew. That is a prime fact."

Sure, maybe the church sanctuary on a Sunday morning isn’t a place where we confess our doubts. Perhaps we don't share that doubt on a warm, sunny day, when we feel well and our loved ones are safe. Doubt is the kind of thing that rears its head in the dark of night, when the pain is most severe, or our child long overdue, or our discouragement at rock-bottom.

“…But some doubted.”

Paul Tillich argued that the person who has never been troubled by the problem of doubt is a person who has never genuinely struggled with the problem of faith. In his classic Dynamics of Faith, Tillich wrote: "If doubt appears, it should not be considered as the negation of faith, but as an element which was always and will always be present in the act of faith. Serious doubt is confirmation of faith."

"Doubt does not question whether a given proposition is true or false. It does not reject every concrete truth, but it is aware of the element of insecurity in every existential truth. At the same time the doubt which is implied in faith accepts this insecurity ... is an act of courage. Faith includes courage ... There is no faith without an intrinsic 'in spite of' and the courageous affirmation of oneself in the statement of ultimate concern."

Just like those disciples on that mountaintop, you and I share in the Great Commission, that directive to “go.” We too are called to "go" to where Jesus will meet us. We too are called to worship. We are directed to the place where we will meet the living Christ.

We trust that he comes as he said he would, and we trust that he will indeed be with us until the end, whatever that means. And for many of us this is reason for thanks and worship. Making confession, offering prayers, voicing our faith, singing our praise--all of this is worship in the presence of the living Christ. And along with the worship, many of us continue to wonder whether any of this is true… and that’s OK.

Like the first disciples, we bring our doubts to the place where Jesus promises to meet us, and in great and small ways, Christ does meet us. And in great and small ways, we are called to live out the Great Commission, just like the disciples did, day to day, minute by minute, step by step.

Thanks be to God!