Doubt about the...
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Doubt about the resurrection is not just Thomas' hang-up. A 2010 Rasmussen Reports survey indicated that 1 in 5 Americans do not believe Jesus rose. Doubt and skepticism are typical of our age. William Shakespeare once suggested that doubt is rooted in fear: "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt" (Measure for Measure).
You see, the risen Jesus Christ overcomes our doubts through faith, Martin Luther says:
... it snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our strength, conscience, experience, person, or works, but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is on the promise and truth of God, which cannot deceive.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 26, p. 387)
In getting us outside ourselves so we don't have to depend on ourselves, our doubts and fear begin to vanish. Regarding Thomas' doubts and Jesus' response, the Reformer adds that the account was written "for our sakes that we may learn how Christ loves us, and how amiably, fatherly, gently, and mildly he deals with us and would deal with us" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, pp. 58-59).
If we are looking for the risen Lord, Luther proceeds to note, the story in the gospel of Jesus entering the room of the disciples though the doors were locked (v. 19) "denotes nothing else than he is standing in our hearts..." (Ibid., Vol. 1/2, p. 354).
You see, the risen Jesus Christ overcomes our doubts through faith, Martin Luther says:
... it snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our strength, conscience, experience, person, or works, but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is on the promise and truth of God, which cannot deceive.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 26, p. 387)
In getting us outside ourselves so we don't have to depend on ourselves, our doubts and fear begin to vanish. Regarding Thomas' doubts and Jesus' response, the Reformer adds that the account was written "for our sakes that we may learn how Christ loves us, and how amiably, fatherly, gently, and mildly he deals with us and would deal with us" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, pp. 58-59).
If we are looking for the risen Lord, Luther proceeds to note, the story in the gospel of Jesus entering the room of the disciples though the doors were locked (v. 19) "denotes nothing else than he is standing in our hearts..." (Ibid., Vol. 1/2, p. 354).
