“Seeing is believing,” as the popular adage goes. The idea is that only so-called evidence that convinces the material senses is sufficient for belief. Such an assertion goes to the heart of our modern struggle with faith. Thomas Aquinas, writing in the thirteenth century, felt compelled to argue the case for a scientific explanation for why the precious and holy Body and Blood of Christ remain in appearance bread and wine, the so-called “accidents.” The Enlightenment and the Age of Reason followed, all emphasizing more and more the necessity of material evidence for faith and the ‘scientific method’ to convince us of what we should or shouldn’t believe.
From an Orthodox perspective, such an emphasis on physical and material evidence as a precondition of faith belies an arrogant pridefulness, narcissism, or just plain ignorance of the transcendence of God, He who is both known and unkown, in whose hand is held the whole universe and yet, who condescends to become one of His own creation and even to die one of the most ignoble deaths to bring about our salvation by His Incarnation, death, and resurrection.
In our modern emphasize on the ‘rule’ of science and the scientific ‘method,’ we’ve put God in the position of proving Himself to us, rather than understanding ourselves in the context of the divine revelation of God. C.S. Lewis puts it this way: we’ve “put God in the dock,” i.e., we demand that He defend Himself to us. This prideful insistence is at the root of disobedience to the divine teachings and God’s truth in the modern age and the seed of much despair.
And yet, as we all know, science is in a constant state of flux. Every new discovery becomes the latest ‘final word’ on any given subject until the next theory is asserted as fact: this applies to medical science as it does to evolutionary theory and climatology, and all other science.
The truth is that man’s struggle with faith, the demand for physical proof, is itself nothing new. The Apostle Thomas, as we hear in today’s Gospel, says, “Unless I see the print of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Indeed, what Thomas sums up for us is a struggle for faith at work throughout history: The people of God saw Him deliver them miraculously from slavery in Egypt, but then grumbled against Him in the desert. They exchanged their relationship with the living God for a golden calf. He gave them manna to eat from heaven and still they complained. The prophets foretold of Messiah’s coming, He who would save the world from sin, and they killed those same prophets to silence them.
When Jesus came, He did all the works that the prophets foretold and miracle after miracle, for all to see and they still sought to put Him to death to silence Him. And now, standing on this side of His glorious resurrection, Christ shows them and us His empty tomb. He visibly appears to His disciples, proving to them that He is the Giver of Life, God Himself, the Victor over sin and death. He grants them His peace and appears to 500 after His resurrection. Again, we read, “but some doubted” just like Thomas.
After all the events, all the miracles the disciples witnessed, after Jesus gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk, fed the 5,000, cast out the demons, turned water into wine, and, raised the dead, and most important of all, raised Himself, appearing to over 500, still, some doubted.
And truly, this is our perennial problem with faith too: We think: If we could only ‘see’ God at work, ‘see’ His miracles, or, some may even go as far as to say, ‘see’ God, if God would only send me a ‘sign’—then, O yes, then, I’d believe in God or my indifference toward Him and His commands would end. Oh yes, then, I’ll begin to prioritize my life in Him in His Church. Judas walked with God incarnate, was an eyewitness to all His miracles, and still betrayed Christ, hanging himself in despair.
So, it’s clear that seeing is not believing; it clearly takes more than sight, than material sensation or the “scientific method” to believe. In fact, many of those who had material witness to believe Christ, still chose not too, still preferred stoniness of heart to the openness of faith. In our own lives, there are miracles all around us, even in our own lives: steps we’ve taken forward in faith, passions we’ve struggled with or are being healed of, the joy of the Kingdom we’ve experienced, faith growing in us, changed lives in ourselves and others. But still we may doubt and grumble. Still, like St. Peter, we deny Him. We doubt because we fail to have enough faith, enough trust in God, because we fail to humble ourselves enough to really ‘see’ with the eyes of faith.
In fact, seeing and touching, as Thomas insists on, isn’t even helpful for most of what we need faith for, which necessitates what only the soul can first encounter. Is growth in love, healing from addictions and passions, repentance, growth in humility and Christ-likeness, our ability to grow in loving others more, and focusing less on ourselves, any less ‘tangible’? Peter, after his denial, ran to the empty tomb at the testimony of the myrrh-bearing women. He didn’t need to see because his heart was ready, humbled, chastened, strengthened by faith in the risen Lord.
Growth in faith starts and is built on a desire to believe, a desire to grow closer to God. Faith can and will grow in us if we’re open to receiving more from God. Faith is watered by this prayerful desire to know God, to be in closer relationship and communion with Him, to love God more.
The historic, eyewitness accounts of Christ’s life are real; their continuity is unmistakable for all who are open to see. But reason only gets us so far: We can’t “convince” ourselves to have faith any more than we can make ourselves Saints. Instead, faith is built on our cooperation with the work of the Holy Spirit through obedience and repentance, humility, prayer, worship, and the Sacraments—the recipe Christ has left us through His holy Church. If we don’t have faith, we have ourselves to blame. But we don’t have to stay in that ‘desert’ of prideful self-dependence and disbelief. God’s patient with us even as He was with His people Israel. Like Thomas, we can turn doubt into affirmation, “My Lord and my God!”
We participate in our growth, our healing, by being open to God’s work in our lives, even pleading for God to help us trust Him more, by praying diligently, daily, for more faith, more of the trust we need. We pray daily for the things we’re lacking in faith and against those things that hold us back and cause us to sin (i.e., move away from God), and which are a reflection of our brokenness. Brothers and sisters, God doesn’t let these prayers go unanswered.
In Thomas’ case, he was blessed with a physical encounter of the risen Lord. His profession of faith was as strong as his doubts. He went on to preach the Good News of Christ’s resurrection even in India where the so-called Thomas Christians continue to trace their spiritual heritage to his missionary zeal. My prayer for each of us is that these seeds of faith, planted in us by these holy and life-saving events we’ve just experienced in Holy Week and Pascha will continue to be watered by our desire for more of God and more of the life only in Him. Through our daily prayers, repentance, and willingness to change, our participation in worship and the Sacraments, God enables us make more use of the tools of salvation He’s lovingly entrusted to us.
This Pascha can be the beginning of a great furtherance in Christ’s Kingdom and our witness to the Reality of that Kingdom. May we be faithful in our continued struggle for furtherance in all good things, so that, we along with others will come to see what only the eyes of faith can enable us to see, growing us in the knowledge and love of God, bringing joy to our own souls and making us faithful witnesses to the timeless truth of Christ for those in the world around us.
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
23 April 2017
Thomas Sunday, Second of Pascha
Epistle: Acts 5:12-20
Gospel: John 20:19-31
