A Different Way of Seeing

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It’s become popular in recent years for professing Christians to deconstruct their faith. Usually, it begins with some kind of trauma or event that disrupts the deeply held beliefs of individuals. For example, Josh Harris was a megachurch pastor and author that wrote the best-selling book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, an appeal to return to courtship instead of serial dating in relationships.

But in 2019, Harris announced he was separating from his wife of 20 years. He no longer identified as a Christian. He repudiated his stand against same sex marriage. He now sells self-help videos to make ends meet.

It would be easy to condemn Harris and those like him. Maybe you or someone you know finds themselves in the halfway house between faith and unbelief. Or you’re the person trying to persuade someone to doubt their doubts.

Believe me, there’s a lot to doubt in the Christian world today. I don’t mean the essential truths about God and Jesus. I’m talking about the hypocrisy, scandal, and drama that can rock one’s world if faith is not grounded in someone other than the risen Jesus.

That’s what makes Thomas’ story so compelling. Here’s a person who wears his emotions on his sleeve. He’s not afraid to say what he thinks when others might be more reticent. For example, In John 14 when Jesus talks about going away and preparing a place in heaven for his followers, Thomas says in v.5 what was probably on everyone’s mind: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Scottish NT scholar William Barclay writes of Thomas in his commentary on John’s Gospel: “he absolutely refused to say that he understood what he did not understand, or that he believed what he did not believe”.

But if Thomas might be called a pessimist, at least he was a courageous one. When Jesus decides to visit Bethany after hearing of the death of Lazarus, Thomas blurts out, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Even though Thomas realized that to go anywhere near Jerusalem meant possible death to Jesus and his disciples, he chose to follow Christ.

So, when Thomas was absent from the disciples’ gathering that first Easter evening as recorded in John 20:24, his incredulity is understandable. When confronted with eyewitness testimony that Jesus was alive, Thomas refused to believe what he did not believe. He’d seen Jesus dying and dead and that was the end of it. No amount of words could console his grief. For Thomas, seeing is believing: “But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’” (John 20:25b)

In the original language, Thomas’ emphatic statement demanding physical proof of Jesus alive is a double negative: a no-no in English grammar; a means of emphasis in Greek. Like many today, Thomas wants a God on his terms. It reminds me of the posthumous collection of articles and essays by C.S. Lewis called God in the Dock. Lewis defends our faith from a culture that seeks to judge God by placing him in the witness stand (the dock) instead of viewing God as Judge.

We should be careful before dismissing people like Thomas. Their blustering demands may hide a grief or disappointment that has festered in isolation. And Jesus can reveal himself to them. As I write this, the 30-day Muslim holiday of Ramadan has begun. It overlaps with our celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Though not necessarily the norm, I’ve read credible accounts of Jesus appearing in the dreams of Muslims during Ramadan. It’s not a physical appearance, but it’s an appearance of Jesus.

Again, not the norm, Jesus appears to Thomas with the other disciple the Sunday after the resurrection. Notice the similar wording John uses between that first Easter evening in 20:19-23 and 20:26-27. Jesus speaks a powerful word: “peace” is not just the absence of inner conflict but a disposition of comprehensive well-being. Jesus accomplished in his death, burial, and resurrection a peace which passes all understanding.

But Jesus then turns his attention to Thomas. Repeating some of Thomas’s very words, Jesus leaves no doubt in Thomas’s mind that Jesus was alive when he spoke to them. He tells Thomas to quit traveling down the road to unbelief; instead, Thomas makes a profound profession of faith in 20:28. It was common to call someone “Master” or “Lord” in Jesus’ day but blasphemous to call a human being God. But Thomas sees and believes (unlike the Jewish leaders who witnessed the miracle of Lazarus and refused to believe, see John 11:45-53). Thomas doesn’t need to touch Jesus’ wounds. He sees them and believes. For Thomas, seeing is believing.

But according to Jesus, believing is seeing. A different way of seeing to be sure but seeing with the eyes of our heart: “Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” (John 20:29) Jesus says people are blessed (not MORE blessed) when they believe in him without actually physically seeing him. They trust the eyewitness testimony about Jesus and believe. They see Christlikeness in others and believe what they say is true.

John states in 20:30,31 that his gospel had an evangelistic purpose. He faithfully and accurately recorded the signs of Jesus so that people like you and me will believe in Jesus.

Later in the NT, Peter writes to second generation Christians undergoing hardship these words:

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9 NIV)

Like us, these early Christians believed without seeing, but they also believed to see.

Christian singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith captures this in his song, “Open the Eyes of My Heart”:

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You
I want to see You

To see You high and lifted up
Shinin' in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing holy, holy, holy

The Holy Spirit enables us to perceive truth that we otherwise would not grasp (1 Cor.2:10-16). The Holy Spirit enables us to see God in the person of Jesus. That’s believing in order to see. That’s why seeing is believing but believing is seeing. It’s just a different way of seeing.

You may have a son or daughter, friend or acquaintance who may be on the path of deconstruction and doubt to unbelief.

Or there may be people in your lives who don’t believe, who demand a sign or that Jesus appear to them before they will.

That’s probably not happening.

But there is way of seeing by believing what the Bible says about Jesus. Because the Bible reveals Jesus, and the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to see.

Another song that expresses this well is Brenton Brown’s Hosanna/Praise is Rising. We sang it at Foundry on Palm Sunday:

Praise is rising, eyes are turning to You
We turn to You
Hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for You
We long for You
'Cause when we see You we find strength
To face the day
In Your presence all our fears are washed away
Washed away

Hosanna
Hosanna
You are the God who saves us
Worthy of all our praises

Believing allows us to see Jesus’s presence in our lives.