Putting Doubters to Work

Mark 16:14-16a, CEB - Finally he appeared to the eleven while they were eating. Jesus criticized their unbelief and stubbornness because they didn’t believe those who saw him after he was raised up.  He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to every creature.

 

                You’ll notice that there is an overlap between the scripture passage for last time and the one for today.  This is because I want to point out a surprising connection.  Jesus scolds His disciples for unbelief, but then charges these sorry unbelievers to proclaim the very message they didn’t believe?  Yes. Yes He did.  And it wasn’t for lack of a better option.

                I have a strange affinity for people who struggle to maintain the “hope bias” I talked about last time, probably because I tend to be one of them.

“But you’re a preacher, Eric!” you might say. 

Yep, I am.  I hesitantly “signed up” for that job just over three decades ago.  I did so with serious doubts about how it would go.  Let me say that again in case you might have missed it.  I responded to a call to be a pastor with serious doubts that the results of that decision would go well.  Possibly even more surprising than that, thirty years later, I still sometimes battle doubts about how it’s going. 

I can confidently say I have been pastor to people who seem to struggle way less with doubt than I do.  They make faith-filled leaps with their life just knowing that God will make good on promises.  They trust God implicitly in the worst possible circumstances and they remember God is the source of blessing in the best circumstances.  They inspire me.  They really do.  I thank God that I have people like that in my life.  But if I’m truly honest, they also sometimes intimidate me and make me feel bad about my doubts. 

My little brother Jeff was one of these faith-filled people.   He died a few months ago after nearly a year-long battle with cancer.  As I write this, he would have been 51 two days ago.  This may seem a bit crazy to say, but Jeff’s journey with cancer was an inspiring thing to watch. While I know he had seriously bad days, his attitude was always intentionally positive.  The treatments he underwent were aggressive, but he weathered them amazingly well, even maintaining his vigorous work-out every day.  He continued to serve in his church and serve in other ways outside the church.  He was an encourager to people who were going through similar journeys to his own.  Watching him, I couldn’t imagine him not beating this cancer. 

On multiple occasions during that year, Jeff repeated a statement to me that I know he shared with many others as well.

“Eric, I will be healed, either here or in Heaven.” 

What is profound to me now about that is that Jeff had a faith that trusted God was at work in him no matter what happened.  His bold trust inspired me and others too numerous to count.  I’m not naïve enough to think that Jeff didn’t sometimes struggle with doubts.  However, I feel pretty confident that he navigated those struggles better than most, certainly better than his older brother.  

Please don’t misinterpret what I’m saying here.  I’m not having a pity party for my faith. God has granted me enough faith to get me this far. What I want you to hear is that, for some reason, God called me to be a pastor knowing full well that there were more faith-filled options.  Jesus charged these eleven remaining disciples to lead a world-changing movement knowing full-well that they had just fully doubted that the resurrection had occurred despite being told by reliable sources that it was true.  God puts bold-faithers like my brother to work building of the Kingdom of Heaven, but God also has work for the rest of us for whom faith is a constant struggle. 

If you struggle with implicit, no-matter-what trust, you are NOT off the hook. There’s work to be done.

 

Question: What would you do if you had more faith?  Do it anyway.

 

Prayer:  Pray for people who will spend today fearing for their lives.

 

Song: I Won’t Back Down – Johnny Cash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8i5NLyXZdc

More Endings to Mark

Mark 16:9-14, CEB - After Jesus rose up early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.  She went and reported to the ones who had been with him, who were mourning and weeping.  But even after they heard the news, they didn’t believe that Jesus was alive and that Mary had seen him.

After that he appeared in a different form to two of them who were walking along in the countryside.  When they returned, they reported it to the others, but they didn’t believe them.  Finally he appeared to the eleven while they were eating. Jesus criticized their unbelief and stubbornness because they didn’t believe those who saw him after he was raised up.

 

                These additions to Mark read like summaries of other works, which is why most scholars believe that they are indeed summaries from other gospel accounts and the book of Acts.  Today’s selection above likely is a combination summary from multiple other sources.  The editor was faithful to themes found earlier in Mark, most notably the highlight of the disciples tendency toward disbelief.  In the Gospel of John, Thomas is the resident skeptic, but here all of the disciples are confronted, eventually by Jesus Himself.  To the extent that we identify with the faltering disciples, we hear the intended message of this editor of Mark.  It is also seems likely that Mark would approve. 

                There have many times in my life where it seemed easy to believe.  In the wake of a miraculous healing, which I have witnessed multiple times, it even seems silly NOT to believe in the power and plan of God.  When everything is going my way, I feel sure that God surely is actively blessing me.  When evil is defeated in dramatic fashion, faith is a natural posture.  Mountain-moving faith is such times seems way more attainable.

                Unfortunately, such times do not represent the whole of our experience.  Relationships fail and it seems God is nowhere to be found.  It’s quite difficult to see the activity of God in earthquakes where tens of thousands of lives are lost and many more have their entire lives torn apart for the foreseeable future.  When the disappointments keep coming one after another. . .when children precede their parents in death. . . when the unthinkable personal tragedy strikes. . . in all these times, even a mustard seed’s amount of faith seems like a tall order. The disciples were having one of those moments.

                Even when they are given the news that what Jesus promised has indeed happened, they are stuck in their fugue state of disbelief.  I have to confess that I can relate.  Part of what happens here is human tendency to want to confirm and justify our current feelings.  Psychologists call this confirmation bias and it can be very powerful.   We want to confirm that we are right to feel the way do, even when we are confronted with evidence to the contrary.  This phenomenon is the reason why conspiracy theorists don’t let go of their false beliefs even when clear facts should convince them to do so.  This has happened to me more times than I can count.  None of us are exempt.

                The disciples are forced out of their disbelieving bias by the resurrected Jesus in the flesh.  It would awesome if Jesus would do the same thing for us, but at least for me, it hasn’t happened yet.  So how do we snap our of it when we find ourselves stuck in unbelief.  One of the practical suggestions from psychology to combat confirmation bias is to develop the habit of questioning your assumptions when you are assuming you are right.  The spiritual term for this is humility.  Further, as followers of Jesus, we should have a strong bias towards hope.  This is why Jesus scolds the disciples for their faithlessness.  They of all people should have had at least a healthy active bias towards belief because Jesus had never let them down before and He promised them that He would be raised. 

                While it may not seem like it sometimes, we have no less reason to have a hopeful bias.  We, the Christian church, stand in a line of two thousand years of God’s faithfulness and kept promises.  Through the severest of persecutions, through long periods of decline and darkness, and through impossible challenges, God keeps delivering the church and its people to new life and vitality.  Empires, dynasties, and seemingly unstoppable tyrants have come and gone, but the church keeps finding itself sustained and renewed.  God is always faithful, so our bias should be hope in all circumstances.  More on this next time.

 

Question:  Have you ever been the victim of confirmation bias?  How does it interplay with your faith?

 

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, install a bias of hope within our souls that persists in all circumstances.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who do jobs we could never see ourselves doing. 

 

Song:  The Blessing – Angelica Bias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wUlFCe-55A

Matthew 14:22-33 - If You Want to Walk on Water . . .

 

November 12, 2021 - If You Want to Walk on Water. . .

 

Matthew 14:22-33, NRSV - Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.  And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.  But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.  But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”  When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

 

Quickly notice that Jesus, whose intended break earlier (14:14) got cut short, now takes some “me and God” time after he dismissed the crowds.  He put them first, but afterwards, He still took care of Himself.  He sent the disciples out in the boat so that he could be alone to pray.  So this is what sets up the walking on the water.  After his intentional prayer time, he walks out on the water to rejoin His buddies. 

This totally freaks out the buddies; they think Jesus is a ghost.  Jesus tells them to “chill” and lets them know it’s just their fearless leader.  It’s at this point all of the disciples are awestruck, but Peter wants to join in the fun.  Notice the faith in his request;  “command me to come to you on the water.”  Jesus indulges him and tells him to come.  And then . . . Peter gets out of the boat and WALKS ON WATER!”  This is Peter who, on another occasion is associated with Satan by Jesus.  It’s Peter who would deny Jesus three times after the crucifixion.  But in this moment, Peter walks on water on the command of his Lord.  The faltering Peter shows up a few seconds later when he loses his faith and focus and begins to sink.  But notice how quickly the faith returns.  Peter calls to Jesus for a rescue and Jesus pulls him back up out of the water. 

Even Peter, one of the greatest of the first apostles, was a mixed bag of faith and doubt.  I have to say that this fact is somewhat comforting to me.  If Peter can have doubts and missteps while still being in the center of God’s plan, than there is hope for you and me.  However, this is not possible because of who Peter, you, or me is, but because of who Jesus is.  The disciples in the boat proclaim this truth when they exclaim, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The ”impossible” becomes possible when Jesus tells us we can do it.  But too many of us stay in the land of possibility.  Peter had faith that it was possible for him to walk on water before he ever lifted his foot over the side of the boat.  But that possibility never becomes reality UNTIL he actually lifts his foot over the side of the boat, shifts his weight overboard, and lifts his remaining foot out of the boat.  It's one thing to believe that it’s possible to do the impossible with the Lord’s help.  It is another thing entirely to risk that belief by actually attempting the impossible.  Faith + Action = transformation of impossible to possible. 

 

Question:  Where in your life do you need to “lift your foot over the side of the boat and step out?”

 

Prayer:  Lord, command me to do that “impossible thing” that I feel led to do and that I believe is possible to do with your help.  Help me get my feet “out of the boat.”  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for your neighbors today. 

 

Song: Walking on Water – Needtobreathe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abwwcmQriq0