There’s a great story about doubt at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. The resurrected Jesus met the disciples on a mountain. They had followed Jesus for three years, sharing good times and bad times with him. One bad time was Good Friday, which, despite the name, was actually a really bad day for them all.
But here they were, face to face with the resurrected Jesus. The story says, “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”
Did you catch that? The disciples were there with the resurrected Jesus. They saw him with their own eyes. They all worshiped him.
And some of them doubted.
Jesus’ response to their doubts is interesting to me. He doesn’t shame them for their doubts. He doesn’t say, “You foolish doubters! I’m right here! You see me. Why do you doubt!” Jesus wasn’t scandalized by their doubts.
Instead, he gave them a mission to continue spreading the message of the Good News to the ends of the earth.
Like the first disciples, we have doubts. And that’s okay with Jesus. He isn’t bothered by our doubts. He won’t shame us or disown us for our doubts. Instead, he gives us a mission to spread God’s love to the ends of the earth.
And that’s what we do here at CUCC. We are people of faith and we are people of doubt. Faith and doubt are part of the holy and spiritual journey. And in the midst of our doubt, we recognize that Jesus calls us on a mission.
Maybe the real point of this resurrection story is not about our faith or doubts. Maybe the larger point is Jesus’ everlasting faith in us. For no matter what we have done or left undone, Jesus always comes to us in the spirit of love and invites us to follow him into the Realm of God.