Trust

The Rev. Joseph Winston

April 15, 2007

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
In a very real way, the modern world is built on trust. Our democratic form of
government only works because we trust those people who we have put in power.
One important example of the relationship between the people and the government
is our laws. For the most part, everyone in the United States must agree with the
laws and follow them. This simple act of obedience requires that we know the
rules that apply to us and have faith that the people who enforce the laws are
honest. Another example of the confidence that we have in our government is
our monetary system. Take a look at the money that you are carrying in your
pocket. If you are like me, you will have some combination of pennies, nickels,
dimes, quarters, and folding money. If you tried to take your change to a scrap
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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metal dealer, you soon would find out that your coins are practically worthless.
The same thing would happen if you tried selling your paper money to a recycler.
Then why do we carry all these tokens around if they have nearly no value? We
keep using this money only because we trust that others will honor it.
Our interactions in the world of commerce are no different. Every one of our
transactions in the business arena is built upon trust. Most of us go into work,
perform our job, and only later do we get paid. This agreement to work before
receiving our money means that we trust that our employer has the wherewithal to
pay their bills. The retirement plans that many of us have are exactly the same. We
generally believe that the company will honor its promises to us and return to us
the money that was invested. Probably the most powerful example of trust in the
business world is the credit card. A few numbers on a small piece of plastic in your
pocket can get you just about anything that you want. Log onto Amazon.com or
ebay and you can have almost anything in the world sent to you after you give them
your numbers. Think about what has happened. You have exchanged a small bit
of information and in return, you have received something real. This transaction
only occurs because they trust you have not stolen the numbers and that you will
pay your bills.
The ancient world during the time of Christ also required trust. Carefully listen
again to today’s Gospel lesson and hear the amount of trust that is required not
only by the disciples but also by you and me.
On Sunday, the disciples are waiting and fearing that something would happen

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to them. Jesus comes into the middle of this situation and is Peace.2 They trust
their senses that this One who came through the locked doors was really Jesus.
Jesus once again repeats His message that Peace is there. He then breaths into
them the Holy Spirit.3 Next, He tells them that forgiveness is granted to you and
so is restraining sin.4 Thomas is missing. The disciples tried to tell Thomas that
Jesus had been seen but he did not trust their message.5 He requires physical proof
and if that does not happen, he will not have faith.6 Thomas must both see and grab
the wounds.7 Next week on Sunday, the disciples are behind closed doors. Jesus
appears again with the message that Peace has come. He said to Thomas, “Throw
your hand into the wounds. Do not have no faith but instead have faith.” Thomas
confesses that Jesus is the true Lord.8 Jesus’s response is, “Has your faith come
through seeing? Happy are those who do not see but have faith.”9 Trust me that
2
The Greek εἰρήνη ὑμῖν does not have the verb to be. Rev. Ed Peterman in a April 4, 1997
states that this phrase is not in the subjunctive mood but the imperative. Jesus does not wish the
disciples peace, instead He declares a fact, Peace is there.
3
The Greek here is ἐνεφύσησεν. Jesus animates the disciples just like God breathed into Adam
(LXX Genesis 2:7).
4
The Greek reads ἄν τινων κρατῆτε κεκράτηνται It seems that a better translation of κρατέω
would be “arrest.”
5
Some authors consider the verb ἔλεγον from λέγω to be a “conative imperfect,” which means
that the others tried to tell him. ?, .
6
Moloney notes that Thomas might just be requiring a physical body as proof of the resurrec-
tion. ?, . The Greek here (οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω) is strong and indicates this must happen before faith
occurs. ?, .
7
The Greek is βάλω τὸν δάκτυλόν μου εἰς τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων καὶ βάλω μου τὴν χεῖρα
εἰς τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ more violent than the NRSV translation. Thomas wants to throw his hand
into the wounds. ?, .
8
Scholars disagree about the importance of this statement. ?, . Some view it as the highest
confession while others say that it is not as important as those people who believe without sight.
?, .
9
Notice that the beloved disciple, probably important to the community that John is written for,
never sees the risen Lord but yet believes. (John 20:1-2; 20:8) ?, .

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Jesus did other miracles. But these are written in order that you may have faith
that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and in order that through faith you may have
life in His name.10
Out of all of these uses of trust in today’s Gospel lesson, we need to look at the
issues of belief that surrounding the disciple named Thomas. For whatever reason,
Thomas refused to believe the witness of the other disciples. He could not have
faith in their testimony. Because of his attitude, he wanted hard physical proof. He
wanted the Body. He needed to take hold of the wound in Christ’s hand and in His
side. Only then would he have faith.
Despite what you might have heard in the past, Thomas does not doubt. The
Greek text is very clear on this one point. The first time Thomas meets with the
disciples, he states that he will not have faith (John 20:25.). Secondly, in spite of
what the New Revised Standard Version and New International Version say, Jesus
does not tell Thomas “Do not doubt but believe.” Instead the Greek plainly reads,
“Do not have no faith but faith” (John 20:27.).
There are two important reasons why we need to make sure that everyone un-
derstands that Jesus is condemning Thomas’s lack of faith and He is not telling
Thomas not to doubt. First of all, Jesus speaks these words to Thomas as a warn-
ing. In the Gospel according to St. John, sin is simple. When one does not believe
in Jesus, one is sinning (John 16:8-9.). Thomas’s current state puts him at risk.
Christ’s advice to Thomas also holds for us. When we actively deny that we
know Jesus, we are committing a sin. More than likely this occurs when we act
10
This verse is translated by JBW.

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just like the rest of the world. Some of us might not take care of those people who
need us. Others of us could refuse to speak out about the injustices that we see
happening all around us. And most importantly, there might be yet others who do
not tell their family, friends, and neighbors about Jesus. Explicitly, these sorts of
behaviors are telling the world that we do not know Jesus and place us in the same
category as Thomas. We have no faith.
The second reason why we need to ensure that this whole idea about “Doubt-
ing Thomas” gets squished is that doubt is a normal part of our faith. That is right.
Uncertainty is an everyday part of faith and questions about your salvation are to
be expected.
This understanding on doubt is what dramatically separates us from the rest
of the Protestants. Every other Protestant group uses the following logic. They
start with the statement, “Whoever has faith will be saved”(This is nothing more
than a paraphrase of Mark 16:16.). Pay careful attention to the next portion of
their reasoning. They say, “I have faith.” Their conclusion then logically is, “I am
saved.”
There are two major problems with the approach. The first issue with this
methodology is that one must do something to be saved. Specifically, one must
hold onto and possess faith. While this might be less onerous than other ways of
working yourself into heaven, at its heart it is the same. Only those people who
have the ability to carry out this work will be saved. This immediately rules out
all those people who cannot perform this action: the infants, the infirm, and the
doubters. The second problem with this form of reasoning is that, not matter how

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much we deny it, we are aware of our limitation. We know that no matter how
hard we try, we cannot even do what we want to do. Added to this fact is the harsh
reality that there are times that everyone doubts. More importantly, there even are
times when we cannot believe.
Lutherans famously start at the other end of the spectrum. We confess that we
can only be certain of God’s Word and not our faith. Therefore, our reasoning goes
something like this. Jesus tells each and every one of us, “I baptize you in the name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19.) What follows next
builds on God’s Word and not on our ability to believe. We believe that Jesus only
tells us the truth; He never lies to us. The result of this line of reasoning is amazing.
Because of God’s promise spoken directly to me by Jesus Himself, my sins are
drowned and I have been given a new life. While I still might have doubts about
my faith and could even completely stop believing in God, there never can be any
doubt about God’s Word pronounced over me because my baptism occurred at a
specific time and place. God has bathed me in the life saving waters. Whenever
we doubt our salvation, whenever we fear that God does not love us, whenever we
are in our darkest situation, we can return to this promise because in the waters of
baptism you are saved.
That is why we normally start out every liturgy at the baptismal font. The
water is stirred in hopes that it will remind you of God’s amazing Good News.
You are baptized and you have been given a new life. This cannot be taken away
from you.
From our own lives, we know what happens when hope is misplaced. If any

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part of the judical system breaks down, then chaos results. Look at what happened
in New Orleans after Katrina. Looting occurred because people no longer trusted
that the system would work for them. Addionally, our faith in the value of money
unfortunately does not always work. During times of crises, say a hurricane, peo-
ple no longer want cash or credit. They desire items that have some physical value
like ice, generators, and potable water.
Mistrust also takes place in the business world. Regrettably, some of us have
faithfully upheld our side of the bargain only to find out that our paycheck is
worthless because our employer has gone bankrupt. Another example where in-
appropriate belief could hurt us is our retirement plans. Normally, these investe-
ments provided by employers are fairly safe. Notable exceptions to this rule are
companies that go out of business. Former employees of Bethlehem Steel and En-
ron now have almost nothing to show for the time they spent at work. Credit card
fraud is the final result when someone abuses our trust that we place in those small
pieces of plastic. This deception costs each of us. Businesses have to pay a frac-
tion of a cent on every translation and we have higher interest rates that we must
bear.
The exact same problems take place in our lives when we trust in ourselves.
Do no do that. Christ comes into the world and tells us, “I am the way. I am the
truth. I am the life.” Have faith in the Words and the promises of this One and you
will have Peace.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and

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minds through Christ Jesus.”11

11
Philippians 4:7.