The Rev. Dr. Patricia Ramsden First Presbyterian Church
Some Doubted June 19, 2011
…”but some doubted…some hesitated…” Just three words, but what wonderful words they are! Now, I may be alone in that opinion, especially among preachers, but quite frankly I like the fact that at least some of those people gathered on that mountain doubted and were at least a little bit hesitant. It makes me feel better about my own faith.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m a person of great faith, but still there are those moments… I think everyone has those moments. Those moments when I’ve walked into a hospital room and seen a mother still rocking her newborn baby who had just died…. Moments when I’ve read about the tortured body of a 14 year old who had been arrested after protesting for freedom… Moments when I’ve tried to reconcile the miracle of resurrection with my 21st century scientific mind and discovered it couldn’t be done. Moments when I’ve doubted….moments when I’ve hesitated. Haven’t you ever had those moments?
So I find it a gift from God that at the very end of Matthew’s gospel, there are men and women who doubted and hesitated too. After all, if these men and women who had traveled, laughed, and cried with Jesus could hesitate, if the very ones who had listened to Him teach and seen the miracles and put their hands in the risen Christ’s side could doubt, then certainly I could too. One of the best lessons I ever learned in Sunday School was that if my faith didn’t have its moments of doubts and questions it was no faith at all.
There’s something else about these doubters that I love. They may have doubted, they may have hesitated, but they were still there. In spite of all their questions of how and why, they were there, on that mountain, worshipping Jesus and listening to His final commands.
And Jesus had faith in them even as they doubted Him. I love that. It is to the faithful and to the doubters, the questioners, that He gave the Great Commission.
Jesus looks at them all and says simply “Go.” He doesn’t say, “wait until you’re ready.” He doesn’t say, “wait until you’re comfortable.” He doesn’t say, “wait until you have no doubts or questions or hesitations of your own.” No. He simply says “Go. Go now.” Go and bathe people in the presence of God, teaching them what it means to live out of God’s love.
That’s the Great Commission --- and it’s meant for you and me. Now --- even with our own hesitations and questions and fear and guilt.
But how are we supposed to do this? I think we should do it the way Jesus did, and how did He do it?
He started out by meeting people where they were. He didn’t wait for them to come to Him. He met a grieving mother as she carried her son to his grave. He met Zacchaeus up in a tree. He met the Garazene demoniac in the graveyard where he lived. He met the woman by the well.
We need to meet people where they are instead of waiting for them to come us. We need to meet them at Hilltop for breakfast or in hospital rooms or nursing homes. We need to meet them on the golf course or in the office or at the gym.
Then we need to pay attention to their needs, their questions, their concerns, and try to answer them. Again, that’s what Jesus did.
When the crowds got hungry, He fed them. When the blind man cried out that he wanted to see, Jesus healed Him. When Zacchaeus wanted to put his world right and be forgiven, He forgave him.
A few nights ago as the session met to discuss Unbinding the Gospel I asked them what advice they would give to someone trying to help someone else find God’s love.
All their answers were right on the money. Pray. Listen to them --- really listen. Do something. Don’t wait until you’re sure it’s the right thing but do something to show you care. Love them.
That’s what Jesus did. That’s what we need to do.
Jesus didn’t rail at people. He didn’t threaten them. He didn’t condemn them. He loved them. And He invited them into a better way --- God’s way.
That’s what we are supposed to do. When someone is lonely, we’re to visit them. When they need encouragement, we’re to write them a note or text them a message. When they need to be badgered into going to the doctor, we’re to be certain they make the appointment and take them there if necessary. We’re to love them.
But we are also to invite them in to this life we know that makes fullness of life more than just a possibility. We’re to tell them we’ll pray for them. We’re to tell them that they are already held in God’s strengthening arms. We are to tell them they are bathed in His love as well as our love. We are to invite them in to the family where they already belong --- to our family --- God’s family. Maybe not at once. Maybe not before they are ready. And maybe time after time, because once is not always enough, but we are supposed to do it, because that’s what love requires. That’s what God requires.
And when we doubt if we can do it, when we hesitate to step out of our comfort zone and the safety of silence, we need to remember Jesus’ last words:
“I am with you always.”
So go. Bathe people in the love of God. Teach them to live out of that love, and know Jesus is with you. Amen
