Well, here he is. Professor Richard Dawkins – the world most famous atheist. In fact you might call him the Archbishop of Atheism, so lets’s give him an appropriate hat. As you can he claims that: ‘Faith means blind trust, in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence.’ Clearly the man doesn’t do irony. This a claim made without evidence, indeed in the teeth of the evidence. As Francis Collins, head of the human Genome, project says, ‘Believing without evidence certainly does not describe the faith of most serious believers in history, nor of most of those in my personal acquaintance.’
Today in the scripture reading we heard Professor Dawkins’ favourite Bible story.
Thomas 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 [that he is risen].”
When Dawkins tells this story he does a little dance of triumph and says: see I told you so. St Thomas was told off for refusing to believe in the resurrection without evidence. The message of this story is that Christians are supposed to believe without evidence, says Dawkins. Does St John’s gospel really say that. Let’s look at the evidence.
According to the gospel, Thomas has been with Jesus from the beginning along with the others. He has seen and heard many things including the following seven signs. I’ll test you on that later. How many signs in John’s Gospel?
- Turning water into wine at Cana (John 2:1–11)
- Healing the royal official’s son (John 4:46–54)
- Healing the paralysed man at Bethesda (John 5:1–15)
- Feeding the 5,000 (John 6:1–14)
- Walking on water (John 6:16–21)
- Healing the man born blind (John 9:1–41)
- Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1–44)
In John’s gospel Thomas sees these signs, and many others. After the resurrection all his friends, and not just the men, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Salome and all the rest, tell him: we have seen him and we have touched him, he is risen, but he doesn’t believe it. This is not a case of refusing to believe without evidence, more a case of just how much evidence do you need!
Dawkins says, not in these exact words but in effect, that even if he saw the risen Jesus and touched him like Thomas did, he still wouldn’t believe. He would dismiss it as an hallucination.
This story is not about believing without evidence but something else. It’s about seeing and believing and knowing. This is a theme which appears throughout the gospel, or rather a theme and variations. We won’t do the whole gospel, just chapter one. It’s s enough to make the point.
18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, … has made him known.
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”
Nathaniel believed because Jesus saw him. That doesn’t mean Jesus simply noticed that Nathanial was physically located under the fig tree - it means he saw who Nathanial was - a man of complete integrity. And as a result Nathanial saw who Jesus is: Teacher, Son of God, King of Israel.
Let’s jump to chapter 20. Peter and the beloved disciple run to the tomb and Jesus and find it empty.
20 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
Then Thomas sees the risen Lord and believes:
Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Thomas sees, but what does he see? Thomas doesn’t just see that Jesus is there, he sees, finally, who Jesus is. Nathanial saw, straightaway, that Jesus was Teacher, Son of God, King of Israel. Thomas is slower on the uptake but he sees something deeper: Jesus is Lord and God.
Thomas needs to see the risen Christ for a reason - because he is an apostle - just as John the Baptist needs to sees because it is his task to testify. But what about those who are not apostles – those who have not seen and yet believe. Are they better Christians, holier, cleverer, no they are blessed.
No, faith does not mean believing things without evidence – it means living by faith. Those who live by faith are truly blessed.
John’s gospel ends by saying:
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.