Thoughts on Doubt and Faith (continued)
by Randy Siever

Doubt is often thought of as the opposite of faith, or the enemy of faith.  We also tend to think of faith like a liquid in a cup, and consequently more is always better. But faith is measured by Jesus in terms of action. It isn’t about having the right beliefs, or enough sincerity about them, or enough of anything, really. It’s the object of faith that matters, and whether or not we ACT upon our faith in some way. That’s why a gentile Roman centurian could have greater faith than anyone Jesus had ever seen in Israel (Matt. 8:5-13). It’s not the amount of faith that matters, but what the faith is IN. And acting upon that, regardless of the amount.

Is it possible to have faith AND doubt at the same time? I think so. No human being can be absolutely certain of anything (that’s something only God can be). I even think Jesus, our model for what faith looks like, may have wrestled with doubt hours before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. If Jesus is fully God AND fully man (as we have historically believed and creedally confessed, at least since the fourth century), and if Jesus actually DID set aside the privileges of deity, as Paul says in Philippians 2, then we have a Jesus who wrestles, as all men do, with doubt. The only (but critical) difference between Jesus and us in this matter is that he was without sin (tempted in all the same ways, but never crossing the line…Hebrews 4:10 ). We have a sin nature that Jesus didn’t, but he was tempted in all the ways we are. Since doubt is a very real part of the human experience (one that is the result of human limitations, and which does not require us to sin), it’s quite likely that Jesus was experiencing doubt in this moment of prayer in the garden.

I would also submit that the fully human Jesus didn’t have the whole playbook on what was going to happen from day one. In setting aside the privileges of deity, he presumably had to learn his alphabet, the Torah, and how to trim his beard. At the end of Luke 2 we have a wonderful little snapshot of the adolescent Jesus in the Temple, a story we have in no other Gospel accounts. It must have come from Mary, his mother, since the only eye witness to this particular story who was alive at the time Luke wrote it (Joseph had died early) was Mary, who “treasured all these things in her heart” from that day on. It was a big day. Jesus, the twelve year old boy-man, spent three days in the Temple with the teachers there while his parents frantically looked for him.

49″Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

The Temple was not Joseph’s house…it was the Father God’s house. I think this little snapshot is included here because Mary recognized that her son Jesus discovered that his Father was God…not Joseph.  Both Mary and Joseph, of course, knew this was the case (the Christmas story makes it clear that they both got messages to this effect from God), but it’s likely they didn’t actually raise Jesus like he was God in the flesh.  There is not any reason or record to think they did…in fact, just the opposite.  Jesus obeyed the Father (think about what that implies), did nothing but what the Father did, and “grew in wisdom and stature among men.” Jesus learned along the way, just like us.  This is usually called “progressive revelation” meaning, Jesus slowly discovered who he really was as he grew.  It doesn’t mean he didn’t have special intuition or that he didn’t know some things that would happen, but he didn’t seem to have the whole future mapped out for him in advance.

So back to the Garden. Jesus is asking the Father, three times, if there is any other way to get this job done besides going to the cross. If Jesus had the entire game plan in advance here, this would seem to be either a dumb question or some kind of teaching moment for those who were supposed to be watching and praying with him. Except those nasty bloody sweat drops of agony recorded in the Luke account of this story sort of takes the “object lesson” possibility off the table. His agony in this prayer may have been about his anticipation of separation from the Father (our usual theological explanation for the blood-sweat here), but that is a bit of theological speculation.  What we can say for sure is that Jesus knew what flogging and crucifixion looked like, and that he was convinced that was what was going to happen next (he told the disciples that this would happen three times prior to this moment).  That would be enough for anyone to sweat blood, I would think…and to plead to God for some other way.

I think Jesus was possibly (and I say this with a HUGE awareness of the implications here) struggling with doubt about what was going to happen…whether this was really the best and only way. He was needing to trust the Father for the outcome (faith), and he of course did so. He resolves to put his faith in the Father, despite his doubts, and says three times, “Not my will, but your will be done.” Faith, perhaps no greater faith on record…in the midst of doubt.  Jesus not only says this in the face of doubt and fear, but ACTS upon it, heading straight to the horrific beating and death that loomed before him out of sheer dogged obedience to the Father.

Faith and doubt are partners. If we didn’t doubt, then we’d be absolutely certain of the outcome…and faith would not be required, would it? But without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). And without doubt, there can be no real faith.

Some of us doubt, and we feel terrible about it. Like some of the eleven, we are often too chicken to even admit it. In some circles we’d actually be shunned for having doubts, so sometimes we just keep our mouth shut and pretend to be “full of faith” (perhaps like some of those eleven, until they got face to face with Jesus and just couldn’t fake it anymore). But I’m telling you…Jesus is not deterred by our doubts. He’s just asking us to show up, doubts and all.

Just show up. That is what faith actually looks like. That is what faith actually DOES.

And this is why I think we are all included in the Great Commission, along with those rascally eleven who didn’t have it all figured out yet, either. One thing is for sure, none of us can use doubt as an excuse to avoid the mission Jesus hands us. So keep showin’ up and see what happens. Doubters are always welcome.