How Jesus Responded to Doubt

As a detective, I’ve learned to evaluate words carefully when considering the statements of victims, witnesses and suspects. What someone didn’t say is often more important than what they actually did say. In fact, I often stop and ask myself, what were some of the options available when this person made this specific statement? What could they have said in this particular circumstance and what does their choice of words tell us about their thoughts or the truth of the situation? As a new investigator of the gospels, I found myself asking the same kinds of questions as I studied God’s response to doubt. What does God think about those of us who occasionally doubt, and what would He recommend for those of us who occasionally struggle? There is an important passage of Scripture that provides us with an answer.

Jesus said that “among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). John was a godly man raised in a godly home. His parents served God and his mother, Elizabeth, knew that Jesus was “Lord” while He was still in His mother Mary’s womb (Luke 1:39-45). Surely John grew up with this information, and Jesus’ status as Messiah was confirmed to him when he saw God’s Spirit descend on Jesus at the point of His baptism (Luke 3:22). If anyone should have been sure of Jesus’ identity, it was John the Baptist. But the New Testament reveals a moment of dramatic doubt in John’s life. Even after hearing from the disciples about all that Jesus had done and the reaction that Jesus was receiving from those who witnessed His miracles, John sent two of his own disciples to as Jesus a question that revealed his doubt: “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” (Luke 7:19). Jesus’ response was important and revealing. “At that very time” Jesus cured many people in the presence of John’s disciples then said, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me” (Luke 7:22-23).

Now think about all the things that Jesus could have done or said in response to John’s expression of doubt. He could have condemned John but He didn’t. He could have scolded him for his failure to trust what John’s own mother seemed to know so clearly, but Jesus didn’t do that either. Finally, Jesus could have instructed John to simply trust in what he had been raised to know, but that’s not what Jesus did. Instead, Jesus provided John with evidence. Jesus performed miracles as a demonstration of His identity as the Messiah (these miracles were consistent with the Messianic expectations found in the Old Testament in Isaiah 29:18 and Isaiah 35:5-6). From this brief passage of Scripture, two realities emerge:

Doubt Is Displayed By Everyone
If John the Baptist experienced doubt, we will probably also find ourselves in a similar situation. I know many wise and confident Christian case makers (apologists). In spite of their confidence and strength of character, they’ve all experienced doubt at one time or another. It’s not a sign of our weakness; it’s a sign of our humanity. You and I should expect to have doubts at some point in our lives.

Doubt Is Dispelled By Evidence
When those times of doubt arise, It’s important for us to return to the evidence that brought us here in the first place. That’s what Jesus did for John; he provided clear evidence that helped John “connect the dots” and reminded John of Jesus’ identity. Given all the other things that Jesus could have done or said, it’s remarkable that Jesus used evidence to assuage John’s doubt.

When we return to evidence to strengthen our faith, we stand in a long line of great men like John the Baptist. We can have confidence that our doubt does not offend God, and that we have the resources available to develop our confidence. As we review the evidence related to Jesus’ nature, teaching and resurrection, we will grow in our certainty. This is not displeasing to God, but is, instead, part of God’s design for our lives.

Comments

[staircaseghost]

"Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them."

Are you here claiming that apologetic arguments like "women can't testify in court cases" and "wouldn't die for a lie" are on all fours, epistemically speaking, with multiple miraculous medical cures taking place before one's very eyes?

[scbrownlhrm]

If only John wasn't stuck in jail and could have seen it with his own eyes though. Now that would have been evidence.

Unfortunately, John's very life was a bit of prophecy, and as Jesus came on the scene, he had to decrease and Jesus increase. Jesus sends a message to John from Isaiah that a prophecy is fulfilled as evidence to sooth John.

Jesus then gives us a prophecy of His Own about miracles, and it’s a bit odd. He tells us that eventually some false-god-a or some false-hope-b will show up and do better at be-dazzle-miracles than the Living God during a soon to come “age” or “time”. “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

These days with all of us tasting the Painful Paucity of poor Pastor Timothy for whom all that is granted from the Great Apostle is the wimpy line of, ““Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” it will certainly be a challenge as the false gods False-Hopes show up and do “great signs and wonders”. The folks who chase after nothing more than miracles, rather than Knowing-Person, will be, eventually, granted what they thirst for (be-dazzle sort of stuff!) and, because they do not Know-Person, they won’t be able to recognize the interior content within and behind the miracle they see before their eyes.

Now, when we see this begin to happen before their eyes, we will be seeing Jesus’ own prophecy fulfilled right before our eyes. And the stage is well set in the human mentality on the world stage now for just this set of circumstances to unfold.

Yes, miracles are evidence for John, for, though he does not see them from his jail cell, he has reliable testimony that Isaiah’s prophecy was being fulfilled. Reliable witnesses carry a bit of weight. Fulfilled prophecy carries a bit of weight. Fortunately, miracles will one day carry another kind of weight and that will be the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy regarding the soon to come age or time of which He so often spoke, which Paul and Peter said were, even then, upon us, something they all called “the last days”.

Evidence comes in all sorts of flavors, and miracles have been prophesied to come yet again into a mindset perfectly primed for the miracle chasers who, void of Knowing-Person, fall for the be-dazzle-miracles of False-Hopes.

It is possible to Know-Person in a way or degree where these eventual False-Hopes dazzling the world out there simply have no Truth to give in here in the midst of our painful drought of paucity we share with poor Pastor Timothy and his “wimpy” Apostle Paul.

This is the kind of stuff prophecy tells us about miracles.

It is a dangerous thing to have a one-verse theology, which is the sort the miracle chasers have.

There is something which transcends the miraculous and it is found over in the arena of Personhood and of Love. Those who fall for the dazzling miracles of False-Hopes may end up with neither the body intact nor the soul intact nor the spirit intact. Fortunately, it need not be this way for the Living-Hope that just is the God Who is Love-Himself promises us that we need not ultimately choose between body and soul for He loves us through and through and values our Body just as He does our Soul and our Mind and our Spirit and promises to heal all these components through and through. He knows all our physical and spiritual pains, all our physical and spiritual loses, and He cares.

His Name is Love. That is to say, God is love.

[scbrownlhrm]

Starcaseghost,

If a paralytic is healed, or if the blind see, prove to me it was not an alien from space doing it.

You can't.

And worse, if the Living God you Know one-on-one gives you just no healing at all, and some god-a or god-b out there be-dazzles you with amazing miracles, how is it possible for you to be immune to a False-Hope if in fact the Living God is the God you know? How will you know which way to go?

Could we actually ever Know-God in a way which makes us immune to such be-dazzle power-packed stuff? Ever? Well, Scripture says such a thing is possible. Reason, Logic, and Love tell us this too.

Miracles have weight although not the sort we tend to think. There are things which transcend the body.

Once I tasted of my Beloved, -twas over for my soul! Though she should turn her back to me forever, though she should be forever silent, such actions on her part would make me but burn all the more for her, for I have tasted of her love! OH! That love! -Twill be her and no other!

[Staircaseghost]

Well, if that doesn't stand to reason, I don't know what does!

[scbrownlhrm]

For our miracle chasers we must redirect all that heat, all that emotion, all that passion to Knowing-Person. And that is easy to do for all we need ask is this: If a paralytic is healed, or if the blind see, prove to us it was not some sort of alien from “out there” doing the medical miracle.

The miracle chaser cannot attest as to who is doing “it”, for they know only “it” and no more, no Person. The “it”, void of the “who” becomes a paradox, and thus prophecy tells us that the “it” may actually, will actually, mislead. Now, any “evidence” which is prophesied to one day mislead ought to give us pause if we are banking our entire theological certainty on such “evidence” being present or absent. It is the “who” which gives us immunity to such misleading.

We must go one-on-one with Him there within Personhood and within Love's embrace and allow the vectors breaking through "in here" to be, quite easily as it turns out, happily confirmed by the vectors breaking through "out there" abounding before us.

[amy]

This article has really blessed me today. I've been saved since 1993 but have recently began to struggle with the idea of salvation, heaven, hell, etc. I want to believe God and his word with all my heart. I want to be as bold and confident as Paul. I don't know where this doubt came from except to say I was in a backsliding state and began to listen and believe in other "good" ways of living. (That's why its important to stay in a good Bible based church and don't deceive yourself into thinking that you don't need to attend a church or to regularly be around other believers.
It is interesting that Jesus tells John the Baptist "blessed are those who aren't offended..." How many Christians do we know quit church or leave the faith altogether, not because they found overwhelming evidence that it's a false religion, but because they got offended. Offence can lead to doubting Christ and Gods method of salvation. When one gets offended, he usually starts looking for other options: "are you the one or do we look for another." Lets take care to not be offended at Jesus due to what we're experiencing in our lives.